1. Discuss the growth of this program from when you took over until now.

The growth of this program from when I took over three years ago until now has continued to be positively exponential. I am amazed each year how we are able to build on the years previous success and continue to grow yet another athletic program the institution can be proud of. It has been an extremely challenging yet rewarding the last three years to see the growth not just of the program, but the growth in the athletes themselves that have been a part of building it and I look forward to continuing watching this growth.

2. Talk a little bit how the Region VI Championship works and the success you had there this year? 

The Region VI Championship has looked a little different each year since I’ve started here at Pratt partially due to the growth we’ve had each year with each team and due to the conference making adjustments each year to better mirror the competition with NCA College Nationals in April.

Ultimately, like any other cheer competition whether that is high school, all-star, college, etc. there is a break out of divisions usually based off your teams skill set size and male/female breakdown. This year the team was built to be able to compete in the small co-ed intermediate division as I felt that’s where the team would be most successful considering our skill set and male/female ratio.

The small co-ed intermediate division means we were only allowed to compete 4 males and remaining athletes were females. Additionally, while our team throws advanced baskets (i.e. ball x-fulls like what you see on the neflix documentary) and advanced inversions (i.e. backhandspring ups, rewinds, etc) and other advanced skill transitions and pyramids a majority of the team does not have twisting tumbling (i.e. two to fulls, round off hand fulls etc.) meaning while we would be able to maximize our score in stunts, baskets, pyramid, we would not be able to maximize our score in the tumbling section if we competed in the small co-ed advanced division.

I am a firm believer in smart and strategic cheerleading. I believe it results in the most reward not just from a placement perspective, but from a personal reward perspective for each athlete and the team as whole.

We won the conference this year in the small co-ed intermediate division by two whole points, which is a tremendous accomplishment (for those familiar sometimes the difference between 1^st and 2^nd place can be hundredths of a point).

3. Going back to NCA for the second year... what experience and leadership where your sophomore class able to provide?

Going back to NCA for the second year with experience and leadership from the sophomore class provided a lot of new value that we haven’t previously had. While our first year at NCA last spring was also very successful and we had excellent leadership from the sophomore class. It was an added benefit to have had athletes on the team that had actually competed on a National stage before and knew what that felt like and knew what was required all season leading up to that moment.

4. For those unfamiliar with the divisions in NCA... how do those work and how are we assigned to a division? 

For those unfamiliar with the divisions in NCA they work similarly to what I described above. Division will flex and change and divided and combine from year to year depending on the number of teams registered and their skill level, size, male/female breakdown. This year was the second largest ever NCA Nationals event in history, which was pretty wild. There were literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of teams there.

Last year we competed in Small-Coed Intermediate “OPEN”. If we had not been at nationals last year the division would have been Small Co-ed Intermediate DII (meaning DII four year universities) because all the teams in that division were DII universities, except us. Since we were the only JUCO against 8 other DII schools they had to label the division “OPEN” because they obviously wouldn’t put us in our own division by ourselves.

This year we competed in Intermediate JUCO. Yes you saw that right there was no specification between large and small co-ed this year for JUCO it was all small and large co-ed teams together. Unfortunately, NCA did not make this division decision until two weeks prior to the competition. Again, for those unfamiliar, a large co-ed team you compete 10 males (so double what you are “allowed” to compete in small co-ed).  Even with that challenge we were able to pull off third and we were one tenth away from knocking a large co-ed team out of second. Very big accomplishment and proud coach moment for such a young program going up against teams and coaches that have been established for over 15 years.

5. The team finished third this year... what went well and what may have been different from the previous year? 

We did finish third this year, like mentioned above, there was a bit of a wild card this year that made evening breaking top three extremely challenging and I’m so proud of their finish being able to do this against large co-ed teams. What went well was obviously the overall finish. At the same time that was also what could have been improved upon. We had a tumbling touch down day one and a different tumbling touchdown day two. A couple small bobbles that went flawlessly in warm-ups or grass practices. So if we had just had one, not all, but just one of those things not happen we would have finished in second and I think the biggest difference from the previous year besides the divisional changes was also the overall skill level of what was thrown. It was increasingly more difficult and we are excited to showcase more difficult and unique skills for the upcoming season as we continue to push the limits.

6. You have already begun practice for next year... what will the summer and fall look like as you prepare for your third year competing in NCAs?

Yes! We have already begun practice for the 2022-2023 season. We have 26 athletes that make up our team for the upcoming season and just a few weeks ago we had almost all 26 of them on campus for a spring clinic. That is essentially their very first practice as a team and then also the athletes who are graduating are there too to help transition our freshman into that leadership role of a vet and pass along two seasons of knowledge to the new 2022-2023 team.

This summer the entire team will come together for a week towards mid-July to do what we call work week before our NCA College Camp on July 26-28 at NW Missouri State which is also where we receive our bid to nationals. During this week we work all the things. We start at ground zero and work our way up and touch everything from gameday to potential nationals skills.

7. You have been busy recruiting and signing several new student athletes to your team... what are you looking forward for next years team. Any early expectations you are looking for? 

I was very busy all year this past season recruiting and signing several new student athletes, as mentioned we have 26 for the 2022-2023 season (still looking for one more top with tumbling) so maybe 27, we will see what happens by the time mid-July rolls around. I am really looking forward to watching what these athletes can do. Watching them grow physically, mentally and reach their full potential and start to build the best version of themselves for themselves and for the success of the team.

8. In a few years, cheerleading could become a NJCAA sanction sport. How would this change your yearly schedule in terms of competitions and what are thought on the change.  

I think the conversation around cheerleading becoming an NJCAA sanctioned sport in a few years is still so new it’s too early to tell. There is still so much evolving conversation around what that would mean for competitions and yearly schedule that it would be difficult to speak to what that could look like right now. I will say I think it could be an exciting opportunity to recognize cheerleading as a sport and also hopefully continue to allow the level of competitiveness desired not just by us, but by others in the NJCAA.