DOING IT THEIR OWN WAY

It's like running a two-minute sprint, with some gymnastics and a little heavy lifting thrown in — all with a smile on your face.

Cheerleading brings to mind a certain stereotype, but the Somerville High School team doesn't fit so easily into the mold. "There's a difference between a cheerleading team, and a competitive cheerleading team, says Head Coach and former SHS cheerleader, Tara Ganno.

National champions last year, the 20-girl team started the year with 12 new girls who had never cheered before. This season was about rebuilding. Nevertheless, this spring the SHS squad attended seven competitions, achieving their most successful year overall, capturing two first places, one second place, four third places and one fourth place.

Riding high after winning first place at an invitational in Revere, one of their flyers hurt her knee during warm-up at the following competition two days later. Unlike other sports, when someone gets injured or is tired, they can't stop the music and put someone else in. "It's like, you're on the mat, you're of the mat, you lost, you won. I mean that's your chance,” says junior Deyanira Lemus. Instead of bowing out of the competition, they spent the whole time in the parking lot, reworking their routine.

The very next day, they competed for the Greater Boston League title, winning a bid for the regional competition, where they achieved their highest score of the year, 168.5, getting a bid for state. They didn't find out until later that they had actually come in third place, and were ranked fifth in the state going into the final competition.

But it's not just their competitive skills that set the team apart. They really don't fit the stereotype. They're not all blond or skinny, keeping only to the group.

“They think we're this big huge cult!” says junior Tiffanie Calisto about the other kids in high school.

Coach Ganno explains that their intense practice and game schedule puts them together all the time. “It’s not that they only hang around with each other, it's just that they're with each other every minute.”

“We all have outside friends, but people just seem not to realize that. Everyone has outside best friends that they hang out with all weekend." explains junior and team leader Laura Abrantes.

"I have a life, like outside of cheering.” confirms junior and fellow team leader Azah Che.

And the girls aren't overly concerned with gaining a pound or two. In fact, they seem to be eating all the time, one cheerleader with muffin in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other. Their flyers, they say, can always be found at Burger King.

"Because of the stereotypes, that we're cheerleaders, people think that we think were all that,” says Lemus.

So, why then, do they do it? They love to compete, they love to perform, and they especially love to dance.

As they walk into the state competition, hordes of girls are swarming, already done-up with curls and bows. SHS is cooled out, playing hip hop on a boombox, bandanas on their heads. They drop their stuff in the center of it all, and wading in a sea of duffel bags, the girls start singing, dancing, changing and doing their hair, while the other teams size them up.

It's not that they're cocky — well maybe a little — but mostly it's that they're having such a good time together, they don't care how loud the music and dancing is.

The dancing spreads into their routine too, again, breaking out of the mold. Judges have commended them for it, complaining that teams do less and less of it, going for tumbling and stunts. Which is not to say that SHS is weak on either of those points, either.

SHS gets their routine from Texas choreographer Noe Mendiola, but for the music, it’s all about the girls. Says Coach Ganno; "This year he tried to give us a 'Chicago' theme. We're like, no. Our girls are ghetto. We want all hip-hop. We definitely have the best music of any competition in the state.”

Back on the bus, the competition not having gone their way, they still talk about it with enthusiasm.

"It's all about coming here, it's all about getting to state” exclaims Lemus.

Captain Renae Lister explains, "Division 1, there's such a fight now, so it's like, it's such hype.”

"It's a rush!” says Captain Virginia Hussey.

Abrantes pipes in — “You never know who will win!”