Cheering on the Costa Mesa Pop Warner Cheer Squad
Costa Mesa Pop Warner Cheer Squad takes home the trophy at Western Regionals.
By Lana Johnson/The Daily Voice- http://dailyvoice.squarespace.com/
I caught up with Yumi Watanabe-Patterson, the coach of the Costa Mesa POP Warner Cheer Squad, whose girls recently won the Western Regionals in Ontario, Calif. They’re heading to the Jamz Golden Classic Regionals at Six Flags Magic Mountain tomorrow, Dec. 5, to compete again.
Q: What are the ages of the Pop Warner cheer squad, and how long have you been coaching them?
A: Pop Warner kids usually age 5 to 13. The girls I coach are 8 to 11 years. I was on the Pop Warner board of directors for seven years and have been coaching for three. There are no tryouts. We just want the girls to come out and give it their best. Some have no experience, others a bit. It’s a challenging task to merge all these different skill levels together. But the girls grow so much – both athletically and in their self-esteem. The youngest ones, ages 5-7, do exhibition rather than competition.
Q: How did the girls win the Western Regionals? Who was their competition?
A: Costa Mesa is one of 27 leagues in the Orange Empire Conference. We have 46 girls this year and four squads. My squad has 13 girls. The Western Regionals were held at Citizens Bank Arena in Ontario, Calif., with cheer teams from Arizona, Nevada and California. The top two teams in each division qualify to go to regionals.
Q: Tell me about the Jamz Golden Classic taking place on Saturday. What routines will they perform?
A: Girls competing are at the intermediate level and their tricks are pretty difficult – they perform back hand springs and basket tosses. Safety is our No. 1 issue. Each season, coaches come up with a different routine. Each routine must be 2 minutes and 30 seconds. It’s a make or break on the mat. It is required to have 1 minute and 15 seconds of cheer and the same amount for dance. Stunts, jumps and tumbling have to be incorporated into the time allotted.
Q: Tell me about your vision for the squad.
A: My goal is to take the cheer program to the next competitive level and go to the Nationals. The top two teams at the regional level get invited. We didn’t have the finances to make the trip this year to Florida. We did go to the Nationals in Las Vegas four years ago and placed fourth out of 17 teams.
Q: Describe your practice regimen.
A: We practice at Parsons Field behind Estancia. We usually cheer 10 games a season. In the summer, we work out four days a week – two hours a day; when school starts, we work out three days a week and have Saturday home games at Jim Scott Stadium. If the football teams keep winning, our cheer girls are right there rooting them on, so the season which starts August 1 could last until the last day of December. For away games, we travel as far away as Pasadena. It’s an intense schedule, but truly a gathering of families and so much fun.
Q: Does your squad have much interaction with the high school cheerleaders?
A: Our Pop Warner feeds into Costa Mesa, Estancia and Newport Harbor high schools. We have just started a brand new Mentor Program where the high school cheerleaders help coach our cheer kids. So many of those girls go above and beyond to mentor the younger ones.
Q: I’ve heard there are efforts in Sacramento to get cheerleading approved as a CIF sport. If it does, what does that mean to cheerleaders here on a local level.
A: It will mean the guidelines are even more stringent, particularly safety issues, and the level of athleticism will take our schools to a new level. It would be great to have cheer sanctioned CIF.
Q: What do you enjoy most about coaching?
A: That’s an easy one … the kids and the relationships I’ve built.
Editor’s Note: We wish the Costa Mesa Pop Warner cheerleaders the best at Jamz! We’ll keep you posted on how they fared. Also, watch ABC7’s Nightline next week, featuring the Costa Mesa High School Cheer Squad.
