NPHS Cheer Named Joe Eberle Weichert Realtors Pioneer Athletes of the Week - TAPinto.net

March 04, 2019 at 12:54AM

NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ - NPHS Cheerleading team is named the Joe Eberle Weichert Realtors Athletes of the Week for winning their first ever New Jersey Group 1 State Championship.

"This is the first year where the Cheerleaders were granted a Winter season, allowing them to compete as a team as well as cheer for the both Varsity Boys and Girls basketball home games," said NPHS head cheerleading coach Alexis Jacqueney, who has coached the team for two and a half years.

The program has grown to 44 Cheerleaders between Varsity and JV teams, competing with 16 Cheerleaders throughout the Winter season. The season culminated at the NJCDCA State championship where JV competed in their respective division and Varsity moved to the advanced division.

It was important for Jacqueney to help her team understand that Cheerleading itself has evolved tremendously. "Cheerleaders are athletes and they should be respected as such," said Jacqueney. "I wanted the community to see them for the athletes I knew they were. I was very fortunate that my district and my Athletic Director supported my vision."

Each week throughout the school athletic year, a New Providence Pioneer athlete or athletes will be honored for distinguishing themselves in the arena of competition, in the classroom, and for demonstrating exemplary sportsmanship and leadership qualities.

Through the support of NPHS Athletic Director Vinny Carangelo, the NPHS cheer season began in August when the team attended their first camp session at Pine Forest in Pennsylvania.

The cheerleaders perform half-time at every home football game and finish the fall season with "Cheer for Charity," an event that takes place at Elizabeth HS for Union County schools to perform their routines in a charity competition supporting Breast Cancer research for Susan G. Komen foundation. They took home 8 of 13 awards between the Varsity and JV teams. "Last year, when they won for best half-time, it was clear to me that they could compete," said Jacqueney.

After competing at seven events, the team tied with David Brearley (Kenilworth) in qualifying points for the Group 1 title. Both teams were entered in the Medium division (capping at 16 cheerleaders) and competed for two separate judging panels, one for the Division and one for the Group. "We ended up losing to Brearley in the Division and winning for the Group 1 State title," Jacqueney explained.

Interestingly, the state of New Jersey does not consider cheerleading a sport. Coach Jacqueney said, "It is considered such in our surrounding states but for some reason not in New Jersey." She added, "Some of the highest ranked All-star teams reside in New Jersey and are recognized nationally as well as around the World. And some of these cheerleaders across the state are part of those teams, but when it comes to high school cheerleading, it is not recognized. Cheerleaders deserve more recognition for their efforts. Some sports end in just one season, there is no offseason for cheerleaders."

Below are comments from Coach Jacqueney

TAPinto: What is the commitment level of cheer?

Coach Jacqueney: My cheerleaders are committed to the mission of this team. To me, the mission of this team is that we are able to show the community that Cheerleading is a sport and that Cheerleaders are athletes and should be considered as such. My team practices anywhere from 7 to 10 hours a week, depending on the given week ahead, on cheers, stunting, or dance. Some cheerleaders have outside commitments to their outside teams and they will usually go to practice after our practice has ended. The cheerleaders perform at every home football game, the Cheer for Charity event, no more than 8 competitions including the State competition, and we are just beginning to dive into what the expectations will be for Basketball games. We had our first pep rally this year, and the Varsity cheerleaders performed a modified performance.

TAPinto: Have you seen the style of cheer change? Have you seen the level of difficulty of their performances increase? What is the skill set that is necessary to be a cheerleader?

Coach Jacqueney: The style of cheer has changed immensely across the nation nonetheless at New Providence. The level of difficulty has increased according to their skill set. We constantly strive to improve with each performance and practice. Cheerleading is much more than portrayed crowd leading, they cheer at games, dance, tumble, lift and throw their teammates in the air. They volunteer with the PAL program and fundraise all season for gear or practice space. Their biggest team bonding was definitely this year at cheer camp where their days began at 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Not only did they learn more about cheer but they learned so much more about each other.

Below are some responses from the team when asked about challenges, rewards, and favorite memories:

What is the biggest challenge? Stunts; trusting each other when trying new stunts; disappointing your team; getting frustrated when stunts wouldn't hit; improving as a base; learning new stunts that required me to get stronger; learning how to work together as a team; hitting stunts when I'm really tired; getting over fears of trying new things; getting over the fear of hurting both yourself and especially others; counts; pushing myself to become stronger than before and push myself past my limits; having to get accustomed to changes; when stunts don't always hit, which can be frustrating; communicating effectively with each other when we aren't seeing eye to eye.

What is the biggest reward of cheerleading? Creating friendships with people you never would've talked to before if you hadn't cheered together; being able to execute the half time routine with everything hitting; excitement of accomplishing something new or difficult/hitting your whole routine; making best friends; hitting a routine at camp; everything we have accomplished, "Looking back on my freshman year to how we are now, it is crazy. We have gotten so much better and it's a great feeling from going from last place to state champions."; having a good time, building friendships that hopefully last a lifetime; winning states; coming off the mats after hitting a routine and everyone is excited; strength, physical and mental and friendship; seeing how work pays off; the close bond of our team, and being proud of ourselves and each other when our hard work pays off; the feeling when you hit the last stunt of your routine and you know that you all worked hard during practices to achieve that success.

What is their favorite memory? Bonding time at cheer camp; first football game where all our stunts hit and everyone was so happy; going into town with the team after games on Saturday mornings; bonding as a team on the bus rides and from competitions; becoming so close to the point where we all spoke to each other like old married couples; competition at the beach; Cheer for Charity; first competition that was in the fall, Cheer for Charity -- we swept nearly the entire competition with both teams winning a total of 9 awards; all of the times my stunt group and I would crack up during practices.

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The Joe Eberle Weichert Realtors Pioneer Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Joe Eberle Weichert Realtors located at 64 Main Street in Chatham. Joe is a 25 year New Providence resident who is an active member of the New Providence community. Contact Joe anytime, whether it's to get started on helping you realize your real estate goals and dreams, or just to ask a question about the local market. Joe can be reached at jeberle@weichert.com or call 908-868-4800.