I have gone on record as to what sport I think is the most grueling at the high school level. And that is wrestling.

 

When it comes to the most stressful, from a postseason standpoint, there is also a clear-cut winner in my book. The sport would be cheerleading.

 

Although I have had that thought for a while, it was amplified in my head during a recent conversation with Bridgeport resident and long-time football coach – now private sector citizen – Mike Lopez. Prior to the last weekend’s state competition, he told his son Roman what his sister Lily was about to face. Not surprisingly, he used a football analogy.

 

“Today is the day that they put the football on the 3-yard-line and tell you that you have one down to score,” Lopez said, adding that you prepare for months for that one play.

 

Quite honestly, it is the best analogy I have ever heard. Not only the best but spot on.

 

That does not mean stress is not a real thing in all the other sports. It is. With cheering, though, the stress is amplified because it all boils down to the smallest window of opportunity possible.

 

Every other sport gets a regular season. They get scrimmages. Most can call timeouts. Someone is sick or injured, you can get them out an put someone else in.

 

You not only have the preseason to prepare for a regular season, but you have a regular season to prepare for a postseason that often includes a sectional, a regional, and a state tournament. At worst, even those with just a regional and state tournament you still have a regular season.

 

Cheerleading? You have one shot on two occasions.  

 

To succeed at the first shot at regional action to qualify for the state meet, you have three minutes and 10 seconds, max, to get it right. At the regional, you can be one of two to qualify to be part of the elite eight at the state meet.

 

At the state meet, you have the same three minutes and 10 seconds – a 40-second technical cheer and a two minute and 30-second maximum routine. Think about this: the total amount of time that determines the best cheer squad in the state does not equal one quarter of play in girls or boys’ basketball.

 

Bridgeport Coach Natalie Hathaway knows about the stress. She knew about it during her time cheering for Bridgeport High School. She has known about it on more than one stop as a cheer coach as well.

 

“It is very hard because everything you prepare for is those three-plus minutes. As a coach each year it is something we talk about every day, and it is focusing,” said Hathaway. “You have to understand it is not just the inability of having a weekly competition to judge yourself, but the practice that serves as your competition is in front of an empty gym. You have to talk focus because that empty gym is your game day.”

 

That, of course, puts extra emphasis on practice. It starts in August but, like other sports, includes the summer workouts and flex days. Most, if not all, cheer in the offseason and work on tumbling on a regular basis, but it all comes down to practices that in reality are game days.

 

“The consistency of practices is huge. There is definitely adrenaline you feel when you get to the regional and you get to the state competition, so you have to be able to focus on harnessing the some level of adrenaline that approaches that when no one is there so it doesn’t get to you,” said Hathaway. “Maybe that’s why we use the word focus over and over, but it applies.

 

“The difficult thing is the coaches and the kids know that you can prepare for the mental aspect of everything, and you can focus as hard as you can to give yourself an edge, but to get in that zone mentally when the actual competition hits is different,” she continued. “You feel it. The stress is real.”

 

Again, that does not mean there is no stress at the state swim meet or a doubles competition in tennis or when the baseball team is looking to make another run. Rather, the stress is there for the first time in a live competitive setting when the postseason arrives. There is no preparation for it, just ways to focus to try and be able to adjust to it when that stress arrives.

 

Hathaway’s family is an athletic family. In particular, it runs deep with the Bridgeport football program and today her father, Jeff, and brother, Brett, serve as an assistant and head coach, respectively, at South Harrison while mom Janet assists her daughter with cheerleading. She said the family, particularly her father, gets it.

 

“My father still gets emotional, teary-eyed when we come off the floor. He always tells me in football it’s hard to get a group of kids to stay on the same page for a play lasting six or seven seconds and they get to do it dozens of times each week,” said Hathaway. “He knows we don’t get dozens of times, and everything is boiled down to just a few minutes. It’s intense, but it’s also what makes the sport special.”

 

She is not wrong. Just remember how stressful the sport is for those youngsters cheering at all levels in West Virginia. If you do not follow cheerleading and do not quite understand what the postseason is like, think about it in football terms.

 

You start the game with a fourth-and-goal from the three. And you have just one chance to score.

 

That, in a nutshell, is cheerleading. Described perfectly by one of the best football coaches around.

 

Editor's Note: Photos from the 2022 West Virginia State Cheerleading Competition courtesy of Black Jack Productions. Photos by Trey Jack.