A historic NJCAA moment will involve two of junior college cheerleading’s most prestigious programs.
On Saturday, Blinn College and Navarro College will compete in the first-ever NJCAA-sanctioned competitive cheerleading meet. The event kicks off at noon at the Kruse Center on the Blinn-Brenham Campus and will be broadcast live at www.buccaneersports.com/sports/cheerleading/schedule.
Historically, Blinn, Navarro, and other junior college cheerleading and dance teams have competed outside the NJCAA umbrella and have ended their seasons at the National Cheer Association (NCA) and National Dance Association (NDA) championships. Under that structure, Blinn traditionally has spent its calendar year performing at Buccaneer sporting events and training for the NCA competition, which is largely team- and choreography-based.
Saturday’s meet marks an important shift in junior college cheer and will be kickstarted by two programs that boast 24 combined NCA championships.
“I’m extremely excited for what this means for our sport,” said Blinn cheer and dance head coach , whose cheer team has won six NCA titles since 2014. “Everybody knows what we do during Blinn games and at the NCA, but Saturday will be like a true sporting event for us. It isn’t going to be entertainment-based or a choreographed routine we’ve been working on for months. It’s going to be a skill-based event featuring two really good teams competing in an entirely new format.”
Saturday’s meet will be divided into three periods, with each period including different skill-based or performance-based heats. Period one will be compulsory tumbling, with heats including skills such as toe tucks, standing hand tucks and round-off hand layouts, among others.
In period two, Blinn and Navarro will demonstrate their abilities in compulsory/creative building. The seven heats will feature events such as compulsory pyramids, compulsory pyramid sequences, creative pyramid sequences, and compulsory stunt sequences.
In the final period, Blinn and Navarro will perform a 1-minute compulsory routine.
“Our athletes are excited,” said Blinn assistant coach Amanda Logback. “Athletes and coaches who compete in cheer have always recognized what we do as a competitive sport, and Blinn College itself has done an amazing job recognizing our program as a competitive sport as well. This nod from the NJCAA really just affirms what we do year after year and opens up a lot more opportunities for our athletes to showcase their skillsets.”
Barland Flisowski said the NJCAA’s inclusion of cheer also broadens recruiting opportunities for cheer programs. While the Buccaneers typically carry 25-30 athletes on their cheer roster each year, that number could jump to as many as 50 as Barland Flisowski begins recruiting athletes who bring different competition-specific skills to the table.
“We are going to be able to open up so many more opportunities to more kids,” the coach explained. “This development really changes how we can teach and train our athletes and how we can use them throughout the season. We’re extremely excited for what this means for their development and their opportunities in the world of cheer after Blinn College as well.”
Saturday’s meet is the only event currently on Blinn’s schedule, but Barland Flisowski said her team is actively working to book more competitions before the competitive season comes to a close in January.
While the NJCAA has future plans to establish a cheerleading national championship event, it will host a national invite this year open to all JUCO cheer programs. That meet is scheduled for Jan. 30-Feb. 1 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“This is really just the start of what we believe is going to grow into something even bigger,” Barland Flisowski added. “As our sport begins to gain traction in the NJCAA, we are hoping that more cheer programs begin to emerge at the junior college level and that this sport becomes a major player in junior college athletics.”
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 49 NJCAA national championships since 1987.
