The moment the cheerleaders were anxiously waiting for had finally come. Competition day had arrived, and the girls were ready to kick some peach tree Georgia butt. The local competitive cheer team, Volusia Elite all-stars senior 3 royalty, traveled to Atlanta, Georgia this past weekend to compete in the two-day competition; One-up Atlanta. The competition was tremendous, with hundreds of teams competing from all over the nation. There were a total of 8 teams in the small senior 3 division.

“We’ve worked so hard for this competition and we were so close to being in first place,” sophomore Morgan O’Quinn said.

 On the first day, these ladies had rocked the mat and achieved their intended purpose, hitting all their stunts and landing all their tumbling with zero deductions. At this competition, there was a hit zero lounge, which gave all teams who hit a perfect routine the opportunity to relax in the lounge until the next team hit zero.  

 “Honestly, I felt relieved to be in the hit zero lounge,” freshman Kori Kestory said. “I definitely felt like we deserved it, even though it took us a little longer than it should have to get there. I felt like we had that competition in the bag the first day, receiving no deductions on our score sheet.”

 Furthermore, this competition was an amazing experience for all the athletes participating and it provided a chance for the team to bond. The majority of the team had arrived in Atlanta on Friday, so they had the entire day at their leisure to explore the city.  

 “I really enjoyed Atlanta and the competition,” junior Alexis Browne said. ” I wish I had more time to explore Atlanta, but i was glad to share the experience with my team.”

There were a total of 8 teams in the small senior 3 division, which the ladies from senior royalty took 4th place out of 8. These ladies had been working on over drive and in their minds, the biggest win was how much they accomplished as a team. 

The ladies from senior royalty ended up taking home 4th place out of 8. These ladies had been working on over drive and in their minds, the biggest win was how much they accomplished as a team. 

“It came down to us being short .75 points that brought us down from first place to fourth,” O’Quinn said.

Although, the girls didn’t take home the win, they brought forth the best of their abilities and accepted that mistakes do occur. This competition allowed the girls to take away some things from it that they can work to improve upon in the future as practice does make perfect.   

“I did take away that mistakes happen, but it also brings a team together and motivates us to be better,” senior Gianna Bellantonio said.

Ultimately, the One-up champions was an incredible competition that brought in thousands of cheerleaders, who all share the same passion for the sport. This competition was giving out paid bids to the Summit and U.S. finals, which are two enormous competitions that every cheerleader dreams of attending. Due to sr. 3 royalty’s high scores they were granted a paid gold bid to the U.S. finals and were ecstatic when they found out they won. In the end, you can’t win them all, but whats not to say that sr. 3 won’t go down without a fight.