After a year of facing the disappointment of being placed fourth in the 2024 NCA Nationals, Coach Christen Rabern and the Lady Lions were more than ready and prepared for this year’s 2025 NCA Nationals.
“This team and I have been working towards Nationals since August,” said head coach Christen Rabern. “ The girls have put in so many hours of work, as they often come in outside of practice time to get the routines down.”
Last year, the fear and nervousness of large crowds played a major part in the Lady Lions placing fourth last year as most girls had never been in that setting before.
“My mission this year was for the girls to perform their routines in front of crowds,” said Coach Rabern. “ This year it was important to get the girls in front of crowds before Nationals so they can learn how to perform under pressure.”
The Lady Lions were determined to outperform not just their competition this year, but themselves from last year. Starting from day one, Coach Rabern and her team knew the formula for placing higher and exceeding last year’s performance was discipline and consistency.
“We started building from the basics and then gradually pushed harder as we got closer to Nationals,” said junior Jailyn Green. “We had extra practices, focused on cleaning up our routines, and watching our routine to make sure everything was done correctly.”
Although cheer can be seen as a very physical sport, the mental side is just as important in the sport of competition cheer. Nervousness, anxiety and anxiousness all play a big part in the sport.
“Mental toughness also plays a big part in our sport,” said Green.
“Coach Rabern pushed us to be our best every day, especially mentally, as she made sure we were locked in on our goals both on and off the mat,” said senior Kiki Howard.
Going into Nationals, the Lady Lions felt more prepared than ever, but things took a turn as the first day wasn’t such a great outing for the Lady Lions. Coach Rabern and the Lady Lions knew their performance in the prelims wasn’t executed as well as they knew they could.
After the first day, the Lady Lions placed fifth in the rankings in their division, but coming into the second day, a switch changed for the Lady Lions.
“After our performance in the Prelims, Jailyn and I had a team meeting as we all as a team reminded ourselves who we are and that we are capable of so much more,” said Howard. “ What we talked about in the room that night is exactly what we executed in the finals on day two.”
The Lady Lions came out with a fresh new attitude as they executed on all of their routines in their finals performance on day two, as they finished second for the first time in school history at nationals.
“It was such an emotional and rewarding moment, placing second out of sixteen teams, knowing we bounced back and gave everything we had,” said Howard.
“It felt surreal to win second place, all the hard work we as a team put in, we have seen all the work we put in come to light and be rewarded,” said Green.
The Piedmont Competition Cheer team continues to improve each year, placing fourth last year, jumping two spots to place second in this year’s NCA Nationals. With most of the team returning next year, there’s only one goal to strive for: first.
