Rough and tumble
Local cheerleading champions go beyond the pale in pursuit of the trophy
By Hannah Davis 08/26/2010
The smell of sweat fills the gym as the odor of vomit wafts in from the outside door. Inside, a group of 14- to 18 year-olds are pushing limits of every kind. Physically, they exert themselves past the point of no return — performing tumbling passes and stunt sequences that appeared impossible when performed by the teams before them. Mentally, they try to block the fear that one slight, wrong movement could shatter bones. Emotionally, they drive themselves to the edge, pushing forward with eyes on the prize of another world trophy. This is the life of the California Bullets All-Stars cheerleading squad.
“Here, it’s blood, sweat and tears,” said squad member Tori Kreiser. Tori, 15, moved here from Maine with her family a bit more than a year ago. After finding out her father was being stationed in either Texas or California, Tori and her family started researching cheer gyms. “That was the main reason why Bob took orders here instead of Texas,” said Ann, Tori’s mother. “Our lives have revolved around cheering; it has been for years. It’s what she wants.”
Tori arrived in California from Maine last summer to begin with the California All-Stars, even leaving school early to begin training camp. And within the first week, Tori was welcomed into the Bullet family. “That’s what this gym is, it’s a big family,” said Tori. Her mother echoed that sentiment: “When you move to a place where you don’t know anybody, for her to come to a place that they’ve now embraced her. Coach Eddie and Coach Orbie are like her dads.”
Coach Eddie Rios was impressed with Tori’s growth over the last year and sees incredible potential through the next year. “Last year, her skills exploded and she started breaking into her lead skills,” said Rios. “This year, she’ll be at a whole other level.”
All-Star cheerleading is often rigorous, and training to compete at a world championship level is intense. Last year, in preparation for the worlds competition, Tori recalls the hard practices and the dedication it took. “We worked our butts off in this gym five days a week, working our tumbling passes and our stunts,” she said. “It was to the point we wanted it so bad we would throw up outside, run in and do our routine again, and throw up again and run back in to do it all again. Here, we go hard and we want to win.”
After coming in second place at a national competition in Dallas just before worlds, Tori said their drive to win worlds was more than ever. “At this gym, you can ask anybody, and they’ll say ‘Second place is good, but second isn’t the best, and we want the best.’ We want the gold; we don’t want the bronze or the silver,” she said. “We want to show everyone who we are, so we work our butts off as hard as we can to show it.”
All that determination paid off last spring at the worlds championship in Orlando, Fla., as the team took the championship trophy. “It was the best feeling in the world,” said Tori. “Every single person on our team — even the guys — was bawling their eyes out.”
But competing at such an intense level of competition also came with a new set of nerves. “The first thing going through your mind is, you don’t want to mess up,” said Tori. “Because you worked all this time and put all the effort and everything you have into it, and you don’t want to let your coach down.” “It’s the most nerve-wracking thing I’ve done in my life.”
The butterflies gathered in her stomach, she says, as Tori stepped out onto the cheer floor in front of the horde of California Bullet fans. “When you look out into the crowd, everyone just stops and stares, so it’s like you have millions of people looking at you. You’re shaking and nervous, just waiting for the music to start. But once the music starts, though, you’re not thinking about a thing but having fun on the floor.”
And fun is exactly what they had. “They hit a flawless performance,” said Rios. “It was the end of the routine where I knew they won and that’s when the tears were just flooding from everyone.”
Tori knew that the move was worth it, and all of her training with the team paid off in the end. “It’s like, you know when their moms say their kid is their favorite thing in the world and they make their day? That’s the medal and rings we have; they’re the best thing in the world; because you can look at them and know all your sweat and tears and blood were put into that ring, and that you deserved it,” Tori said.
Superstitions are a big part of the team, too. As the kids walk out of the gym, some will stop to kiss their trophy and say they’re working for its twin. “They’ll go out before a tumbling pass if they’re nervous about it and rub it,” said Rios. “Every night when they walk out, at least one or two kids will just go up and rub it and leave.”
Yet Tori and the rest of the team refuse to let their championship go to their heads, knowing the challenges they face for the upcoming season. Coach Rios said, “I thought they would be cocky about it. But it’s the complete polar opposite.” This year, instead of competing on the junior level, the team has now transitioned into competing at a senior level. “[Other teams] want it as much as we do; and we have to want it more than them. We have to come into this gym every day and say we want it, we cannot let them beat us,” said Tori. “They’re a young senior team, but they want to win, and they’re going after it. All of them have the fire that they want it again,” Ann said. “You have kids that go home and dream about this. It’s commitment.”
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