Season Preview: North Babylon Varsity Cheerleading

With the new school year right around the corner, we are checking in with the coaches at North Babylon and Deer Park high schools to see what's in store for their teams this year. 

Today, we take a look at the North Babylon varsity cheerleading squad. Below is a Patch Chat with Kristin Smith, who is beginning her third year coaching the team. 

Previous season’s record and place:
UCA National Cheerleading Championship ranked 25th in the nation
2012 and 2013 UCA Camp Champions
2013 Long Island Championships Finalist

1) What are the strengths of the team?

One of our team strengths is tumbling we almost have full team tumbling our goal is to reach full team standing back tucks. Strength for our team is our jumps, we have multiple elite jump sequences and our height and flexibility is also great.

2) What are the areas of improvement for the team?

We have a very young team this year of the 21 team members 14 are sophomores and younger. They are very talented but have never cheered at this competitive level before.

3. Who are the players to watch on your team?

Alia Hunter, a senior flyer, four years varsity. She is a UCA All American and UCA Staff trainee. Kaiyla Franklin is a junior base. She is also a UCA All American and UCA Jump Champion.

4) Which games have your circled on your schedule?

Our biggest competition will be the UCA Regional Competition on November 23 in Toms River, NJ. This is UCA National Championship qualifier competition. If we score well we will receive a bid to attend Nationals in Orlando, Florida. On January 11, 2014 we will host a Long Island Cheerleading Coaches Association Competition at North Babylon High School. 

5) Goals for the team as the season begins?

Our number one goal this year is to qualify for the UCA National Cheerleading Championships and qualify for the semi finals or final round. As a team we want to achieve full team standing and running tumbling.

6) Anything else you would like to add about the team?

We attended a UCA Camp last week in Beach Lake, PA and were named Camp Champions for the second year in a row! We placed 1st in Cheer, 1st in Dance and 3rd in Extreme Routine.