Senior Kendrick Kwok and his fellow letter members ready earth-quaking stomps for their upcoming performance at the Spirit Rally. Photos by Chris Lee View more photos from this gallery > Get ready for an Athletic Spirit League like you’ve never seen before at sports games to come. Although comprised of separate teams, the school’s three spirit groups are unifying through their unprecedented joint practices.
Cheer
Aiming to reach as high, or even higher than their toss stunts, Cheer is starting the season on a positive note in preparation for the competition at nationals.
This past summer, the girls attended cheer camp at the University of California, Berkeley; there, they not only practiced new cheers, dances and elite stunts, but also won two trophies to place second in the Cheer section and seven blue superior ribbons. “During camp we had competitions with other cheer teams,” senior flyer and co-captain Ashley Chan said. “For the ribbons, we went through multiple evaluations for cheers, dances and a routine.”
To add an edge to their stunts, the girls will focus more on tumbling, especially backhandsprings as they prepare to compete in the San Francisco Academic Athletic Association competitions and in nationals at Anaheim in March, which is sponsored by the United Spirit Association. According to Chan, during past years the team had trouble consistently nailing back-handsprings.
However, with their new stunting mats, the girls see promise for improvement. “We compete in a division where most of the other teams incorporate lots of tumbling,” Chan said. “It’s hard for us to go up against those kinds of teams when their tumbling skills are so advanced compared to ours.”
The girls have also been fund-raising with multiple car washes and bake sales for nationals’ expenses. “We were not able to compete at nationals last year due to not being able to raise enough money,” senior main base Emerald Jonez said. “However, we had won a National Cheer Association title from 2010, which we are aiming to take again this year.”
Without a doubt, Cheer anticipates an auspicious season, cheering at home and afar. “Performing at rallies and games are always fun for us. It really shows how spirited we can be, and it’s even better when we see the rest of the school having fun too,” Chan said. “I expect Lowell Varsity Cheer to be a strong, solid team.”
Pump up your spirit for Cheer’s next performance at the Battle of the Birds at Kezar Stadium the football field on Sept. 30.
Senior Letter
Brace yourselves for an earthquake coming your way, not a geological one, but seven fierce steppers jolting the crowd with routines never before felt.
Adding new flavor to their choreography, Senior Letter, a school urban step team comprised only of seniors, plans to stand out with bigger and stronger moves while giving the audience a glimpse of each of their personalities. “We each have our own creative mind and with that being said, we plan to display our personalities through our stepping,” co-captain Marybelle Tolentino said. “We plan on standing out by bringing something new each time we perform, something the crowd has never seen. We’re ready to blow everyone’s brains out with our ‘spicy routines’.”
Already the steppers have received positive feedback. “We tried some tribal movements and we got a great response,” Alexis Yup said. Debuting at freshman orientation, Senior Letter left the crowd craving more. Prepared to perform more than squads from previous years, Tolentino warns the school to “expect them where they’re least expected.”
Member Kendrick Kwok explained the team’s goal as expressed through their motto: ‘Fierce but approachable, but mostly fierce.’ “When choreographing our dance, we each bring our own idea and then mesh it all together,” Kwok said. “Our plan is to really stand out from past years while keeping up Senior Letter’s reputation.”
Get ready for that fierceness at the Battle of the Birds at Kezar Stadium the football field on Sept. 30.
Song
Recognizable for their signature line kick — with arms entwined, leaning shoulder-to-shoulder and thrusting legs into the air — the Song girls leap over all obstacles as they strive to reach nationals.
Ready to make an impact, the girls aim to polish their technique while incorporating choreography inspired by past routines. According to junior co-captain Mila Feldman, the girls work on perfecting their turns, piques, leaps and chenes — salsa style turns — in preparation for school cheers and their nationals routine, to perform at Anaheim in the spring.
Unlike Cheer, Song is a “pom” team oriented more on dance moves, thus focusing more on pom-pom and jazz movements. At Anaheim, they will compete through the Universal Dance Association as a dance team. Priming their moves during summer, varsity and junior varisty Song had joint practices at the UDA dance camp in the University of California, Davis. “Davis was boot camp,” junior co-captain Adriana Miller (who is an assistant editor for The Lowell) said. “We danced nonstop for ten hours everyday. ”
Even without a professional coach, the Song girls found support from a friend in the school community. “Now that we have a sponsor, the school secretary Tiffany Adams, we’ll hopefully be able to have more practices, since we’ll have someone with us after school,” Miller said.
Shimmy up to Song’s next performance at the Battle of the Birds at Kezar Stadium the football field on Sept. 30.
A version of this article first appeared in the Sept. 9, 2011 print edition of The Lowell.
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