Photo courtesy of OU Cheer
This year’s NCA Nationals was a successful trip for the Braves cheer team. Despite the troublesome obstacles they faced early in the season, they remained persistent and stuck together until the end.
With a few cheerleaders leaving the team during their season, it was uncertain if they would be able to compete at their full potential at a national championship. Senior team captain Le-Asa Woods entered the program as a freshman, cheering for the Braves each of her four years while attending has become a player-coach for her teammates.
Last year, the cheer team’s trip to Daytona was canceled due to the start of the pandemic. Instead of leaving for Florida, they were headed home.
The opportunity to be able to take a trip this year to Florida was astonishing itself, but to be able to compete for a national championship developed a greater gratitude for each of these cheerleaders.
Woods had an interesting aspect to how this trip to Daytona was different from her previous years attending Nationals in Florida.
“We got a new coach just three weeks before Nationals so that was interesting,” Woods says. “We had 15 minute practice sessions, [and] a lot of freshmen who have never been to NCA Nationals before so it can be very frightening.”
Mental Preparation was the primary focus as they nailed their first performance, ultimately resulting in Ottawa’s highest placement at NCA Nationals, taking second!
When asked what her emotions were like after hearing their second place finish, Woods says “In the past we’ve placed eighth or ninth so this was great redemption. While considering all that we’ve gone through this year, it felt great that our hard work has paid off.”
Woods finished off by saying “this also makes them hungry to go for first next year since we’ve seen our potential.”