Fair excitement

The members of the Patriot cheerleading squad who have state fair experience were sixth graders the only time they competed in Indianapolis.

Following a year with no competitions and reduced-sized crowds at games, they’re ready to get in front of the grandstand again.

Jay County Junior High School’s cheerleading squad will compete today at the Indiana State Fair. They are scheduled to take the mat third for the competition that begins at 10 a.m.

“It’s been really fun getting ready for state fair again,” said eighth grader Katie Rowles. “We didn’t get to do it last year. So it’s just been a better experience for it because we’ve been so excited for it.”

With no competition in 2020, Jay County’s junior high cheerleaders last competed at the state fair in 2019 in two squads — East Jay and West Jay — before seventh and eighth graders were merged together at Jay County Junior-Senior High School. EJMS placed fifth that year.

The last state fair championship for a junior high squad from Jay County came in 2014 when West Jay took home the big trophy.

It’s been a learning and re-learning experience for the Jay County squad this year with nine new cheerleaders new to the state fair and all of them coming off of a year away from competition.

“You can tell the girls have had a year off,” said coach Brea Burcham. “Getting them back into … getting ready for state fair has been a little bit of a whirlwind. But they’re getting it together.”

Some of that work includes simply learning how the elements of a cheerleading routine are put together into a cohesive unit, ideas that aren’t part of the process of cheering at football and basketball games.

The Patriots’ routine also is looking a bit different this year than in previous years, with much less of an emphasis on tumbling. In its place, they’ve added more stunting in an effort to emphasize their strengths.

“We have a ton of stunting, more than we would normally take,” said Burcham. “So that’s been interesting to say the least, trying to get all the girls to new skills and trying to teach the new ones some of the harder skills that we’re doing.”

In the final days of practice they’ve been working not only to make sure all of those stunts hit, but also on cleaning up the little things. That includes snapping at the end of handsprings, making sure motion technique is correct, pointing toes and general performing in unison.

The eighth graders who competed in 2019 have also been trying to provide some advice for those who have not competed at the state fair before.

“Not to be nervous,” said Kayla Jetmore. “Just practice hard here so you’re doing good at state fair and just get your nerves out in practice.”

The goal today?

The Patriots want to climb as high as they can in the standings — awards are set for 1 p.m. — at the state fair contest. They also want to enjoy the atmosphere of the competition that some of them missed last year and others have never experienced at the state fair.

“I want the girls to have fun,” said Burcham. “We’ve kind of struggled with that a little bit here and there. … If they go out and hit a solid routine and they had a good time doing it, that’s my goal for them.”

“State fair is just so much fun and we’ve worked really fun all summer for this,” added Rowles. “It’s just going to be super fun to see if it pays off.”