SAN ANTONIO -- There’s a stereotype in Texas that claim all high school cheerleaders, just like the football players, have been training since they could walk.

  • Holmes Cheer wins medium novice national title
  • Received Herkie High Point award for top score of all novice teams

But there’s no talent requirement to try out for the Holmes High School cheer team, and it just won its sixth national title from the National Cheerleaders Association.

“That’s what’s so remarkable about this team, is that I have a lot of first-year cheerleaders that have never cheered before,” Jennifer Salazar, the Holmes cheer director and spirit coordinator said. “So I have a lot of kids that will come and say ‘How can I be a part of it? I’ve never done this before!’ and I’m like ‘It’s okay. I need you to be a hard worker, I need you to want to learn and I need you to want to win,’ and I’m like ‘I’ll show you the rest.’”

Teams competing at NCA High School Nationals are assigned one of three sizes and levels. They can compete as an advanced, intermediate or novice team, depending on the squad’s stunting and gymnastics skill level. The large, medium and small size divisions are determined by the number of team members.

The Huskies won the medium novice national title, as well as the Herkie High Point award for top score out of all of the novice teams.

“Nothing could top the feeling of knowing that you were the champion,” Nailea Rodriguez, a sophomore and first-year cheerleader said.

“It felt pretty amazing, because compared to last year, I wasn’t expecting it,” Maximus Teran, a junior cheerleader said. “It was disappointing, because, like you let everyone else down.”

A lot of the Huskies classmates didn’t know that they do more than cheer on the sidelines at football, basketball and volleyball games.

“Everyone at school, they didn’t know that we actually did that kind of stuff,” Teran said. “So, it’s pretty cool that they can see what we can actually do.’

At competitions, squads compete with routines that combine dance, cheer and tumbling.

“This is their time to shine,” Salazar said. “I always say, ‘who cheers on the cheerleaders?’”

“It’s a lot of pressure, because being back there with all the teams, you have to keep focus and make sure that you’re going through everything and working on your team and not focusing on everything around you,” Jewels Alanis, a senior cheerleader said.

In addition to Holmes, four other San Antonio area teams also took home first place. Brennan, Warren, Holy Cross and Central Catholic also earned the top spot in their divisions.