Hear them roar: Foundation Academy's first competitive cheer team advances to state

CLERMONT  Practice has ended for the Foundation Academy competitive cheerleading team.

It’s the day before the regional meet, and head coach Adrienne Pilz and assistant coach Lisa Lucas gather the girls around for one last pep talk and team bonding activity before the big day. 

The girls join pinkies while in prayer and inscribe Bible verses on the bottoms of their sneakers.

Perhaps there is some anxiety or some nerves ahead of the next day’s competition, but before the team is dismissed, Pilz reminds the girls of the significance of what they have already accomplished: This is the first time that the small private school in Winter Garden has ever fielded a competitive cheerleading team.

What that means is that, after years of only being able to participate as sideline cheerleaders and not being able to compete against other squads, the dream of girls such as senior Reilly Lord has finally come to fruition.

“I was kind of always the over-passionate sideline cheerleader — the one that wanted the really intense practices and all the stuff that competitive cheerleaders do,” said Lord, who has been involved in the program since third grade.

Now, Lord is co-captain of the first-year squad, along with junior Maddi DeStefano. The insistence of Lord, who also plays basketball and track for Foundation, was among the most important factors in the program getting off the ground this year.

“Reilly was instrumental in getting girls to be passionate about it,” Pilz said. “She’s one of those that, you hope to coach a girl like her in your lifetime. I’m very lucky to have her on the squad this year.”

Lord’s leadership and experience from training at the Top Gun Cheerleading Training Center also have been important on a team full of freshmen (three) and middle-schoolers (eight). Several of the girls, including DeStefano, had not cheered competitively before and were an equal mix of excited and anxious about the challenge.

“I was a little bit apprehensive,” DeStefano said. “I knew the stunts were obviously a lot harder (than sideline cheering), and even though the routines are only two minutes and 30 seconds — it’s the hardest two minutes and 30 seconds ever. It’s basically doing a sprint while yelling for part of it.”

Pilz came to the program in December with the hope of adding competitive cheerleading to the equation. Along the way, in convincing the school’s administration that the requisite participation and dedication were there, the former collegiate cheerleader was aided greatly by many parents from the team.

“The parents were the ones that went to administration and were asking, begging administration, ‘Please let this happen, the girls want it,’” Pilz said. “There’s no way I would have been able to do this on my own.”

Among those parents was Phillip Pacheco, whose daughter, Caitlyn, is a seventh-grader on the team.

“A lot goes into it — the work, the time, the dedication,” said Pacheco, who serves as the team’s photographer. “It’s been absolutely amazing seeing her growth with the school and the team and how far they’ve come.”

Dating back to May, Pilz laid out a goal-oriented agenda for her program. The final goal for this first season was an ambitious one — making it to state. A day after Pilz reminded her girls that they already have been successful no matter what transpired at regionals, the Lions made history by scoring high enough to qualify for the state meet Jan. 29 to 30 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa.

Competition at the state meet will be stiff, as the Foundation squad — with its eight middle-schoolers — will compete against some squads comprised entirely of upperclassmen and have years of experience. Given all the Lions have accomplished already, though, there’s no reason for Pilz and her squad can’t be just a little optimistic.

“We’re definitely David versus Goliath,” Pilz said. “But we’re excited, and we have the passion and the drive.”

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].