Local cheer team named National Champions

By Sandy Morris

Albany Sports Center took two cheer teams to the Varsity Spirit Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders National Championship in Arlington on Saturday, Feb. 6 and brought home awards in both the show team and elementary team divisions. 

ASC head coach Kourtnee Waters explained that the show team is made up of nine girls ages four to eight and teams in this division are not placed, but receive either an excellent or outstanding award.

“Our show team received the outstanding award,” said Waters. “All the girls were awarded medals and were very excited.”

The show team members are girls who are learning the basic fundamentals.

The elementary team is made up of 21 girls ages five to 14. These girls won first place and were named overall top place for their division. 

Both teams are comprised of students from Albany, Throckmorton, Woodson, and Breckenridge.

Waters said there were 18 teams in the younger division and two groups in the elementary division.

“I’m so proud of how our small-town girls performed,” said Waters. “They were up against some big teams from the Metroplex area.”

Waters, who is helped by assistant coach Lindsey Vaughn, said the competition was very different than previous years due to COVID concerns.

“The parents had to drop the girls off with us instead of typically being able to walk in with them,” Waters said. “About 30 minutes later, the parents were allowed into the stadium. Only one group of parents could be in the stadium at a time, and each girl only received two tickets for admission to the event.”

The next competition for the young ladies is the North Texas Championship American Spirit Celebration on Sunday, March 7 in Garland.