Several boys in each grade level battled it out to earn the recognition of being the best boys cheerleading performance for this year’s Homecoming week festivities out in front of the Pauahilani Counseling Center on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, .
The KS Maui students donned worried faces before the start of their third block classes, glancing up at the gray skies and light drizzles slowly creeping down the slopes of Haleakalā.
Last year, the boys cheerleading performances were moved into the cramped spaces of Keʻeaumokupāpaʻiaheahe Dining Hall due to a heavy downpour.
Student body president Kaleihōkū Kubota emceed, and the freshman boys eagerly lined up in front of the audience. After brief technical difficulties, the nine boys were underway with a series of choreographed routines, wooing the crowd with their youthful charm.
Just when it felt like their performance had concluded, the boys picked up a single rose and browsed through the crowd, offering their roses to one lucky lady each while The Temptations’ song “My Girl” played in the background.
The eight sophomore boys quickly zoomed to the front of the crowd and began cheering the “We Feel Good” cheer commonly seen when done by the Warrior cheerleaders at the football games.
The unique edge for the sophomores this year was their well-coordinated robotic choreography, with every boy moving in synchronized movements like that of a team of robots. They then took on a more dramatic side as all but one of the boys got down to the ground to form a ‘canoe,’ with a lone standing man, who paddled the human canoe slowly to the east.
The eight juniors rounded up the crowd’s smiles and laughter with a humorously-conducted dance to the Village People’s “YMCA,” before Dylan Fisher led the boys in dancing to the recent hit, Psy’s “Gangnam Style.”
Last, seven seniors came forward to get the crowd in the mood with the chant “ʻEleu mākou, ʻeleu nō” before moving into a series of rigorous dance routines, consisting of Run DCM’s “Get Tricky,” as well as their take on Psy’s “Gangnam Style.”
“I just enjoyed having fun and experiencing something new,” freshman Kaisyn Lee said. “I look forward to win[ning next year].”
The boys’ cheerleading team placed first in last years’ competition, and they enjoyed performing together for the last time today.
“I think that the seniors did pretty good,” said Kamaka Keawekane, senior boys cheerleading team member. “We were precise, we did all of the moves correctly, we knew what we were doing, and I think we blew it up.”
Though every class put on stellar performances, the road to achievement was not easy.
“It was kind of like a last minute thing,” Lee said.
Some of the seniors’ challenges consisted of “being on time to practice, organizing the dance moves, getting everyone to practice on time, and just scheduling,” Keawekane said.
The four classes will spend the rest of the week preparing for the remaining Homecoming festivities, such as the step routines, the class cheers, the floats and banners, as well as adding to the dress-up points, which are tallied throughout the week.
