The Tiftarea Academy cheerleading squads will have two new coaches next year and the teams will participate in competitive cheerleading for the first time.

Cindy Moore and Angie Cordle will lead both the varsity and jayvee cheerleaders in the 2006-2007 school year. Moore was a cheerleader in high school and has also served as a consultant and judge for cheerleading competitions. Cordle coached competitive cheerleading for seven years including being the head cheerleading coach at Eagles Landing Christian Academy.

The Tiftarea cheerleading squads are divided into three teams — football cheerleaders, basketball cheerleaders and for the first time, competition cheerleaders. Never before has the school entered a squad in cheerleading competitions. The team will participate in the GISA state meet in December in Perry.

“I think they’ve wanted to do it in the past, but never have put it together,” said Cordle.

Competition cheerleading involves a 2 1/2 minute routine involving cheers, dancing, stunts and tumbling.

Although the school is new to competition many of the cheerleaders are competition veterans. Many of them have participated in all-star cheerleading squads or individual competitions. Cheerleaders Hannah Williams, Ridley Fleming, Allison Brown and Kaleigh Cordle are members of all-star squads.

The team will also have substantial help. Along with the experience of Moore and Cordle, the team’s competition routine will be choreographed by Jamie Parrish, the nationally recognized owner and coach of Georgia All-Stars, an Atlanta-based cheerleading school. The students of Parrish, a graduate of Tiftarea, have won numerous national and world titles.

“He is nationally known, so we are really glad to have that support,” Moore said.

The cheerleaders also trained for two days with Karin Hart, a cheerleader for Georgia Southern and a member of the United Cheerleading Association.

Angie Cordle said the Tiftarea cheerleaders have a lot of young talent and untapped potential.

“There’s a lot of talent on the teams, on both teams,” she said. “They don’t realize how good they can be, but they will.”

“We feel that our girls have a good chance of placing in the competition,” Moore said.

Outside of competition, the cheerleaders will continue to support all athletic contests with cheering, stunting, dancing and leading crowds in support for teams. The cheerleaders also conduct fundraising to support the squads and other sports while providing school spirit throughout the year.

“We’ll be going to competition in December,” Moore said. “Everything else is basically status quo.”

Cordle and Moore are replacing Cindy Williams, who stepped down as cheerleading sponsor at the end of the year. Athletics director Chuck Moore, Cindy Moore’s husband, said that Williams has helped make the transition run smoothly and everything seems to be going well.

“So far, I’ve been very happy with the way it’s organized and run,” Chuck Moore said about the new cheerleading administration.

Next year’s football cheerleading squad will be seniors Hannah Williams, Fleming and Brown; juniors Raina Graham, Courtney Mann and Whitley White; sophomores Lynley Grace Taylor, Deven Graham and Meaghan Tucker; and freshmen Amanda Willis, Karla Quiroz, Murf Sapp, Christy Brown, Allie Cronk and Courtney Haggard.

The basketball cheerleaders will be juniors Raina Graham and White; sophomores Taylor, Deven Graham and Sabrina Stewart; and freshmen Willis, Quiroz, Christy Brown, Cronk, Haggard and Ali Surrency.

The competition cheerleaders will be seniors Hannah Williams, Fleming and Allison Brown; juniors Raina Graham, Mann and White; sophomores Taylor, Deven Graham and Tucker; freshmen Willis, Quiroz, Sapp, Christy Brown, Cronk and Haggard; and eighth graders Kaleigh Cordle, Cayla Rae Couvillon and Brooke Mangham.