Kinsley Hodges’ Life as a Madison Cheerleader

Kinsley Hodges has been cheering for 4 years with Madison Jr. High and Madison High School. All 4 years of cheerleading, she has been a base. Hodges and her team have participated in competitions all over the state. They took all 3 of their routines to state two years in a row. At state, Hodges and the Madison cheerleaders placed 3rd overall.

Taking 3rd in the state is no easy task, it took a lot of preparation. Here is a little background on Kinsley’s journey being on one of the best cheerleading teams in the state of Idaho.

Hodges started her first year of cheer in 9th grade. Hodges had to compete with 70 other girls to make the team. Competition to make the team was really tough, and on top of that, she had a back condition making it so she was unable to bend her back. Hodges has also had issues with being unflexible since she was young. This put her at a disadvantage because the girls she was competing with were able to do complex tumbling passes that she could not do.

Hodges had to rely on her other abilities to help her make the team. She worked for months preparing for the tryouts. Her hard work paid off, she made the 9th-grade cheer team.

When her freshman year came to a close, she knew she needed to start preparing for 10th-grade tryouts. This year would be even more challenging than the last. Her teammates also knew of the pressures of trying out for a new team with new coaches against older girls who were much more experienced. Hodges would have to work harder than ever to get new skills so she could show up fresh and ready to compete with these intense athletes.

Hodges was in the gym almost every night working on her new skills. All her hard work paid off and she showed up to tryouts with her round off tuck. She wowed the judges and her teammates with her new skill. Hodges made the Junior Varsity team.

What she didn’t realize was that that was only the beginning. Since varsity and junior varsity competed together they would have to try out for every routine. This was going to be difficult for Kinsley because though she wowed the judges with her new skill at tryouts, would that be able to carry her through tryouts for the routines?

The day of tryouts came the performed a small dance routine for pom and cheer for sideline. Then, they were asked to show off their jumps, tumbling and stunt for show. Hodges did her very best to show off her skills to the coaches.

A week later she got the results back and had made all three routines as a sophomore. She was beyond excited. Hodges had worked so hard for that spot and it paid off, again. Her team took 3rd place at state putting them in the top 3 rankings in Idaho.

Hodges has continued to grow and learn. She made the cheer team again her junior and senior year. Junior year, the team took 3rd place at state. The Madison cheer team has been working harder than ever for the competition season this year. She says, “Our team is working really hard this year, we are hopeful that we will take state this year.” 

Hodges loves cheerleading and she has come to love her teammates as if they were her siblings. Cheerleading has been such a great experience for Hodges and she’s loved every minute. Even when her team would have setbacks, that never changed her love for the sport.