NV cheerleader: Hawaiian camp was one of the 'coolest experiences'

Gracelyn Lewis hopped on a plane recently and went to the sunny beaches of Hawaii for a highly-touted cheerleading camp she was chosen to attend. She came away from the experience with plenty of things learned as she goes into her senior year at Nodaway Valley High School.

The camp was the Cheer Hawaii USA Invitational in Honolulu at the University of Hawaii July 19-26. Lewis is the daughter of Michael and Whitney Lewis. She was nominated for this camp by Nodaway Valley coach Crystal Ruth.

“It was definitely worth it,” Lewis said. “The first couple of days were a little awkward with people still getting to know each other. After that, it was comfortable, and this was one of the coolest experiences of my life.”

One of the aspects that made this camp so unique was that there were cheerleaders there from all over the nation, and cheer is similar to other sports where different types and techniques of the sport take off in different states. Cheerleaders at the camp were divided into several teams and all of the members of the team come from different states.

“I was roomed with three other Iowa girls, but each morning we would would have our workouts and we’d go through our sessions with our team. Throughout the week, we built up a routine, and that’s what we performed at the end of the week,” Lewis said.

Stunting was an area of the sport where Lewis saw the biggest differences in technique during the camp.

“Every state does their stunting a little bit differently,” she said. “When we put it all together, we had to adapt to each other and learn other ways from how we normally stunt.”

Campers were able to go see the sights, such as area beaches, Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center, where they were able to perform a hula dance they learned.

Moving forward, Lewis is excited to stay in touch with several of the girls she got to know at the camp, which cost approximately $5,000 in all. Lewis fund-raised heavily for the trip and is thankful for all who contributed to her experience.

“There are so many people,” Lewis said.

“This season, I’m going to be one of the only returners [on our cheer squad] and I’m excited for the challenge,” she said.