I was so excited when I found out I made the team and I’m excited to meet new people and continue my love for cheer.”

Kayla Ortega

Confidence wasn’t an issue for Rochelle Township High School senior Kayla Ortega when she tried out for the cheerleading team at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire this past month.

Although she only cheered at RTHS for her senior year, Ortega has extensive experience as a competitive dancer, spending three years with the RTHS dance team and qualifying for the IHSA State Championships over all three years. With the confidence and athletic abilities she gained from years of dancing, combined with the newly acquired skills and leadership gained from cheerleading, Ortega successfully qualified for a spot on the Wisconsin-Eau Claire team.

“I was really happy to hear that I had made the team,” Ortega said. “I was a little nervous, but I was mostly excited and I felt pretty confident going into the tryout. I was so excited when I found out I made the team and I’m excited to meet new people and continue my love for cheer… My dance experience helped me the most because I already felt confident with dance and I found it really easy to learn new routines during the cheer season. The rest fell into place from there.”

Tryouts for the Wisconsin-Eau Claire team were held in early May, with the tryouts consisting of a one-hour clinic and another hour for performances, which included a segmented cheer routine as well as jumping, stunting and tumbling. Ortega, who intends to study nursing, said she’s hoping to bring leadership and positive energy to the team next year. She also said that RTHS head coach Trish Rodeghero played a significant role in her improvements as a cheerleader.

“Trish was a huge factor in my positive cheer experience this past winter,” Ortega said. “She’s so positive and she always pushed me to be the best cheerleader I could be. She was patient, she believed in me and I wouldn't have been able to have a successful tryout without her… I’m really going to focus on getting better at tumbling. We’ll be practicing at a gymnastics gym, so I’m looking forward to taking more tumbling classes so I can get better and help my team.”

Ortega’s lone season with the RTHS cheer team came at the varsity level, where she helped the team as a back spot. Ortega said her role with the Wisconsin-Eau Claire cheer team will be as a flyer, a role she briefly held when she and her senior teammates were celebrated during the RTHS Senior Night earlier this year. A dancer for most of her life, Ortega decided before the start of her senior year to do cheerleading, something she hadn’t done since eighth grade.

“I still loved cheer and I thought I would try something new,” Ortega said. “I had a lot of fun meeting new friends and making deeper connections with the girls on the team. It was a very welcoming experience too… I became a back spot during the competitive season and I was nervous about it at first, but I feel really confident about it now. I flew a few times on Senior Night and being on the cheer team my senior year helped me overcome the fear of being in the air.”