During the current school year, cheerleading teams from the King’s Academy, Palm Beach Central High School and Wellington High School all advanced to this year’s Florida High School Athletic Association state cheerleading finals in Lakeland. One of the big reasons for the success of those three schools can be attributed to the existence of the Wellington Cougars.
For the past 24 years, the Cougars, under the guidance of owner Christina Reickel, have been offering beginner cheer, competitive cheer, dance and tumbling to area children, starting at a young age.
“We offer programs for boys and girls ages 4 to 18,” said Reickel, who currently oversees more than 50 girls on competitive cheer teams. “The cheer season runs from June until the following April each year, with training and choreography all summer, and competition season from January to April.”
When any of the Cougar teams perform in competition, a great deal is expected from each squad during every cheer routine.
“A competitive cheer routine is two minutes and 30 seconds of action-packed excitement with jumps, tumbling, stunting, pyramids and dance,” explained Reickel, who is assisted by fellow cheer coach Patti Gailey, Chloe Wilson and Grace Mercurio.
This spring has been filled with big wins by the Cougars, who practice at Village Park in Wellington.
“Our most recent event was the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) in Daytona Beach,” said Reickel, who was an NCA cheerleader in college at Florida Atlantic University. “Our mini team placed second, the youth team came home in first place, and our junior team also placed first.”
Experiencing success in competition is the norm for the Wellington Cougars, which started with one 13-member squad in the very first year of the club’s existence. The club is now the longest-standing competitive cheer program in Palm Beach County.
“The Cougars have won notable competitions through the years with too many championship trophies and banners to count, but pride themselves on being a gym that builds champions and helps mold the next generation of leaders in our community,” Reickel said.
