For cheerdance fanatics, the second Sunday of September is always a red-letter day in their calendars. It's the time in the UAAP season when basketball takes a backseat and cheers alongside the whole studentry for their school's pep squads. Season 72 marked another year when the UP Pep will face their most notorious adversary, the UST Salingawi Dance Troupe. Just like the DLSU Green Archers to the ADMU Blue Eagles, UP and UST have been bitter enemies on the rubber mats for the longest time. Even their fans, students and alumni, share the same feelings towards one another.
So how did the schools perform?
The FEU Cheering Squad finally got hold of the championship after several years being in 3rd place. This was made more special since they were the hosts for Season 72. They got a score of a whopping 86.1%. The FEU Cheering Squad has been known for their consistency and fluidity of movements, as shown throughout their routine. I must say that their liftees (dunno what you call them) have been phenomenal while on air, having done different difficult tosses and turns, even perfecting the scorpion popularized by the UP Pep and adding complicated moves such as the famed toe-to-chin move. Nonetheless, this championship I give to the FEU Cheering Squad. One championship I wasn't even bitter to accept. They really deserved this spot this year. Can't wait to see how they'll be defending it next season.
I've always believed in the Ateneo Blue Babble Battalion eversince Coach Randell took over. They've been knocking on the Top 3's door for the past 2 years, even surprising myself that they weren't able to barge in two years ago (in a highly contested result). But this year was also Ateneo's year, what with their MBT leading the basketball tourney, the Blue Babble Battalion finally entered the elusive Top 3, even beating the the top contenders UP Pep and the UST SDT. They won first runner-up with a score of 83.4%. Their routine was clean, though a much simpler one compared to last year's top 3. But then again, their error-less routine gave them the judges' nods and the 2nd place. I really liked the moonwalk though.
A bitter-sweet season for the UP Pep Squad. A should-have-been 3-peat deligated them down to 3rd place with a score of 83.1% (yes, just .3% shy off the Ateneo's score). The UP Pep Squad has been known for innovating the sport, having introduced concept cheerdance with their synchronized swimming, taebo, philippine games, etc. But they left a much much bigger expectation that they will surpass their last two routines which gave them the championship the past two years. I say that the UP Rock concept is still their best routine ever, followed by their Tribu concept last year in time for the Centennial. This year's theme though was made especially for the whole UP community, reflecting the UP culture as known and experienced only by the true Iskolars. I say that the ikot-toki jeep slash UP seal has been phenomenal, didn't expect that it would transform into anything actually. The inclusion of the sablay gave me goosebumps ( and I will proudly say that I liked their costume this year, plaid shorts and all). Well, they chose difficulty over accuracy, a risk they clearly paid bigtime. A lot of errors were caught up by the judges and this clearly reflected in their final score. But still, I'm very proud of our UP Pep Squad. Even with so many errors, the judges still credited the difficulty in their routines. And I can't wait to see them perform next year and snatch that crown back to Diliman. Though next year's competition will surely be a match-up not only with FEU, UP, and UST. With Ateneo having placed this year, I'm pretty sure the other schools will put sweat and blood to their routines in trying their luck to take any place. I say, may the BEST squad win!
You can watch the other squads' routines by CLICKING HERE.
