The Florence Town Council voted to give the Florence High School cheerleading squad $3,000 to attend the Universal Cheerleaders Association National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Florida next month.
The request for money for the FHS cheerleading team came sfrom Councilmember Arthur “Snake” Neal, a former member of the FHS football team.
“I ran a whole lot of yards on that field up there and there's nothing worse than being down by 20 points and there's some little girl behind you yelling. ‘Come on Snake, run us four more touchdowns and we can win.’ I did not like cheerleaders until I started going to competitions and it is a true sport and Florence High truly deserves this because we have a coach that has 16 state championships,” Neal said. “Annie Valencia as a coach has won 16 state championships. If that was a head football coach with four state championships, we'd be putting a statue of him outside of the stadium.”
The money would cover any additional costs as the cheerleading squad has been out raising funds for the trip, Councilmember Nicole Buccellato said.
Councilmember Michelle Cordes said the team had gone to national championships before, but this time is different.
“The level that they normally go to, if you're not aware, it's kind of like college football. There’re different levels of competition when you get to the bowls and they are going to Florida which is the top nationals competition that you can compete in in our country,” said Cordes, a former high school varsity cheerleading coach. “There are people that come from all over. There will even be people from out of the country that will come and participate at this nationals event. It is very expensive to participate.”
Janet Perez News Editor | Queen Creek &
San Tan Valley @AzNewsmedia
Meet Janet Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.
Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.
Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science.
Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.
Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.
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