RESERVE — The summer months are often spent leisurely by students taking a break from the pressures of school and sports but for Riverside Academy cheer team this summer included honing their skills at a competitive cheer camp.

The Riverside Cheer team took part in the University Cheerleading Association (UCA) beach camp held in Gulf Shores.

(UCA) is an organization that actually teaches rules and regulations and safety,” Riverside cheer coach Shannon Tregre said. “They implement that across the training and they go through all of that. Plus the schools that go there, you compete against them.”

Tregre said the camp introduces new materials and techniques and keeps cheerleaders abreast of developments in the sport.

The 17-strong member Riverside squad participated in drills, learned new cheers, honed their craft and ended the camp with a competition against 12 teams from states across the south including Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.

The Riverside cheerleaders did well in the camp, placing third overall and taking home second place in sideline, third place in cheer and fourth place in the extreme routine competitions as well as five superior ribbons in cheer, sideline, extreme routine, home pom and fight song events.

While Riverside does not participate in a competitive league during the school year, Riverside cheer captain Mikah Hopkins said they were put up against competitive cheerleaders and she was impressed with how her team members fared.

“I think we did very well considering the teams we competed against,” Hopkins said. “Some girls on the other teams were competitive cheerleaders and one team was mostly competitive cheerleaders. I think we did very well given that we have never competed against girls with that level of cheering capability.”

Hopkins attributed her team’s performance to the bond the girls build between one another.

“We have a big sister system,” Hopkins said. “We have older members that have been on the team and we partner them with a new member for their first year and kind of guide them through everything and help them with whatever we need. We took that with us and helped them along the way.”

In fact, Tregre said a big part of the camp was just allowing her team members time to get to know one another better as a group.

Tregre said while the team makes it a point to travel to a camp every summer, usually held nearby at Southeastern Louisiana University or LSU, the Gulf Shores trip was the team’s first time traveling out of state.

The team stayed in a beachside condo.

“It was a big thing to get to go to a beach camp,” Tregre said. “It was such a better experience for them than being in the dorms. They didn’t have all of this beach time like they wanted to, but the atmosphere was better for them.”

With their success in Gulf Shores the team leaders are mulling over entering a competitive league this year.

Overall, Tregre said the camp was well worthwhile and she hopes to take her team members in future years.

“I thought it was fantastic,” Tregre said.

“After finishing all of what they did, they were exhausted. The atmosphere helped them wind down and relax. It helped.”