For a second year in a row, Westerville Central High School senior Avery Strickland was selected to the USA Junior Coed Cheer Team, representing the best male and female competitive cheerleaders ages 15-18 in the nation.
Strickland, 17 years old, was the only Ohio cheerleader selected to represent Team USA. While working toward graduating high school, Strickland still spends most of her time perfecting her cheer skillset.
“It's definitely a lot of pressure, but I am one that thinks pressure is a privilege,” Strickland says.
Avery Strickland
Early leap
Strickland began her competitive cheer career at the age of 3, after being enrolled in tumbling classes. She takes after her sister Mallory, a senior cheerleader at Purdue, who also grew up in the competitive cheer world.
Throughout the years, Strickland has built a community around cheer. She self-trains in several open gym sessions – practicing stunts and tumbling at Warrior Athletics, a cheer gym in Powell, and building her skills at Cheer Athletics Columbus. As a class instructor at Midwest Xplosion, Strickland finds practice time in between those classes.
“I train every day between an hour to three or four hours every night… I'm in the gym as much as I can,” Strickland says.
Avery Strickland
Representing Team USA
The USA Cheer Team competed in the International Cheer Union Junior World Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Florida, from April 22-24, taking first place with four gold medals. The competition consisted of teams from around the world in an Olympics-style environment.
“It's just really cool to experience all these other cultures and just to wear USA across your chest,” Strickland says.
In order to try out for the Junior Team, cheerleaders submit a highlight reel of their skills. After narrowly missing the cut her sophomore year, Strickland spent the next year in training, improving her skills to make the team her junior year – and consequently, leading to a return for her senior season.
Last year, both the All Girl and Coed USA teams placed first in the Premier Finals, which gave them extra motivation to gain another first place finish this year. This year, as the team ramped up the difficulty level, Strickland was laser focused on her approach to the competition.
“Every single section is three times as hard as last year, which is going to be really hard. But it's also exciting,” Strickland says
Between practice
With the free time she has, Strickland finds coloring and diamond paintings a good way to slow down amid her busy schedule.
Strickland’s creative hobby turned into profit in 2020 when she made a craft business selling homemade scrunchies, t-shirts and other items. Although she closed shop temporarily as the COVID-19 pandemic ended, she reopened her Instagram shop as a way to pay for flight and cheer costs. Trendy Bean, @trendy_bean17, now features custom clothing apparel designed by Strickland.
“I need(ed) to pay for these flights down to Florida somehow… It’s just always been my passion to design and make clothing,” Strickland says, “My end goal is to open a real store.”
Strickland also enjoys cryotherapy and much needed rest after spending several weekends away from home for college visits, USA practice or competitions.
“My body goes through it,” Strickland says. “As a flyer, our bodies are just getting thrown around and caught and everything.”
Avery Strickland
Cheers to the future
Strickland will be attending the University of Kentucky in the fall, committed for cheer and majoring in fashion merchandising. When she wasn’t traveling to Florida for USA practice, Strickland spent most weekends in Kentucky to get to know the team and school better.
“I've gotten really close with a lot of the team, which makes me happy going in,” Strickland says.
In the next year, after settling in at Kentucky, Strickland will prepare to try out for the National Coed Premier Team in hopes of continuing her winning Worlds streak.
Maggie Valentine is an editorial assistant at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@cityscenemediagroup.com.
