MACON, Ga. — The girls of the MGA Cheer Extreme Lady Orbit team are no strangers to winning. Fresh off a national championship, they're already prepping for their second at Cheersport Nationals in Atlanta.
"There's about 1300 teams in that one, we have about 17 teams in our division and that one is considered the Mecca of cheerleading," said cheer coach Mason Dillard.
The Lady Orbit team is comprised of girls ages 13 to 18. They spend tons of hours in the gym, tumbling, stunting and conditioning. There is zero room to slack off. Ask senior Sarah Griffin.
"The mindset is to domination, we definitely want to prove why we work so hard and all of these long practices with conditioning and the bruises and everything that it takes to get there. We want to prove that we work the hardest," Griffin said.
Scoring in cheerleading is left to the judges. In a sport where losing can be by less than a point, there's no room for errors.
"I think two years ago I lost Cheersport by .07. That was first and second place so it's just a lot of feet together, smiling the whole time, even just looking at the judges once will bump your score up," said ninth grader Michaela Lester.
Cheersport Nationals is a big deal, but MGA has eyes on an even bigger prize. The team earned a paid bid to The Summit after winning the Spirit of Hope Competition. The Summit is a competition considered the Super Bowl of cheerleading.
"For us being this like small gym from Central Georgia to get a paid bid that's insane for all of us because that's the big thing every one wants," said 10th grader Maci Cote.
Practice is relentless and tough to get through. A win at a competition of The Summit's magnitude takes a level of mental toughness that not many have.
"It's about the mental aspect, because if you can't handle what I'm going to put you through, there's no reason that you can be on that team because you're going to end up cracking and we can't have cracking under pressure," Dillard said.
Cheersport Nationals is the week of Valentine's Day in Atlanta. Afterwards MGA Cheer Extreme will prep for The Summit in May.