We all love a good curse right? You may be familiar with some of the famous curses including, King Tut’s curse, saying that whoever opens his tomb shall die, The Bermuda Triangle Curse: any traveler crossing through the Bermuda Triangle will go missing. A newer curse, The Madden Curse, states that the players shown on the front cover of the video game will endure bad luck throughout their season. Have you heard of the Large Senior curse?

The Large Senior curse is said to affect competitive cheerleading teams competing in the Large Senior Level 5 division. The theory is that this curse prevents any of the the Large Senior level 5 teams from winning both NCA and the World Championships in the same year. Season after season, the team that takes first place in this division at NCA, has had tragic luck at the World Championships, causing their placement to suffer.

The last team to win both NCA and Worlds in the same season was The Maryland Twisters F5 in 2005. Since then, no team has been able win both competitions.

Three Linganore Cheerleaders, Sofia Toccalino, Kendall Sheehy, and Catie Jo Tansey, are in reach of breaking this curse. These cheerleaders are athletes on one of the most elite cheerleading teams in the country, The Maryland Twisters F5, consisting of 38, talented, driven, young women whose end goal is winning both NCA, a competition at the end of February in Dallas, Texas, and the World Championships at the ESPN Zone in Orlando, Florida in May.

The world of competitive cheerleading is relatively unknown to outsiders. However, there are over 100,000 registered competitive cheerleaders in the United States. These cheerleaders, ranging from ages 4-18 and levels 1-5, practice year-round and travel around the country for competition.

Winning the World Championships is like a gold medal at the Olympics. Only the highest level, level 5, is given the opportunity to compete at the world championships. These level 5 teams have to compete at other competitions and score high enough to receive an invitation to worlds.

Every cheerleader´s next biggest dream, is winning NCA. NCA is the most competitive competition in the country allowing teams of all levels to compete.

Linganore´s Sofia Toccalino, Kendall Sheehy, Catie Jo Tansey, as well as the rest of the Maryland Twisters F5 (named after the most powerful category of tornado), are so close to achieving their goals.

December 2017, this team competed at a national championship in Louisville, Kentucky, which their successes enabled them to be given an invitation to the World Championships in May. At this competition, they won first place and their unique choreography and routine stood out among their competitors. Their next step in their journey is competing at NCA, the weekend of February 24 and 25.

To prepare for this competition, F5 has had practice in Hanover, Maryland every day for two consecutive weeks. True Hall, Tara Rall and Will Stokes-Murray coach the young women. These practices consists of running their routine countless times, adding more challenging skills, and making sure every aspect of their performance will be precise. Performing a perfect routine is what this team needs to do to win.

Linganore senior, Kendall Sheehy, says that in order to be successful the team needs to, “Breathe. Take everything one step at a time, and have fun.”  

The team believes that the most important thing to remember is to be mentally strong. Each girl on the team can physically hit a perfect routine, but they need to focus. The second they lose focus or doubt their abilities, mistakes happen.

Freshman Sofia Toccalino says, “I think we just need to get this curse thing out of our heads and not let it get to us.”

The Maryland Twisters F5 placement at NCA, on February 24 and 25, will determine if they will be in the running to break the curse. This team needs to win NCA first, to be able to break the curse at the end of their season.

Sofia Toccalino says, “As long as we stay focused and stay determined, we have the tools needed to win.”

Despite the odds, The Maryland Twisters F5 believe that they can be the team to break the curse.