American Cheer was in Palm Springs this weekend for the Duel in the Desert cheer competition hosted by Spirit Sports. Year after year Duel in the Desert is a fan favorite and easily one of the biggest cheer competitions on the entire west coast.
However, Duel was more than just a cheer competition this weekend, Duel was the first full-on live two-day championship in California since Feb of 2020. Live events returned to California earlier this season, but this was the first national championship that ran very similar to how events ran pre-COVID: live performances, live crowds, and live awards ceremonies.
Duel has always been a measuring stick for programs to see how they stack up against the best teams in the region and as it turns out American Cheer was the program to beat. This weekend American Cheer took all six of our elite teams (travel cheer) to the competition and walked away with five first place finishes and a third place. It was very exciting to show these routines off to the world again, and the support from the crowd made the performances even more special.
After the program had so many athletes in and out for our January event, GSSA, it was nice to be able to start to build momentum at practice with teams. We are now right in the middle of our competition season with JAMZ Nationals coming up for eight of our teams, followed directly by our other two teams heading to Dallas for the biggest national championship in the industry, NCA Allstar Nationals. Stay tuned to see how we do there!
Return to blog