Rival teams start counting after music stops so cheerleaders could finish their routine

Teams are usually extremely competitive when it comes to national championships. But when Cheer Athletics Panthers was performing on February 25, their music stopped and now imagine who was counting for them? It was more than 10,000 cheerleaders from rival teams present at the NCA All-Star National Championship venue. In a TikTok video uploaded by @magenreaves, first, the team can be seen performing with the music, but after 60 seconds, the music stops. Immediately, thousands of cheerleaders began to count 3..5..7..5 and repeated it until they finished their routine. 

The video soon went viral, with 9.5 million views and 2.1 million likes. It is captioned, "And why were we all crying?! Such a sweet moment and they slayed their routine! 📣" People on the social media platform appreciated the sportsmanship among the teams. @theravenvesta commented, "People really underestimate the sportsmanship in cheer. It’s a community. It’s not like what you see in the movies with the cattiness." @kkaykkayann commented, "The way they didn't even hesitate, they heard the music stop and immediately started counting. I have no background in cheer but this was amazing to see." @close_ _chaos commented, "This literally gave me chills. They say cheer isn’t a sport! Please. This was the epitome of sportsmanship! Class act! Pure badass! ❤️" @steeze365daily commented, "The epitome of “the show must go on” 👏🏾👏🏾" @alexis_lee33 commented, "me crying and feeling proud and I have nothing to do with cheerleading."

Talking about cheerleading, in another story, Katrina Kohel, a 17-year-old Morrill High School senior, went ahead and performed alone at the Nebraska State Cheerleading Championship when her three teammates quit due to some personal reasons. Kohel chose to perform alone because she wanted to end her senior year with a bang. "I decided I wanted to go and still compete because I wanted to end my senior year with a bang, and I didn’t want to give up on cheerleading because it has been such a huge part of my life," she continued. "The three freshmen quit for personal reasons," Kohel told FOX Television Stations.

She shared that she felt a surge of nervousness when she stepped into the arena. Despite that, she continued her solo routine with energy and enthusiasm. Moreover, her competitors and the crowd cheered for her. Kohel said the feeling was "amazing" and it was humbling to know that her competitors were willing to show her such support.

Kohel ended up finishing 8th out of the 12 competing teams. The judges adjusted her score because she could not perform some of the stunts alone, but Kohel was proud of what she had achieved. Kohel's coach, April Ott, praised her for her performance, saying that the amount of love and support from the arena was "beyond phenomenal and rewarding".

"I’m just so proud of Katrina and the performance she put on out there on the mat," Kohel’s coach, April Ott, said to FOX Television Stations. "The amount of love and support from the spectators and teams in that arena was absolutely phenomenal and rewarding."