ENDICOTT, NY (WIVT/WBGH) – The Union Endicott cheer team got back from Orlando Florida last week with a top ten placing in a national competition.

The cheer squad left last Wednesday and returned on Monday after placing 9th in the Game Day Division at the UCA national competition.

Senior at UE, Ireland Bambara has been able to compete in 3 different national competitions.

With this being her last trip to nationals, she says it was emotional, but she took the freshman under her wing and made sure they were in the right mental space to compete at a high level.

Senior at Union Endicott High School Ireland Bambara says, “I understand the stress. A lot of them were stressed and I pulled some of them aside and was like, listen, it’s perfectly fine that your stressed, that your nervous, but I was like, we need to take those nerves and put it to a good use and not let it get the best of you. And I honestly think, I could not be prouder of our newbie’s than I am, cause they took those nerves, and just ran with it and did great with our routines.”

Bambara says that the day prior to pre-limbs, each team is only given roughly 20 minutes of practice time on the mat.

She says compared to the other competitions, the quality of the routines this year was tougher than ever before.

Now, the team is preparing for sectionals which will be held at UE in the coming weeks.