Cheers

A cheerleader does a midair split during a previous Athletic Championships’ cheer and dance competition.

Photo by Jake Daniels /Chattanooga Times Free Press.

There will a lot of energetic hooting and hollering this weekend at Chattanooga Convention Center at the National Cheerleading Competition sponsored by Athletic Championships.

Last year, around 4,000 cheerleaders and dancers from 208 teams competed in the highly anticipated event. According to Candace Davis, marketing and public relations manager for the Chattanooga Convention & Visitors Bureau, the event is not only fun for the competitors but good for Chattanooga. Davis said the estimated 14,000 people who will attend the competition will spend an estimated $5 million over the weekend.

According to Davis, Athletic Championships is a provider of one and two-day cheerleading and dance championships across the country. The organization has been sponsoring the competitions for 12 years. Chattanooga, the site of the first competition, continues to be the largest each year.

Most competitors travel within a six-hour radius of Chattanooga. This year, though, a team from Alaska will compete.

Closer to home, eight teams from Chattanooga, Hixson, Dayton, Tenn., Ringgold, Ga., and Scottsboro, Ala., are among the competitors.

Contact staff writer Karen Nazor Hill at khill@times freepress.com or 423-757-6396. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/karennazor hill. Subscribe to her posts on Facebook at www.face book.com/karen nazorhill.