When the annual National Cheerleaders Association competition takes place April 5-9 in Daytona Beach, Fla., two teams from N.C. State will be showcasing their skills.

The one seen at football and basketball games, the varsity cheerleaders, will be there. But they will be joined by the school’s all-girl cheerleading squad, which is supported by Club Sports.

While they will be in the same place, the two teams will be separated into the co-ed and all-girl competitions.

Sophomore and club Vice President Lelia West said all-girl cheerleading offers an opportunity for those who think their cheerleading days are over.

“They feel like, pretty much, if they’re not on co-ed that they can’t still cheer after high school, but they can,” West said.

Alison Rhyne, a graduate student, cheered on the all-girl squad for three years after a one-year stay on the co-ed squad during her undergraduate years.

Rhyne is now an assistant coach for the squad because of support from squad members for her to help out, she said.

While she would still be eligible to cheer because she is taking classes, Rhyne said having 21 cheerleaders on the squad meant she would help out rather than suit up for a fourth season this year.

When the squad participated Feb. 17-19 in Atlanta at the Cheersport Nationals, Rhyne said it was an emotional time for her to not be competing as part of the squad any longer.

“It was hard watching them compete and not being out there on the floor with them,” Rhyne said.

The squad finished fourth out of six teams in Atlanta, behind Maryland, Kennesaw State and Georgia, but ahead of rival North Carolina — a squad that finished second on the intermediate level at Nationals last year.

Sophomore captain Lauren Decker said beating the Tar Heel squad two consecutive days was “one of the best feelings” she has felt in her time on the squad.

The fourth-place finish means the squad will compete on the intermediate level in Florida rather than the advanced level it competed on last year.

Junior and club president Ashley Nanney said the squad finds its own place to practice and its own coaches because it is part of Club Sports.

Nanney said there is a lack of knowledge about the squad on campus.

“When we wear our jackets, people are like, ‘I didn’t know there was an all-girl squad,'” Nanney said.

She said the squad usually finds new members by word of mouth.

The squad practices for about two and a half hours four days a week at Raleigh Rage on Western Boulevard.

Sophomore captain Zoe Chamberlain tore her ACL in December, but she still travels with the squad.

Chamberlain said being a good cheerleader requires being able to adjust to changing routines.

“Things change in cheerleading almost every practice when you’re preparing for competition,” Chamberlain said.

While she said it is challenging to prepare for competitions, Chamberlain said the girls still know how to leave it in the gym when practice is over.

“We still know how to have fun outside of practice,” Chamberlain said.

Nanney, Chamberlain and Rhyne said some of the schools with better programs also have more funding from the school.

Rhyne said she hopes the team will be successful enough to one day “get picked up as a varsity sport.”

For now, West said the squad wants to earn recognition as a top-flight program, similar to the stature the co-ed team enjoys because of its competitive success.

“State’s a school that’s known for cheerleading. Our co-ed team’s awesome,” West said. “They have a really good reputation, and we want to build on that and have a really good reputation for an all-girl team.”

While it is easy to simply aspire to that greatness, West said she wants the squad to pursue it.

“A lot of us are really serious about being one of the top teams like the other schools are. We don’t want to sit there and watch other teams and be like, ‘Wow, we could do that if we got our crap together,'” West said. “We actually want to do it, be that team.”

The squad enters competitions but does not cheer for sporting events, and the group also appeared at the recent Dance Marathon.

In addition to the money the squad receives from Club Sports, it still needs fundraisers to help raise support for their endeavors.

Nanney said the girls also have part-time jobs to help with the financial aspects of the squad.

“Most of us work part-time. We have had a few fundraisers, but we’ve got to get better at fundraising,” Nanney said. “We’ve tried, but it always kind of falls through.”

Decker is in her second year on the squad, and she said the competitions in Daytona Beach and Atlanta have been some of her most enjoyable times with the squad.

But it’s the friends she has made that she said have been such a large part of her college life.

She said it’s hard to think about her life without all-girl cheerleading in it.

“I can’t imagine where I’d be right now,” Decker said. “I’d be a totally different person.”

West said others might not know much about the squad or what it is about.

She also said the girls certainly know what they get out of it.

“You know what it means to you, and pretty much all the girls are really close. And everybody loves each other,” West said. “So it’s something that you’re proud to be on just because you know how it is even if everybody else doesn’t recognize it yet.”