Zianna Schneider, granddaughter of four Herscher grandparents, has won a gold medal as a member of world championship team at the International Cheer Union competition.
Zianna, 15, was one of 24 athletes competing for the American team in the 12-15-year-old division.
The Americans finished ahead of teams from Mexico, Germany, Norway, Finland, the Philippines, Sweden, Chile, Australia and China to win the gold. The competition was held in late April at the Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla.
Zianna is the granddaughter of Dennis and Sue O’Connor, and John and Beverly Schneider, all of Herscher. Both of Zianna’s parents, Matt and Deb O’Connor Schneider, also grew up in Herscher.
Just making the national team is an incredible honor. The team trains in East Dundee, Ill., but includes young men and women from South Dakota, New Jersey, Kentucky, Kansas, Indiana, Alabama and Tennessee, in addition to Illinois.
The selection process began with a video, followed up by an eight-hour live tryout. Once selected, team members trained together for 12-14 hours each weekend for ten weeks.
Competitive cheerleading is a more demanding sport then what most people are used to seeing on the sidelines of basketball and football games.
Competitive cheerleading requires a great deal of training and endurance. Participants are scored on tumbling, motion and execution. The harder the stunt the higher the score. Synchronization with teammates is important, along with keeping to the beat of the music. Different ages and levels of the competition have slightly different scoring rules.
Zianna has been competing on the national team for three years, but this spring marked her first participation on a coed team. She’s grateful, she says, for her coaches, teammates and family, and for everyone who has supported her. She says she treasures winning gold at the international level.
A sophomore at Lemont High School, Zianna also plays fastpitch softball. An older brother Zane plays both baseball and basketball. Zianna’s unusual name is a combination of the letter “Z” theme and the middle name of both of her grandmothers.
Zianna had started in gymnastics at five years old. She had also always been interested in cheerleading. In sixth grade, she tried out for the competitive cheerleading squad at her middle school and made the difficult decision to chose cheerleading as her sport.
Still, her gymnastics experience with tumbling and floor exercise helped her immensely in cheerleading. Her middle school, Old Quarry Middle School, was the state champion three years running in competitive cheerleading. Her high school, Lemont High, is also a powerhouse in the state competitive cheerleading competition.
“I love performing and showing off all the hard work that we’ve done,” Zianna said.