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King’s Fork High School’s Cheer Team is on an incredible winning streak as of late. The competition team punched its ticket to the VHSL Class 5 State Finals for the first time in school history, and it will also take a trip to Orlando in December to perform at the Citrus Bowl. 

After showcasing their talents in the National Cheerleading Association Camp this past July, the KFHS Cheer Team has been selected to perform at the Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31, 2024, in Orlando, Florida. KFHS Head Cheerleading Coach Azza Harvey had a chance to talk about the team’s upcoming moment, saying that she and her team are “super excited” about the opportunity.

“This is the first time that the school has ever really participated in anything for cheer besides the typical, you know, football games, basketball games. So we’re really excited,” Harvey said.

Originally known as the Tangerine Bowl in 1947, the Citrus Bowl has become the seventh-oldest collegiate bowl game in the country and has hosted top teams from the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences. Harvey says initially the team was “a little bit confused” due to not knowing what the Citrus Bowl was, but after being informed by their families, understood how big of a deal it is to be invited to the event. Harvey detailed the selection process during their time at the National Cheerleading Association Camp, noting that they participated in the camp for four days and three nights.

“We were there overnight, for four days, three nights. They learned different skills. They learned new stunting skills, tumbling skills, cheers, chants, all those things. And then at the end of the camp, they had an evaluation,” Harvey said. “And so, the judges and the camp counselors, they reviewed over the material that they learned at camp, watched the girls perform it in front of the other teams, and then they got to select the team that they wanted to go on to perform at the Citrus Bowl.”

Accolades that the team saw from their performance at the camp included the Leadership Award to Aliyah Harrell, 1st Place Cheer (Top Team Cheer) to Kings Fork, 5 All Americans (10 nominees), and freshman Iyani Dozier being named the highest scoring cheer member overall. He was also named the only Freshman All-American. Among others, Harvey received Outstanding Rookie Coach Award as well.

Harvey has partnered with the Bulldogs Booster Club to help support with transportation and team meals following the team’s successful fundraising and support from their parents. Bulldogs Booster Club President and Head Track and Field Coach Adrian “A.D.” Young talked about the club helping the students, which he notes is “consistent” with their bylaws to help all VHSL (Virginia High School League) aligned student athletes to meet their season goals. 

“The booster club came into play by ensuring that we supported them financially with some of their needs while they were on travel, which was food, and then arranging the rental cars so that they could get the transportation down to the trip,” Young said. “It’s a note that the team actually raised all their funds, but because we were in the summer session, the booster club becomes a critical support system to our teams because we’re able to help them during off hours, during any day of the week.”

Young continued.

“We can send them with travel cards, and also they have access to all of their money or funds, 24 hours a day via the booster club. And I think that was the best benefit that we gave them over the summer so they could meet their goals,” he said.

Harvey, an alumni of Kings Fork High School’s class of 2018 and a former cheerleader, says it’s “full circle” to help the girls in their high school journey.

“A lot of my girls, they don’t really have a lot of experience in cheerleading, so being able to give them a new experience and just show them a new perspective to cheerleading is really big for me,” Harvey says. “I’ve been in cheerleading all my life, I’ve done all types of cheerleading – school cheer, all star cheers – so being able to really bring my knowledge back to my kids and give them the opportunities to do bigger things than just, you know, cheer at a football game or a basketball game, is so important to me.”

Harvey continued.

“A lot of my girls, they talk to me about how they want to experience new things. They want to go to different states and, you know, just travel the world and take cheerleading with them. And to me, it just really warms my heart that they want to take cheerleading to the next level,” she said.

In a message to her cheer team, Harvey encourages the girls to “keep working hard.”

“Their hard work does not go unnoticed,” she said. “I want them to know that as long as they put in the hard work, they will always get good things out of it, and that I love them with my whole heart.”