Rebecca Waller | Staff Reporter
Posted March 24, 2014; 1:20 p.m.

While the rest of the campus is planning Spring Break trips for March 29-April 6, the cheerleaders are preparing for a week of physically taxing work they refer to as Hell Week.

Hell Week is the time for the cheerleading squads to perfect routines for nationals. Cheerleading Nationals are the week after Spring Break in Daytona Beach, Fla. According to Lindenwood’s website, three cheerleading squads will go to Daytona to compete against teams from across the country: all-girl, large co-ed and intermediate co-ed.

Hell Week consists of long, grueling practices. All stunts and tumbling passes are performed and breaks are rare. Tina White, a sophomore on the intermediate co-ed team, said, “It’s hell and exhausting. It’s all continuous movement. You just want everything to be right.”

Every day, squads run through their entire routines over and over again until they are perfect. By the end of each practice, members of the cheerleading squads are worn-out. To make Hell Week more entertaining and tolerable, themes are assigned to each practice. “There’s beach days, and the last day is usually zombie day because we’re all dead tired,” White said.

Aimee Stockard, a freshman on the intermediate co-ed team, is excited for her first Hell Week. “Hell Week sounds intimidating, but also so worth it,” she said.

Hell Week might be hard work, but it also aims to bring squads closer together. “We are LU family. Hell Week better be prepared for us,” Stockard warned.