FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A local cheer team is preparing to represent Fresno on one of the biggest stages in youth sports.<\/p>\n
Fresno Elite will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete in the AAU Junior Olympic Games, where they will face some of the nation’s top cheer teams. The competition, which features more than 15,000 athletes from across the country, is one of the premier events of the summer.<\/p>\n
Head coach Lawrence Ramirez says qualifying for the event is a major accomplishment for the team.<\/p>\n
“This competition is one of the highest levels outside of Worlds in the summer,” Ramirez said.<\/p>\n
Fresno Elite is the only team representing Fresno at this year’s AAU Junior Olympic Games.<\/p>\n
The journey to nationals has not been without challenges. In recent weeks, the team has dealt with multiple injuries, forcing coaches to make last-minute adjustments to the routine just days before competition.<\/p>\n
“We had two injuries. We just had a third, so we’re reworking the routine right now to make sure that it still hits solidly,” Ramirez said.<\/p>\n
Despite those setbacks, team captain Ben Ybarra says the athletes are ready to showcase the talent that exists in the Central Valley.<\/p>\n
“A lot of times Fresno is seen as the underdog,” Ben said. “But Fresno has some incredibly talented athletes, and I think it’s important to represent that.”<\/p>\n
For Ramirez, the AAU Junior Olympic Games are about more than just competing for a championship. The event also serves as a recruiting opportunity, allowing athletes to connect with college coaches and potentially earn scholarships.<\/p>\n
“It’s a big recruiting event,” Ramirez said. “Colleges can talk to athletes, and we have several seniors on this team. Our goal is to help them continue their education while competing at the next level.”<\/p>\n
The team will depart for Iowa on Monday morning ahead of competition, which begins July 29. As Fresno Elite prepares to take the national stage, the athletes hope to make their city proud while pursuing both championship titles and future opportunities in collegiate cheer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) \u2014 A local cheer team is preparing to represent Fresno on one of the biggest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":["post-413530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}