Jada Wooten and Jeron Hazelwood are the team captains: As one of the best tumblers on the team, Jada has taken on a leadership position for the Cardinals, and she’s not one to let people phone it in. ”I’ve always been a leader and I actually want to do better for my team instead of just myself or my coach,” Jada says. “I’m trying to be a role model and lead for them the best I can.”
And, according to Vontae, he’s trained Jada to the point where “she can be humbly cocky, so she can shine in her own way.”
As for Jeron, he’s as a stumbler, which is when a cheerleader can stunt and tumble. But that’s not what makes him uniquely suited to be a leader: Johnson says that he brings the “energy” to a performance: “He can make a team boost to another level with his personality.”
“When you have somebody like Jeron, who can just walk into a gym and by being himself allow other people to decompress a little bit,” assistant coach Kris adds, “you can’t put a price on that.”
Navarro lost out on the opportunity to bring Jeron onto the mat when they turned him down after an audition in 2016.