Meet Cape Henry Collegiate cheerleading coach Shelley Camp
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The sport of cheerleading has come a long way. For starters, we can use the word sport for its description. Cheerleaders are true athletes and have transformed the image of their art from its stereotypical pompoms and smiles to a level of gymnastics, acrobatics and choreography that demands respect. Indeed, cheerleading continues to be rumored as a future Olympics sport.
At Cape Henry Collegiate, the cheerleading team is catching a lot of attention. 鈥淓veryone comes to basketball to watch the cheerleaders and the halftime show,鈥� exclaimed teacher and cheerleading coach Shelley Camp. 鈥淓veryone loves watching them, and they鈥檝e gained true respect from the community. With all of the stunts and the tumbling, they are true athletes.鈥�
When Camp accepted a job at Cape Henry Collegiate nine years ago, it was a homecoming. Camp taught and coached the cheerleading team at Cape Henry in 2011, when she first moved to Virginia Beach. She was only at the school for a year when her Navy pilot husband, Joseph, was transferred to California. When Camp returned to Cape Henry, she hoped to rebuild the cheerleading program.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have a lot of participation at first,鈥� recalled Camp. 鈥淚 encouraged other students, such as the dancers, to get involved, and after having an initial interest meeting, over 40 girls tried out! We wanted to come out with a bang, and we did it.鈥�
Camp is from Lowell, IN, and she cheered in high school and was on the dance team in college at Purdue University. After graduation, she coached a high school dance program in Indiana, and her team won a state championship. 鈥淭hat program was year round,鈥� recalled Camp. 鈥淚 truly lived and breathed it.鈥�
Today, she and her husband are raising two children in Broadway Point Greens. The children attend Cape Henry Collegiate and are in 1st and 4th grade. Camp teaches English for 9th and 12th grades at the school. In addition, she sings in a rock band in her free time, which may come as no surprise to her students.
Utilizing her talent and expertise to breathe new life into the cheerleading program upon her return, Camp鈥檚 magnetism and leadership was evidenced by the turnout at tryouts. 鈥淲e had enough participants to create both a junior varsity and varsity team,鈥� she said. 鈥淏efore, we only had enough interest to have varsity.鈥� The junior varsity team consists of students from grades 7-10, and the varsity team draws from grades 8-12.
In both 2023 and this year, the varsity cheerleading team won the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools championship. When they won in 2023, it was the first time in 19 years, and they are hoping for a repeat in 2025.
鈥淚 love watching how talented they are,鈥� said Camp. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e shown Cape Henry what they can be, and I鈥檓 very proud.鈥�
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