Athletics
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Wrestling Under the Lights
Wrestling outside on the football field under the stadium lights on Willow Canyon's artificial turf football field - what an AMAZING experience!
With safety being a top priority, it is important to note that with the artificial turf no moisture will be transferred from the organic grass onto the wrestling mats, causing them to become wet and slippery.
This is going to be an extremely competitive tournament bringing in athletes from all over the Southwest.
- One day Saturday tournament
- Registration price: $40
- Coaches’ passes: $25
- General Admission: $15
To additional information or to register for this event, please click on the link below.
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Pom
Spiritline is a year-round sport that consists of both Cheer and Pom teams. The Cheerleading team specializes in gymnastics-based acrobatic skills, like tumbling, stunting and pyramid building. The Pom team specializes in advanced dance skills like leaps, turns and kicks. Both Cheer and Pom teams' goal is to encourage school spirit at school-sponsored events. They participate on the sidelines and during halftime of football and basketball games, attend promotional events for the school, perform at school assemblies and do volunteer work. They also compete year-round in competitions that may include: USA Qualifiers, AIA Qualifiers, AIA State Championship, and USA Nationals.
Pom Tryout Information
Tryouts -
- Current 9th-11th Grade Students
- Must be enrolled with Willow Canyon High School for the 2025-2026 season
- Must complete a 25/26 Register My Athlete profile & be athletically cleared by clinic dates in order to participate.
At this time, as instructed by AIA, future Willow Canyon 9th grade athletes may only participate in instructional clinics, summer clinics and camps and will be eligible for Tryouts in the Fall.
Coach Information
Varsity Pom coach:
Joanna Stinson (Rm 792) and Amber Watson (Rm 222)
joanna.stinson@dysart.org/amber.watson@dysart.orgAccolades
-TSC 2025 1st place Jazz
-USA National Runner Ups in Jazz
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Esports
Esports are video games that are played in a highly organized competitive environment. They ranged from multiplayer games to single-player action. This is an exciting new sport, fully supported by both the District and the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA). We offer a variety of games for students to play as an extracurricular activity. Students have opportunities to earn college scholarships at all Arizona schools and many more around the country. Those in the program also have the option to take the Esports class where students discover college and career options for esports.
What games does Willow offer?
In conjunction with the AIA, Willow Canyon offers the following games: Marvel Rivals, League of Legends, Rocket League, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate.
- Varsity: Marvel Rival, League of Legends, Rocket League, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Marvel Rivals
- JV: League of Legends, Rocket League, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate
Schedule:
Esports runs for two seasons. The official season in the Spring and runs from January through April. There is also a Fall exhibition season that runs from August through November.
Games take place on for Monday for League of Legends, Tuesday for Marvel Rivals, Wednesday for Super Smash Brothers, and Thursday for Rocket League.
Watch All games live stream at 4pm on Twitch.tv/willow_canyon_esports and can be found the next day on youtube.
Costs:
The cost per year is $150. Students must also own an account for Marvel Rivals, League of Legends or Rocket League ( games are free). Students accounts on steam or Epic Game store. Students competing in Nintendo titles are required to have a Nintendo Online account active for the entire season ($14.99/annual).
Coach Info:
Head Coach: Jon Alfred jon.alfred@dysart.org
Assistant Coach: Sabastian Warnas Sabastian.warnas@dysart.org
About the Program:
The Willow Canyon Esports program has been competing since the beginning of AIA competitive play in 2019. We are a top-performing program in the state and field perennial playoff teams. All our games are streamed live on Twitch and have VODs on YouTube. Our program is looking for not only athletes but also streamers, graphic designers, and production managers.
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Cheerleading
The Willow Canyon High School Cheerleading Program is a 2-time national champion and 7-time state championships program that supports both the football and basketball teams year-round, competing from October through February. Willow Canyon Cheerleading is a coed team specializing in gymnastics-based acrobatic skills such as tumbling, stunting, and pyramid building, with a strong emphasis on coed stunting. The team promotes school spirit by performing on the sidelines and at halftime during games, attending promotional events, participating in assemblies, and engaging in community volunteer work. In addition to these activities, the team competes throughout the year in prestigious events including USA Regional Qualifiers, UCA Regional Qualifiers, the AIA State Championships, Arizona Junior State Championships, USA High School Spirit Nationals, and the National High School Cheerleading Championships.
Cheer Tryout Information
2025 Fall Tryouts - July 30th - July 31st
Eligibility requirements for 2025- 2026 season
- Incoming 9th grader or transfer student
- Must be enrolled with Willow Canyon High School for the 2025-2026 season .
- Must complete a 25/26 Aktivate profile & be athletically cleared by clinic dates in order to participate.
Cheer Tournament Schedule
- 10/25/2025 - Desert Kick Off
- 11/15/2025 - UCA Desert Southwest Regional
- 11/21/2025 - AIA State Championship All Girl & Partner Stunt
- 11/22/2025 - AIA State Championship All Girl & Partner Stunt
- 12/13/2025 - USA Regional II
- 1/10/2026 - UCA Cactus Cup Challenge
- 1/15/2026 - 1/17/2026 - AIA State Championship Traditional
- 1/24/2026 - Arizona Junior State Championship
- 2/4/2026 - 2/8/2026 - National High School Cheerleading Championship (UCA)
- 2/19/2026 - 2/21/2026 - High School Spirit Nationals (USA)
Coach Information
Junior Varsity Cheerleading Coach - Sarah Ferris sarah.ferris@dysart.org
Accolades
- 2019 AIA D1/D2 Coed Cheer Runner-Up
- 2021 AIA D1/D2 Partner Stunt State Champions
- 2021 AIA D1/D2 Coed Cheer Runner-Up
- 2021 Sm Coed Adv USA National Champions
- 2022 AIA D1/D2 Coed Cheer Runner-Up
- 2022 Sm Coed Adv USA National Champions
- 2023 AIA D1/D2 Partner Stunt State Champions
- 2023 AIA D1/D2 Coed Cheer State Champions
- 2024 AIA D1/D2 Partner Stunt State Champions
- 2024 AIA D1/D2 Coed Cheer Runner-Up
- 2024 NHSCC Semi-Finalist
- 2025 AIA D1/D2 Coed Cheer State Champions
- 2025 AIA D1/D2 Partner Stunt State Champions
- 2025 AIA D2 All Girl Stunt State Champions
Clinics & Events
2025 Jr. Wildcat Fall Clinic
Saturday, October 4th
Location: Cafe | 9-12
Grades Kindergarten - 8th Grade Cost: $50
Will perform at Halftime on Friday, October 10th 25-26
Middle School/Level Cheerleading Camp Info coming soon....
25-26 Road to Nationals: Chicken N Pickle Pickleball Tournament Saturday, September 6th
Location: 9330 W. Hanna LN Glendale, AZ Cost: 150 per team (Doubles) Round-Robin Tournament
Social Media
Instagram: @willowcanyoncheer