PLACENTIA : This Bird’s the Word in London

On New Year’s Day, El Dorado High School student Sarah Frost will strut through London’s Regent’s Square in orange fur pants and fluffy yellow slippers.

As the winner of a regional cheerleading competition, Frost flew to London on Tuesday with two other high school mascots and a few dozen cheerleaders to represent the United States in that city’s annual Jan. 1 parade.

To earn the right to participate, the 18-year-old school mascot charmed a crowd at the Universal Cheerleaders Assn. contest in June by dancing and lip-syncing to popular music.

A key to her success in the competition, she said, was that she already had a year’s experience as a school mascot, so she knew what would work: mimicry.

“People love it,” she explained, when she sneaks up behind security guards and cheerleaders at athletic events and imitates them.

Something about a big, furry double makes people laugh. Exaggeration is also essential. A step must be a strut, and a trip must be a tumble.

When she and another mascot play “catch” on the sidelines, every run scores a touchdown.

Frost said that being El Dorado’s mascot has given her a chance to express herself and has taught her to be more outgoing.

In the cheerleader uniform that she wears at halftime and after the games to avoid being mobbed by fans, Frost said, she feels “really stupid and uncomfortable. Once I get inside the costume, it’s a lot easier” for her personality to shine.