Many people stereotype cheerleaders as enthusiastic and preppy. But this season, the PSH cheerleaders had all the right reasons to have fake smiles.
This season, the cheerleaders went through many major setbacks and challenges, causing a rough ending for them. From having weak bonds at the start of the season to having two coaches in one year, the cheerleaders couldn’t be at their best.
Sophomore Faith Mancuso explains her side of the story.
“The start of the season was already divided because there were no bonding moments. Many friend groups had already merged, and the constant switch-up of coaches didn’t help the cheerleaders find a good balance between themselves,” she said.
According to freshman Ava Chappell, a major problem for the team was the coaching and how often it was changing.
“If we didn’t have multiple coaches, and we had one set coach, it would be cohesive and have more strict rules. Having no coach is what broke the team this year,” Chappell said.
To add onto Chappell, senior cheerleader Gia Willis also had her opinions on how the coaching affected the team.
“I feel like I couldn’t be connected to my teammates because of the coaching situation,” Willis said.
If not having a coach wasn’t bad enough for these girls, they couldn’t be supported and go to state because of the situation.
“It was very disappointing to not go to state because of how hard we worked to compete, but at the same time, I still have a long way to go and I have 3 years left to experience what it’s like to be a part of a state competing team,” Chappell said.
Junior Rachel Prsha thinks the team had a rough season because they weren’t always given the support they needed.
“We were not given what we needed to be successful because we had been through many different coaches this season, and they all had very different and unique teaching styles. The team had to be very adaptive this year,” Prsha said.
Alongside the bigger team problems, Prsha experienced a major setback from an injury. Just before the first competition, Prsha went through a leg injury that included tearing her MCL, her ACL and breaking her femur. This caused her skill level to drop progressively.
“Some of my ups consisted of learning new skills and gaining new friendships. The downs would be getting hurt and not being able to cheer, as well as losing skills,” Prsha said.
Despite Prsha’s injury, she said she’s now back and better than ever, just in time for the end of the season, hoping for improvements and changes in the new season to come.
Mancuso thinks that with some work, the team could be much more successful next year.
“Everyone on the team should have a sense of decision and how we run things like practice or competitions. This year, we couldn’t talk to everyone comfortably because of what happened with our coaching situation and other cheerleaders. Everyone should work better on being more inclusive and compromising so we have a better season with improvements,” said Mancuso.
Despite the mess of this season, Willis is still grieving to move forward.
“I am going to miss the underclassmen a lot, especially the few girls I got close with, but I am excited for the underclassmen to have a better and improved season coming up with fewer complications, and I am now moving onto another chapter in my life,” said Willis.
