By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Looking back on a sports season filled with uncertainty and virus precautions, members of the Mt. Edgecumbe High cheer squad were grateful for the chance to compete and perform even under difficult circumstances.
With many schools across the state still closed for in-person education and athletics, senior Aliyah Schumann, of Fairbanks, was happy to be at Mt. Edgecumbe.
“I feel a lot of gratitude for it, because even though a lot of people in our home communities weren’t able to go to school in person, we were able to do that and do sports,” Schumann told the Sentinel.
She stressed the adaptability of her teammates as they practiced and competed under challenging circumstances.
“It’s made me realize how adaptable we are and how adaptable we can be to solve problems like COVID, even though there are obstacles like COVID we can still do things like cheer,” Schumann said.
With the season perpetually at risk of cancellation in the event of a virus spike, team coach Marni Bauder stressed the basics.
“When we started we didn’t know if we were going to be able to cheer, so my goal became building that self-confidence. That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to learn how to work as a team, we’re going to learn how to speak in front of the crowd,” Bauder said. This was her first year as head coach, and she was backed up by assistant coach Shirley Perkins.
Bauder highlighted the role of confidence and good communication in the sport.
“Confidence - knowing that they can make it, that they can do it no matter how hard it gets… Communication kind of rules the world anyway. Because they need to be able to read the crowd, they need to be able to pay attention to the game… (and) how to work with other people,” the coach said.
Another senior, Ariana Sanchez-Enlow, of Utqiagvik, noted that during the unprecedented season, the team forged close bonds.
“This season we were really able to come a lot closer, able to work together more easily because of the bonds we were able to make,” Sanchez-Enlow said. “And it felt like this year it was more working as a team instead of just some people leading and everyone else just following. We were really able to put everything together.”
The cheer season began alongside the basketball season in January, though it was unlike any in living memory. At early-season games on Japonski Island, the MEHS cheer team performed in front of near-vacant stands. The hammering of the basketball on the court echoed through the gym with no roaring fans to drown out the noise of play.
For Schumann, the odd experience of those early games pushed her to be louder.
“We had to be the loudest that we could be because there was no one else there that was cheering for the team,” she said.
Sanchez-Enlow described the experience as awkward, but noted that as crowds returned to the stands in the mid- and late-season, the pressure ramped up.
“It was definitely a little awkward at first, just cheering to nobody, compared to the time we would cheer before where we would have responses and crowds and people would go along with it. I feel like it also gave us - it made us more nervous for when people were actually able to be there,” Sanchez-Enlow recalled. “It definitely made the games a lot more exciting, you could feel the energy and the hype from the crowds gave you energy. When nobody was there you felt like the game was so long and so draining, yelling the cheers to nobody.”
She was not alone in this sentiment. Kaylie Sherman, a senior from Anchorage, said it was difficult to add fans back in.
“I think going through the first games here, I wouldn’t say nerve-wracking, it was kind of weird not to see people in the crowd… But once people started showing up, that’s when I started getting nervous. But I think it was a really good experience overall,” Sherman said.
For Noah Andrew, a member of the Edgecumbe cheer team and pep band, cheering for empty stands felt somewhat hollow.
“It kind of sucks because it felt like we’re just performing. We don’t get to show what we’ve been working on. It almost felt pointless until people came,” Andrew said.
He noted that the season was uncertain from day to day due to the coronavirus.
“We don’t know what to expect with COVID going on,” he said.
Sherman acknowledged that other students around the state have not enjoyed the opportunities of students in Sitka this year.
“My sister only started going to school about a month ago, so they started opening up again… We’re very fortunate to be coming to school, especially in the beginning of the year,” she said.
Early in the season, athletes remembered, they were unsure if they would have a chance to do stunts, or even cheer at many games. In most games, the cheer team performed between the bleachers in the MEHS student section instead of on the sideline, as is traditional. But the cheer team was there and performing nonetheless.
“We ended up cheering at most of the games and we ended up stunting and it was really good for us to do those things even though we were told we weren’t going to be able to do them,” Schumann said.
Not including halftime routines, the Braves cheer team’s first time performing on the sideline was at the Region V tournament in mid-March.
In hindsight, Sherman said, the trying season was worthwhile.
“It felt like we all got to participate in something. It felt that we all got close… it was a good experience, definitely something to remember.”
