Sitka High cheerleaders pose for a shot after claiming another Region V title at Sitka High on March 17. For the official competition, the team submitted a recording of a routine performed in an empty gym. (Photo provided by Addie Poulson)
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Propelled by strong team cohesion, an adaptable mindset, and a determination to succeed during a challenging season, the Sitka High cheer team earned its fourth consecutive Region V win, last Tuesday at Sitka High.
While the season concluded with roaring fans and a pep band rattling Sitka’s gym, that was not how things began. When the Lady Wolves cheer squad first took to the court in January, only a handful of spectators were present due to coronavirus precautions.
Team captain and senior Reyana Lindstrom recalled the bizarre feeling of cheering in a nearly vacant gym.
“It’s so awkward, because you’re basically cheering to the wall and then there are those few people. Mostly it’s the pep band we get excited for because they actually participate with us, but otherwise it’s awkward because you’re cheering to three people and they’re on their phones the whole time,” Lindstrom said in an interview this Wednesday.
As a freshman on the cheer team, Danica Majeski noted that early in the season the lack of fans made things difficult.
“It was kind of bumming not to see a full crowd of people… It was kind of hard for me at first, we’re starting off the year as freshmen and don’t even know what a normal day of school is. And we’re going into these sports, when COVID ends if it ever does, we’re not going to know what it’s like to be normal, because we don’t know what a normal day is like,” Majeski said.
But Majeski also found a silver lining to the smaller crowds of the early season.
“Even though we would be very nervous, we didn’t have a big crowd, so that’s kind of nice because we didn’t have to be super overwhelmed,” she said.
Majeski noted the high degree of trust between members of the cheer team.
“We were brand new girls, they’d never met us before. They still trusted us to stunt with them, to be in the routine. I’m hoping that next year it will feel just as inviting as this year even though we’re losing quite a few seniors and they were definitely the biggest supporters of the team,” Majeski said. “Even though we were freshmen, I still felt like I could walk up and talk to them and it felt very inviting.”
This strong team camaraderie and cohesion produced results. The Lady Wolves did not drop a single flyer this season.
But as the season picked up, more fans and students arrived, backed by the pep band.
Majeski’s fellow freshman Haley Silva hoped for more normalcy in future years.
“First it was super empty, only parents were there – it was weird. It was kind of sad. And then pep band started showing up, pep band either alone brought a significant amount of energy. And when the student section, at least some of it, got to show up it was just a little taste of what it’s going to be like with a normal year if we get one,” Silva said.
The supportive nature of the team was critical, Silva said.
“This team was definitely a huge support the entire season. I’ve never experienced a team like this before,” she said.
The freshman noted that the squad rarely had much time to prepare their final routine, given how often things shifted.
“We had to learn a lot of stuff in such a short amount of time. We changed the routine,” Silva said. “There was never a time when we had the routine set a certain way until the very last two days we did it.”
Despite difficulties presented by the pandemic, Lindstrom echoed what many local athletes have said this year: she was happy to return to her sport.
“I’m glad we had a season this year, because I don’t really do much else… If I didn’t have cheer I would be so bored. I’m glad we have it and we got to show the younger kids what us seniors have been doing for the past four years,” she said.
Sitka’s second captain, senior Tamryn Suarez, stressed the resilience and adaptability of her team.
She described her squad as “probably one of the most drama-free, driven, heartened teams that I’ve ever been a part of… Everyone was like, ‘OK, this is what we’ve got to deal with and we’re going to make it work,’” Suarez told the Sentinel.
That positive mindset, she said, led to team members pouring tremendous effort into the sport.
“We just put in so much, and to see everyone else putting in the same amount of effort, it’s like we don’t even need captains almost because everyone is working together really well,” Suarez said.
Sitka’s team included five seniors, Lindstrom, Suarez, Makayla Moore, Veronica Gibson, and Mia Skultka.
Nevaeh Anderson, a sophomore on the 13-member team, also emphasized the role of a good mindset.
“The whole team went into it with a really good mindset, and the team this year had a really good mindset… Cheer is harder than it looks,” she said.
For coach Shoshauna Schmidt, the challenges of COVID manifested as determination and strength in her team.
“This is probably the most emotionally and mentally strong team that we’ve had in a while, partly because of COVID. We didn’t know what each day was going to bring. We had to come with a really strong attitude and mental game to each practice. And we always had that looming, ‘If it gets really bad we’re not going to be able to compete. So let’s take advantage of every practice, every game,’” Schmidt said. She coached alongside her sister, Sierra.
Like her athletes, the coach noted that the lack of a crowd dampened some of the cheer squad’s impact.
“The team really gets a lot of energy from the crowd, we have a lot of crowd response cheers. So if we’re saying ‘We say Sitka you say Wolves - Sitka!,’ and it’s just empty it’s not as fun. I think it was a good year to focus on learning a lot more about basketball,” she said.
The team recorded their Region V competition submission in an empty gym, and performed a routine written and choreographed by their coaches.
“It was definitely a very different year having to submit things virtually. When they were doing the routine we filmed it in an empty gym. We gain a lot of energy from the crowds. And the masks, that’s a big part of our sport, how we express ourselves. So really having to find new ways to do that was challenging,” Schmidt said.
The condensed nature of the basketball and cheer seasons created difficult circumstances for the cheer squad. A number of injuries forced the team to change their routine frequently.
Unlike many other sports where a player off the bench can readily replace a tired or hurt athlete, such replacements are tricky in cheer.
“It’s such a team sport, it’s not a sport where you can throw in a sub very easily, because everyone is so interconnected,” Schmidt said.
Lindstrom also noted this constant shifting of the routine.
“Because every single practice we had to change something in our routine - every single time. There wasn’t a practice when we didn’t change something,” Lindstrom said.
For Zaeda Dumag, a junior on the team, this showcased her team’s resilience.
“The team did really good this year, we both (Dumag and Anderson) had injuries… we changed our routine every practice… Knowing how hard they worked every single day and adjusting to those changes,” she said.
Dumag also plays volleyball. After the coronavirus canceled plans for a Region V tournament in that sport, she was happy for the chance to participate in the cheer team.
“It’s really nice to have the opportunity, with volleyball... Regions got canceled. Everything was a maybe, we had to go week by week,” Dumag recalled.
Thinking back on cheering before almost-empty stands, Dumag noted that lots of the team’s cheers involve crowd participation.
“It was a little bit awkward when no one is saying the cheers back… Definitely when we started getting more of a crowd we got more into it,” she said.
Looking back on the difficulties of the season, Suarez noted that many sports fans overlook the cheer squad.
“Cheerleading is probably one of the most under-appreciated sports here, because we have to show up at every single basketball game. We gear up just the same as basketball or any other sport and we show up and give it our all,” she said. “One thing I’ve always noticed about sports and everything like that is that most people put aside the fact that kids are dealing with outside lives other than sports and I think that more recognition needs to come to the fact that kids have two lives. One with sports and school and the other one is at home and both are just as challenging.”
The coach was happy for the chance to compete in such an uncertain year.
“Seeing them being able to get together, have that social setting that’s super safe and they’re working toward something and advancing skills, working on lifeline skills… I am so grateful for a season, as short as it was,” Schmidt said.
Looking forward to next season, the coach hopes her team will keep their positive attitudes.
“Keeping the positive attitudes, and hard work ethic that they all brought to the table,” she said.
