York cheer springs into a new season

Under the Friday night lights, the York cheerleaders may seem like they are at the peak of their performances, but much more work goes on behind the scenes. With new leaders this year, York cheer will be working to perform at their full potential.

For the 2018-19 season, York Varsity cheer has already installed some changes to ensure success. While it is a team sport, leadership is critical in cheerleading. This year, head coach Emily Bowman has returned after taking a year off and has set up captains to lead their teammates. The team voted and elected seniors Sophia Taglia and Kaitlin Templeman as captains and juniors Abby Coglianese and Emily Sadowicz as co-captains.

“We are excited to give them leadership opportunities towards helping both our JV and varsity squads have a successful yet fun season,” head coach Emily Bowman said.  

The captains and upperclassmen are especially helpful because there are more freshmen on the team than there have been in the past. With many new members comes new opportunities and expectations. The freshmen provide many skills and the upperclassmen are willing the share their experience and knowledge.

“This year the team is a lot younger and less experienced, so we have been focusing on keeping a good balance between having fun and still working hard and pushing ourselves,” senior Ava Euteneuer said. “We also have incentives to motivate us like our goal chart that we use to track our progress, and everyone motivates each other to check new skills off.”

The team wants to perfect their skills and execute them during practice in order to strive for their goals later in the season. They are determined to perform at their best and hopefully advance to the second day of the IHSA State Championships this year.

“We are following, ‘perfection before progression,’ making sure that all of our skills are consistent and polished before moving on,” Bowman said. “I am a big believer in the details and how they can make a big difference in the overall execution of skills, especially since we do them as a collective group.”

Like any other team, they have been thrown obstacles that can hold them back. Injuries are common in cheer and have already affected the team this early in the season. Sophomore Kenna Dayton is a flyer and tumbler who provides many skills to the team, but unfortunately has suffered a broken bone. With a teammate being injured, the rest of the team is working to adjust their routines and support each other.

“I am planning on coming back this year stronger, working harder to get back to where I was before,” sophomore Kenna Dayton said. “Everyone on the team helped encourage me to get through this, so I know coming back won’t be too difficult.”

With the optimism and determination that is evident in the team this year, it is impossible to imagine that they won’t succeed. Keep an eye out for York cheer this year!