In May of last year, I sat with the other varsity coaches of St. Joseph Hill Academy, the junior varsity coaches, and the athletic director in the school gym. The ice had melted into our Dunkin Donuts coffees and the work clothes we still wore were wrinkled. Our tryouts had ended hours earlier, but we remained, trying to form our two teams. While we had enough bodies, we didn’t have the needed amount of flyers, bases, and backs for two squads. We would need to disband our JV team, something we had deliberately evaded for years. Unfortunately, one varsity team was inevitable. The next day we posted the roster of the single team; it was met with fear and confusion from the cheerleaders.

This marked the beginning of a difficult year. We faced countless injuries, an unfamiliar blend of coaching staffs, freshman academic struggles, and the personal hardships of team members. Also, having one squad created an extremely different team dynamic: one seemed to be made up of separated grade levels. The girls needed to find a way to bond.

They found it at a competition in Atlantic City in February. During the preliminary performance, the team and its routine simply fell apart. However, only having twenty minutes until their final performance, they banded together and performed their routine with strong voices, enthusiastic faces, and solid stunts.

At that moment, this team began to function as one being working toward the same goal. They continued to do so at ensuing practices, determined as they were to win the CYO competition on March 7th.

That day, after they performed their routine the best it had the entire season, the girls huddled together waiting to hear the results. When their first-place win was announced, they exploded. The six of us ran onto the mat while parents hugged in the stands and alumni cheerleaders and students poured out of the bleachers.

Now the most strenuous part of the season would begin: the two weeks until the Archdiocesan competition at Fordham University. Since Hill had not won this competition in many years, it could possibly have a momentous outcome. Amazingly, this pressure didn’t distress the team. The same unified group of cheerleaders who had prepared themselves for the CYO competition showed up at practice for these two weeks.

At Fordham, when our team performed, they were more spectacular than they had been at CYO. Once again, we took first place, with the highest score Hill had ever received. At the moment of the announcement, the celebration began and did not end for weeks. It is impossible to explain the sheer joy evident in each girl’s face, words, and behavior. This was not only about cheerleading; this team proved that it is not only skill that counts toward achievement—it is those people that also have the drive who find success in life. It does take skill, but also confidence and determination. Each of we coaches will carry that lesson with us from now on and we hope each of our cheerleaders will do the same.