An ideal start
CHERRY TWP — The goal was a modest one.
“(We) had high hopes,” said Moniteau basketball cheerleading coach Jackie Thiry, “of just not placing last.”
Thiry and her assistants, Jen Clark and Natalie Butcherine, didn’t want to get ahead of themselves, after all.
This was the first time their Moniteau junior high cheerleading team, which is made up of seventh, eight and ninth graders, had entered a competitive cheer event.
Imagine their surprise when the announcement came down following the Warriors’ performance at the Keystone Cheer Classic Jan. 4.
First place, Moniteau.
“Oh, my, we were so excited,” said captain Bailey Hoffman, a freshman at Moniteau. “We didn’t think we would win. At first, we were really nervous because we had never been to a competitive competition before and there were a lot of talented squads there.”
It wasn’t long ago when the Moniteau basketball cheerleading team had trouble just making a pyramid because of low numbers, let alone participating in a competition.
But Thiry managed to drum up interest in the program and decided this season to take it to the next level.
It was no easy task. Practices were grueling.
“Our practices are always intense,” said Thiry, who has two daughters, seventh-grader Makayla and ninth-grader Kierra, on the team. “Our girls are dedicated to hitting their stunts and performing their very best every time they perform. Their routine is constantly being changed to add difficulty and make it better and more entertaining.
“At our practices, we didn’t focus on winning,” Thiry added, “but instead focused on working together and improving as a team. It’s vital to the success of our program that the cheerleaders learn team unity, school spirit and pride. That itself is even more rewarding than a trophy.”
Hoffman said another challenge was meshing girls of different ages into a team.
Ultimately, that was an easy task, she said.
“We all knew each other before from midget cheer,” Hoffman said. “It was a little weird at first working with the younger ones. Our coaches were incredible. They are the best coaches I have ever had. Amazing.”
Moniteau, which started preparing in November, had to overcome a canceled practice just before the competition because of poor weather.
The team managed to squeeze in a three-hour marathon practice the night before the event, which turned out to be very valuable.
“We weren’t very confident before that practice,” Hoffman said. “That really helped us.”
Members of the team are freshmen Bailey Hoffman, Kierra Thiry, Krista Goyak, Haley Oakes, Megan Campbell and Kierra Boyd; eighth-grader Collette Grossman; and seventh graders Makayla Thiry, Faith Kelly, Madisyn Clark, Madison Bresnehan, Elle O’Donnell, Emily Lewis and Josie Reott.
Jackie Thiry is hopeful successes like the one at Keystone will become the norm.
“Words cannot even express our excitement to see the basketball cheerleading program grow so rapidly,” Thiry said. “We now have 30 cheerleaders — 15 varsity, 15 junior high. We hope that the program will continue to grow and be more successful each year.”
