LAKE REGION VARSITY CHEERLEADING

Head Coach: Ashleigh London, sixth year

Co-Coaches: Kelley Tibbetts and Samantha Scarf

Top Returnees: Sarah Curley, Kassandra Girard, Rashawnda Currier, Carley Watts, Frances Kimball, Jackie Laurent, Kacie Tripp and Mikayla Fortin.

Top Newcomers: Rachel Davis, Jessica Chabot and Aime Worcester.

Team Members: Elizabeth Mitchell, Emily Secord, Brittany Perreault, Ashton Anderson, Adrianna Merrill and Faith Duquette.

Team strengths: “We have many strengths as a team this season and I’m so excited to see where these strengths bring us this year,” Coach London said. “We have strong jumpers, tumbling that is improving every day, and more advanced stunting techniques than we've had in the past. All of these aspects, combined with the dancing skills and positive attitudes of these athletes should make for a successful season.”

Keys to this season: Commitment, dedication and communication. “We, as coaches, expect 100% commitment from every one of the girls. In order to get to where we want to go as a team this season, we are pushing stronger attendance at both practices and games and requiring the girls to be responsible should they miss a practice by making them up outside of scheduled practice times,” Coach London said. “The dedication we are seeing from this group has improved quite a bit since the fall season and we hope it continues to get better. There is always room to improve on communication and having many parents, a much bigger team, three coaches, as well as a tumbling coach/competition choreographer, makes it slightly more difficult to ensure we all stay on the same page. We do our best and we require the same from the team members when it comes to communicating any issues to their coaches.”

What impressed you during preseason? What impressed London and other coaches was the amount of interest they saw from girls wanting to join cheerleading.

“It was so refreshing to see girls coming from other sports wanting to try something new and advancing so quickly in such a short amount of time,” Coach London said.

For the team to be successful, we must… “For the team to be successful, we, as coaches, must require more from each member to make sure they are working to their highest potential every single day. We have many strong athletes this season so we're excited to see what we can accomplish in the next few months,” the coach said. “To be successful, especially when the first competition rolls around, we want to make sure the girls stay motivated. It's very important that during those early Saturday morning practices, the girls keep the big picture in mind and work their very hardest at every practice.”

What do you like most about this year’s team? Coaches like the strong sense of unity and positivity.

“Even for being a new team, the girls have come together so much already and they are always pushing each other to succeed, helping each other out with skills or choreography, and having a good time while working as a group,” Coach London said. “We’ve also loved seeing how motivated they are to fund raise for new uniforms. We’ve had various successful fundraisers and the girls feel they’re getting closer and closer to their goal each time. We’re so pumped for this year and we’re so thankful for the support we’ve gotten.”