Setting the standard high in the newest chapter of Westwood cheer, seniors Lauren Patterson and Maylee Jemibewon have taken on their roles as Game Day Leaders, leading their team to strive for improvement and never give up on their biggest team goals. Through tough but loving mentorship, a motivation to deepen the team’s connection with each other, and inspire their team to improve in University Interscholastic League (UIL), the Game Day Leaders have guided their team to do their best with smiles on their faces.
With positive attitudes and determination, the Game Day Leaders guided and encouraged the team to stay disciplined and focused on both personal growth and team goals throughout the year. By inspiring the team to push through incoming setbacks, they helped their team recognize the progress they’ve made, further solidifying a community about improvement and perseverance.
“We talked about our goals at the beginning of the year and we emphasized our UIL goal,” Lauren said. “Our initial goal was to earn the top 20 spot out of about 70 teams at UIL which is obviously very difficult. We’ve improved a lot from our UIL performance last year to this year and seeing the team grow helped push towards our goal to improve. We were focused on growing our skills and were able to showcase more of them at games and competitions at the beginning of the year. We placed just 10 [places] away from the top 20 which obviously made us feel sad because it wasn’t what we wanted, but we also switched our perspective when we realized we improved by at least 10 spots from last year.”
Acknowledging the visible social divide between the JV and varsity teams, Spirit and Social Leaders made it a goal to bridge the gap between the two teams. To foster a deeper bond with each other outside of practices in the dance studio, social events were organized to bring the two groups together, strengthening trust and friendship both on and off the mat.
“One memorable moment was when we all went to Kalahari and stayed overnight,” Maylee said. “During competitions, there’s four people per room and that helps us become even closer because you’re basically living with your teammates for four days and you’re with them 24/7. We also got a lot closer from events like ‘big and little sis’ where you have a gift exchange and pool parties and these events usually happen at someone’s house. JV and varsity were notoriously separated in the past couple years that I’ve been here, but bridging the two teams with these events really helped make the team get closer and build stronger relationships with one another.”
When the cheerleaders spend most of their time around each other, deeper connections are formed, whether they happily talk about cheer routines or what happened in class that day. However, the Game Day Leaders realized that with deep connections and friendships, came lots of distractions. Without pulling the team away from each other, the Game Day Leaders learned how to remind the team to stay disciplined and remember the task at hand to have a successful and fun performance.
“The most challenging part of leading the team this year was getting people to stay focused and disciplined when they [the cheerleaders] just want to talk to their friends,” Lauren said. “We have goals as a team and I have goals as a leader and it was hard having to frequently remind them to focus on the task at hand whether we have a pep rally on Friday or a game we have to prepare for.”
As the looming shadow of UIL creeped up on the team, the pressure of competition began to weigh heavily on them, leading to their collective energy and discipline to decline. While Game Day Leaders worked to keep the cheerleaders focused, coaches put in their efforts to effectively restore motivation and morale into practices.
“One obstacle we faced was definitely UIL,” Maylee said. “We would practice the routine continuously every single second and everyone eventually got tired. After that point, they [the cheerleaders] all just stopped putting effort into competitions and one way we overcame that was my coach. She would put on these themes for us to do, for example she wanted us to act like a cowboy in the middle of one full out and in another full out, you would do a British accent. It made everyone laugh and made the practices more enjoyable which helped to sort of restore the motivation.”
As the final performances came to a close and the cheerleaders took their final bows, the Game Day Leaders not only reflected on the team’s growth over the year, but also on the deeper meaning behind their leadership roles. Through mentorship, leadership, and a collective love for the sport, Game Day Leaders discovered the importance of impact, in and outside of cheer.
“I think being part of cheer means being a part of something bigger,” Lauren said. We obviously do the athletic part like tumbling and stunting, but we’re also the spirit and face of Westwood. We’ve always been told that we’re the leaders and role models of the school and it’s always been important to me that I’m able to be a part of something like that and have an impact on others. For instance, the middle schoolers and younger kids come in for clinics and it’s so rewarding to see how excited they are. I remember how excited I was when I first joined middle school cheer and from then, I always dreamed of leading a cheer team. To be where I am now is really cool because I’m not only living my dream, but I’m also helping others achieve their dreams. Seeing their faces light up at the cheer clinics have always added a deeper meaning to just being a part of cheer as a sport because of the impact you make.”
