The Spartan squad gets the crowd fired up at a game. photo by Sasha Mesropov
New energy and leadership aims to increase school spirit.
Some think that Thomas Jefferson High School has lost some school spirit in recent years; however, the new cheer coach and team are hoping to improve the school spirit and expectations one cheer at a time.
Many students and faculty members have noticed the improved cheer team this school year. A large portion of this is due to new head coach, Tyler Cobb and her assistant Janay Lebsock. Cobb is a former TJ Spartan who cheered all four years while participating in varsity gymnastics. She continued cheerleading at the University of Northern Colorado where she also competed nationally twice. Lebsock, having cheered her whole life, is a natural. As a cheerleader at Chatfield High School, she also competed nationally, with Jet, High Country Cheer, and Peak, which are competitive cheering squads that travel around the nation. Both coaches have been friends for many years and have high expectations for the team.
The exciting new squad is comprised of 17 spirited individuals, including four freshman, two sophomores, seven juniors, and four seniors. This year’s team is one of the biggest TJ has seen, and also includes TJ’s first male cheerleader, junior Geno Holland-Rose. Holland-Rose has only been cheering for six months and is already leading stunts. “We’ve gotten stronger by doing one man stunts, which the team hasn’t been able to do before,” explained Holland-Rose. Now there is another male cheerleader following in Holland-Rose’s footsteps, sophomore Damien Burke. Holland-Rose encouraged Burke to join the team about a month ago and Burke is already helping the team in big ways. Burke believes that cheerleading is not just a girls’ sport but a coed sport. “I just wanted to feel different. It’ll bring more diversity to the sport and it’ll make it okay for guys to join cheerleading,” said Burke.
This year the team has cheered at TJ’s football games, and will be cheering at basketball games in the winter. In the springtime, they will possibly cheer for baseball games. They hope to cheer at a few volleyball, baseball, and soccer games as well. This year, the coaches have higher expectation and motivation for the team and how they contribute to the school; they expect the entire team to have respect for each other and to be disciplined in everything they do. Every individual on the team has one goal: to get back on the court or field and to get school spirit throughout the school. Junior Aminah Nomin commented, “I know that this year’s goal is to get our name back out there and to get back respect for us.” Nomin has been cheering since she was seven, but just recently started cheering for TJ’s team and has loved the community.
The squad is getting better every day, thanks to the hard work of the coaches and the team. TJ has increased new school pride, and will only continue to grow.
