Despite an injury at the regional qualifier round, the Oyster Bay High School varsity cheer team placed runner-up in the County Class C championship and semifinalist at the National High School Cheerleading Championship this season.
“It’s a group of girls who care so much and love it so much that they just want to do everything they can to be the best that they can be,” said Holly Janoska, the team’s coach and a kindergarten teacher at Theodore Roosevelt School.
Jansoka, a former cheerleader, said she has coached the team for three years but has coached the sport for almost 10.
This year, Jansoka said the team had 14 seventh through twelfth graders, but only 13 attended the national championship. Jansoka said all students are allowed to compete at the county level, but the national competition only allows students in eighth grade and above, which is why the team shrunk.
“Cheerleading is a lot,” Jansoka said.
She said the sport involves a wide variety of skills, from tumbling and stunting to dancing and cheering.
This year, the team placed runner-up at the Nassau County Class C Championship and went on to succeed at the regional and national levels as well.
Jansoka said the team’s athletes are dedicated to the program, a quality that was highlighted by their performance at the regionals, a competition that determines which teams advance to the national championship.
This year at regionals, Jansoka said one of her athletes sprained her ankle and fell just as the routine started. The competition stopped the music and gave the team an hour to re-choreograph the routine before competing.
“They were just so motivated and focused for the next hour,” Jansoka said.
She said the team practiced in a tight hallway with an alternate athlete in the routine.
“That really showed how much drive they all have,” she said.
Despite the team member’s injury and the new routine, the athletes placed fourth and advanced to the national championship.
“We made it to nationals,” Jansoka said.
At the national championship—held in Orlando, Florida—the team advanced to the semifinals. The team competed in a preliminary round against 14 other teams, placing sixth and advancing to the semifinals. The team did not advance beyond the semifinal round of the competition.
Looking ahead, Janoska said she hopes to expand the program.
“My goal in the next couple of years to come is to definitely have more than one team,” she said.
Jansoka said she hopes to expand to two teams—varsity and junior varsity.
Jansoka said the winter team is the school’s only cheerleading team currently competing. This year, there were 17 students on the fall team, which performs at football games.
Jansoka said many students who participated in the fall team moved to other teams during the winter season, like basketball.
In the future, Jansoka said she aims to compete with the fall team in game-day competitions, another form of competition that examines different aspects of the sport.
“I do this for the same reason I teach,” Jansoka said of her coaching.
“I do both of them because I love them,” she said.
Read More: Oyster Bay boys’ and girls’ track take 2nd in championships
