T here was a time — and it wasn’t that long ago — that Jordan Sytsma had a singular goal for her Gil- bert competitive cheerleading team. To quote the immortal Al Davis: Just win, baby. Hey, it’s hard to argue with Sytsma’s mantra because that’s what her team has always done. The Tigers won state championships in 2019 and 2021 (there was no state com- petition in 2020 due to COVID- 19), and in 2022 they finished second. A season ago, Gilbert was third in the Class 3A Game Time Spirit Division. Did Sytsma and her student- athletes lose their passion for winning over the last two sea- sons? Of course not, but those near-misses allowed the coach to gain a new perspective, one that will continue to help her program evolve and grow. You can only control what you can control. “Now our expectations are to go out and hit a zero deduction routine and have a lot of fun doing it,” Sytsma said. “If you can do that, that’s success. If you go out and hit a routine, that’s one of the best feelings ever. No one is going to take that away from you.” Competitive cheer is a subjec- tive sport. Coaches may see
one thing, but judges may see something else. That’s just how it goes. The quality of teams ac- ross the state has increased in recent years too, and that’s only pushed the Tigers to up their game even more. Sytsma loves it all. The coach sees the 2024 fall season as another chance for her squad to contend for a state championship, only this time it will be in a new division. After a successful run in the Game Time Spirit Division, Sytsma has made the decision to shift to the Cheer-Dance Division — a step up in choreography and precision. What went into that decision? Sytsma says it’s the quality of student-athletes on her squad. “It’s because of the skill that we have,” she said. “When you look at the strengths of this team, that’s what makes sense. We’ve got kids with gymnastics backgrounds and dance back- grounds, and we also want to push ourselves. We’ve done game time spirit for five or six years and it’s time for a change.” A game time spirit routine is two minutes long and consists of a fight song and a crowd re- sponse to cheers. In cheer- dance, teams compete for 2 1 ⁄ 2 minutes with a routine that in- cludes a jump section, a pyr- amid section, an elite stunt
section, a dance, tumbling, and a cheer. “When you think about what you see on Netflix, in Cheer , they compete in cheer-dance,” Sytsma said when explaining the differences. “What you nor- mally see is cheer-dance. “Our team is very exciting to me in the fact that we have a lot of different skills. Whether it be gymnastics or dance, we have kids that are bringing different skills than we’ve previously had and that’s exciting because I feel like we get to do something different.” Growing. Evolving. Taking risks. Sytsma and her group are ready for both. To win a state championship in cheer-dance, Gilbert may very well have to push past fa- miliar programs. Raccoon River Conference rivals Ballard, Car- lisle, and Boone finished 1-2-3 at the 2023 state competition. Gilbert’s 14-member compet- itive cheer team includes a nice blend of veterans and new faces — four upperclassmen and 10 freshmen and sopho- mores. Blair Hibbing is the team’s lone senior and she’s a three- year member of the squad. Sytsma will look to her for firm leadership, but also a welcom- ing disposition to the new members.
“Blair is a really strong leader,” Sytsma said. “She has extremely high expectations for herself and she’s a really strong dancer. She leads well by ex- ample.” Ava Price and Riley Lem- piainen, both juniors, are also three-year veterans and bring their own unique skill sets to the team. “Ava has always been a flyer for us, and Riley does all-star gym, so she brings a lot of knowledge and skill,” Sytsma said. Sophomores Annabelle Wen and Genevieve Lamm are both experienced dancers, and freshmen Brooklyn Banning and Gemma Smith have both won numerous state and Midwest regional gymnastics titles while competing for SUCCESS Gym- nastics in Ames. Banning qual- ified for Western Nationals this past spring and placed among the top seven in multiple events, including the all-around. “We just have a ton of sopho- mores, which is great because that’s the future of our pro- gram,” Sytsma said. “Brooklyn brings a strong gymnastics background and she’s fearless, which I enjoy. She’s never cheered before, but she’s will- ing to try anything and she’ll be a flyer. Gemma also has an all- star cheer background and she is just so strong.”
FALL 2024 | GAME ON 51
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