I f there’s one thing Jordan Sytsma relishes right about now, it’s a sense of normalcy. After everything that she and her family have been through over the past year, waking up and know- ing what the day will
love these kids and I love the (cheerleading) program. It’s very important to me and my entire family.”
The Gilbert cheerleaders are equally excited about their coach’s full-time re- turn and the possibilities that exist for the 2025 comp squad. With a 14- member squad, 11 of whom return from a sea- son ago, and only one indi- vidual lost to graduation, Sytsma says the sky’s the limit. The Tigers were good a season ago. They should be even better this fall. “Being better than last year will always be the goal,” Sytsma said. “When you’re building a legacy, you always want to leave the program better than you found it. You always want the next team to be better than the current one.” The 2024 fall season was a new experience for Gilbert, which made the transition from the Game Day Division to the Cheer Dance Division at the statewide level. The differences in the two divisions are fairly
provide is quite the luxury. Watching her young son, Sully, go through chemo- therapy as he valiantly bat- tled cancer — it’s something she wouldn’t wish on any parent. The countless doctor’s visits and hospital stays. The sleepless nights. The wor- rying ... It wasn’t easy. Or fun. Sytsma can smile at the outcome though, as Sully won his battle. He’s on the mend and life for the family has begun to shift back to what it looked like prior to the detour. Among the many, many things Sytsma learned over the past year is just how much she loves her roles at Gilbert High School as a school coun- selor and the head coach of the competitive cheer- leading team. Both had to take a backseat over the past year, and rightfully so. “I”m just really excited to be present because I just
love it,” Sytsma said about her full-time return to the school and team. “There were times last year that I was physically there, but my brain was about 50,000 other places. But I
drastic. In Game Day, routines are two minutes long and consist of a fight song and a crowd response to cheers. In Cheer Dance, teams perform for 2 1 ⁄ 2 minutes with a routine
62 GAME ON | FALL 2025
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