When Sydney Kimble was hired as the head cheer coach at The Independent School in Wichita, she made it very clear that she wanted her squad to compete in the state Game Day competition. Because of COVID-19 and the disruptions of the pandemic, TIS wasn’t able to compete until this year.
“It was a good experience for us,” Kimble says. “We made it to finals and finished sixth.”
With that expectation of competing at the state contest this year, Kimble says her team embraced that challenge.
“They were excited,” she says. “It kind of gave them something to work towards. Basketball, football, and volleyball have games to compete at, this gave cheer a sense of something we needed to work towards. This gave us a chance to showcase our talents as well.”
Because cheer does not always get the priority gym times that other sports might get, Kimble says this year’s team had to be extra flexible to get the work in they needed to prepare for Game Day.
“We are going in at 6 AM, before work for me and school for them,” Kimble says. “That was a commitment in itself. Before school, late at night, on the weekends showed a lot of dedication from them. We met at weird times just to work on the routine.”
That commitment and dedication was led by the senior class of Anna Bailly, Eren Bogner, and Peyton Farber.
“I had amazing leadership from the three of them,” Kimble says. “They owned what they needed to fix instead of picking apart their friends and teammates. Also, they had great positivity when morale would get low, and they would pick us up. They were the cheerleader for us and the person in our corner we needed.”
Overall, Kimble says she’s proud of the flexibility her squad has shown.
“They are the ones willing to be flexible,” says Kimble. “When COVID-19 throws things in our way, I do not get any complaints. They can all roll with the punches. Those are character traits that I know they will be able to thrive on when they are older and in the adult world.”
The Independent School Cheer squad includes Anna Bailly (Sr.), Eren Bogner (Sr.), Peyton Farber (Sr.), Sofia Anguiñga (Jr.), Ella Collins (Jr.), Edie Gill (Jr.), Annabelle Ratcliffe (Jr.), Isabella Snow (Jr.), Bridget Bleakley (Fr.), Penelope Ratcliffe (Fr.), and Lydia Sanborn (Fr.).
