MUSKEGON TWP. - The very successful Reeths-Puffer competitive cheer team is always content with its accomplishments.
The coaches and athletes don’t get bent out of shape when they fall short of first place in any given competition. They don’t rely on failure as the primary motivation to succeed the next time.
If that seems counterintuitive to the old belief that athletes and teams should never be satisfied and always push for more - well, it is.
A good example has been the Rockets’ fate in O-K Green conference competition over the past three seasons. They have finished second behind rival Mona Shores every year, but that has not been a sore spot for the team, according to head coach Lisabeth Smith.
Instead, the Rockets believe the Sailors have a great program and help them maintain a high standard for themselves every year.
“It’s really healthy when you have such an excellent competitor right across town,” Smith said. “It keeps you on your toes, it keeps everything in perspective and tells us what we need to work on.”
Photo/Joe Lane
The same was true last year when the season ended on what some would have considered a disappointing note.
In 2022 R-P got through regionals and advanced to the Division 2 state finals, a rare experience the girls enjoyed very much. But last year the Rockets finished in fifth place in regionals by just a few points, and only the top four teams go to the finals.
For a lot of teams, that would have been a letdown. But the Rockets put on their best performance and accepted their fate.
“We train ourselves to understand that we have no regrets at the end of the season,” Coach Smith said. “There are no ‘could haves’ or ‘should haves.’ We’re not going to regret anything.”
For R-P competitive cheer, the trick is to work extremely hard, be very well prepared in advance, put on a great performance, then hope it’s enough to impress the judges and bring success.
That has certainly been the case in district tournament competition. Last Friday the Rockets won their third consecutive Division 2 district championship, beating out 14 other teams at Forest Hills Eastern High School.
Now they are preparing for this Saturday’s regional competition at Kenowa Hills, where they will have another chance to return to the state finals with a top four finish.
“They are fighting hard right now,” Coach Smith said about her athletes. “This group is very different than last year. The majority are freshmen and sophomores and a lot of girls had to grow up really fast. They faced a lot of pressure.
“But I think they expected success. The tradition of excellence is something that’s engrained in R-P Cheer now.”
A great season for a really young team
The number of underclassmen on the varsity roster – 17 freshmen or sophomores out of 26 athletes – might have led some to believe that this might not be a championship season for the Rockets.
But the program’s long tradition of year-round dedication and hard work, starting at the youth program level through middle school and high school, made the difference for the young team, according to Smith.
That says a lot, because competitive cheer is a grueling sport that demands different types of skills and great athleticism, and there is little time for rest. The team may only perform for a total of 5 ½ minutes during meets, but the preparation is non-stop.
“You train all year long,” Smith said. “The sideline cheer season blends into the competitive season. The kids have to fight through periods of burnout. You have to be a very dedicated athlete to stay with this sport. There is very little down time, and then you have to keep your body in condition during whatever down time there is.
Photo/Joe Lane
“Tossing around bodies, and trusting others to make sure you land on your feet safely, doesn’t just start when the season starts. It starts at a very young age. The whole family has to be invested.
“It really depends on the individuals, and we are blessed with a lot of fantastic athletes. These girls really do have pride in R-P Cheer. It’s not me. I am just giving them a platform. They make the choice every day to go through it all.”
Individual buy-in has also been a necessary key for the Rockets. because competitive cheer is the ultimate team sport.
The team certainly has standouts, like All-Conference performers Kendall Eek, Sydney Williams, Macy Fisher and Lorena Garcia. But by the nature of the sport, there are no stars who can bail out the team when it’s not performing well, like a basketball player might do by getting hot and scoring 35 points.
All three rounds have to be performed with precision, which means every girl has to be on top of her game for the team to succeed. That includes 16 girls in Round 1, 10 in Round 2 and 16 in Round 3.
Photo/Joe Lane
All of the Rockets have risen up to that necessary expectation.
“It’s very choreographed,” Smith said. “They are trained to be able to help each other and know what to do, but if somebody doesn’t do their part we don’t do well.”
Smith said R-P Athletic Director Cliff Sandee summed it up perfectly.
“He said, to do what we have done, the girls have to either love the sport so much, love each other so much, love their coaches, or a combination of all three,” she said. “That’s what creates the buy-in. These girls have been dedicated to this for years. That’s part of the magic.”
This year’s young R-P team has simply refused to buckle under the weight of all the hard work and pressure, plus a lot of illness and injuries. The Rockets won their district championship last weekend by a relatively comfortable margin, 735.82-721.86 over second place Zeeland West.
They had the highest score of all 15 teams in each round – Round 1 (execution), Round 2 (overall skills) and Round 3 (stunts).
Photo/Joe Lane
They knew what they had to do to win, which was clear from the get-go. Round 1 had been their weak point all season, so they spent a lot of time changing their performance around in practice until they found a routine that worked.
“Our weakest round has been Round 1,” Smith said. “There is no gymnastics or tumbling. It relies on your quality of jumps and fluid formations and how entertaining you are. It has taken us so long for the puzzle pieces to fit together.
“The girls have been super annoyed with me, because I have been changing Round 1 every week to see what fits, and now we are finally hitting our groove.
“Our Round 1 at districts increased by about six points from our previous competition. The girls knew what they had to do – they had to execute. They were tired of performance anxiety. They just decided to go out there and perform it.”
REETHS-PUFFER COMPETITIVE CHEER TEAM
Alyssa Alexander
Madilyn Alvarado
Gabriella Borgeso
Allison Clemens
Addison Eek
Kendall Eek
Elaina Farber
Macy Fisher
Alexandra Franklin
Lorena Garcia
Taryn Gill
Korynn Griffin
Ella Hardy
Alayna Keur
Jeya Lee
Malia McGuffey
Shaileighana Nelson
Kara Plouhar
Adisyn Rowe
Macy Rudholm
Addyson Smith
Madilynn Smith
Launa Tangney
Lydia Tufts
Carly Weinrick
Sydney Williams
