Title-winning cheer coach can’t imagine life without the sport
March 28, 2019
Compared to the vast number of cheerleaders in the world, only a handful get to know what it feels like to win a national title. Similarly, an even smaller number of coaches get to experience such a major cheerleading moment.
Boone teacher Michelle Schuster is one of the few.
For the past twenty years, Schuster has coached Boone’s cheer team, a club in which she was involved in during her own high school days.
In February, she and her girls accomplished a huge universal cheerleading goal by winning a high school national championship.
Schuster spoke about how amazing and rewarding the moment was for her team to have been able to achieve such a monumental dream.
Being a cheerleader herself, Schuster too felt as if she had obtained the unattainable.
Schuster began cheering in sixth grade at Florence Elementary because she had prior gymnastics experience that had taught her how to do various flips and she thought the sport seemed interesting.
She continued cheerleading throughout her middle school and high school years and eventually decided to pursue the sport at a higher level by cheering for Northern Kentucky University.
She said collegiate cheerleading brought her some of the best memories and friendships of her life.
Her love for the sport led Schuster to become a cheerleading coach, where she has made lifelong friends and bonds with her cheerleaders and their families.
To Schuster, cheerleading means trust, friendships, responsibility and athleticism.
She remembers fondly all the lessons and leadership skills the sport has taught her over the years and said she couldn’t imagine living a life without cheerleading.