It’s easy to watch a GCHS cheer performance and forget the hours of behind-the-scenes work that goes into each and every detail of the performance. Not only this, it’s easy to forget those who work behind the scenes, arranging the choreography of every action, and tending to the needs of the athletes who make up the cheer team.  One of these vital organizers is GCHS cheer team coach Kelsey Pierotti.

Pierotti brings experience to the team, having been involved for a decade.

“This is actually my 10th year coaching. And I take on a couple of different roles– I think typically when you think about a coach for a high school athletic program, you just think about coaching the sport, and the skills necessary, which is still a huge role in what I do,” Pierotti said. 

Junior Ela Sliteris, a member of the cheer team, hopes to dispel some of the misconceptions about her sport. 

“It’s not just what you see on the sidelines. That’s not all we do. We also have a whole competition season. We have high expectations for ourselves and a lot more to do,” said Sliteris. Not only does the sport of cheer go far deeper than what we see on the sidelines, but the effect of the sport also goes beyond mere athletic development according to Pierotti. 

“But, outside of just teaching the skills needed for the sport, and helping my athletes reach their full athletic potential, I really try to serve as a role model, and also trying to help young adults learn life lessons about commitment and accountability and work ethic, things that I know I learned through high school athletics that I still use it my everyday life,” Said Pierotti 

Pierotti’s work has not gone unnoticed. 

“We were actually on the team their freshman year in 2019 when we won the state championship, and they’re helping us lead in the right direction. As far as success… Winning is one level of success but they were on the team they trained with at championship,” said Pierotti 

Pierotti makes sure cheer team members can use skills learned from cheer in their academic, as well as personal lives 

“It’s really hard to prioritize the tasks they have at hand so you know going into a busy week for both athletics and also for academics. We try to help our athletes with what homework assignments they have to do, versus what practice says they have to do, versus sideline games, as well as studying for AP tests or meeting with teachers so I think time management is probably the big component of being in cheer. That’s something they can take from cheerleading and apply to other aspects of For Life” said Pierotti