Arbuckle’s
Cheer
Advice Dedication beats natural talent in coach’s outlook
Provided by Totem
Cheer will compete at Disney World Abby Doriot Staff Writer
The Scottsburg High School cheer team competed at the UCA Hoosier Championship where they qualified for an opportunity to compete at Disney World in Feb. 2020. The competition hosted 59 different teams, and there were four teams in Scottsburg’s division. If a team obtained a score of 75 or better, it automatically received a bid to go to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Scottsburg came in third place with 87.9 points. “I was super excited for a solid five seconds, and then I was just exhausted. Then the next day, I went back to being super excited. I think all of the work we put into this caught up with me, and I was kind of overwhelmed,” Kennedy Stivers (10) said. This is the first time any Scottsburg High School cheer team has gone to nationals since late 1990s. “That’s when we had two different cheer teams – one for the Warrior basketball team and the Warriorette basketball team. Now that we have one cheer team for all sports, it leaves very little time for practices for games or competitions,” said Klarinda Tutterow, SHS cheer team coach. With all of the games and practices, the cheerleaders
are able to become closer with everyone and bond with each other more. “We’re so much closer this year, so I think that helped us make our routines even better. So because of that, I think we went into this competition with a much better chance of getting that bid and going on to Disney.” Jillian Smith (11) said. The team will compete in the Game Day Preliminaries on the morning of Feb. 8. The semi-finals will be that afternoon, and then the finals will follow. The rest of the time will be devoted to exploring the parks and going to a celebration party just for cheerleaders, which will be held in Disney’s Magic Kingdom. “This will bring the cheer team closer together because it is such an exciting experience. We will be able to see one of the happiest places on earth with each other,” Kensley Gambrell (10) said. The team will be doing numerous fundraising activities to make sure as many people as possible are able to go with them since it will be the first trip on an airplane for several members and the first trip to Disney World for others. “I’m excited to spend time with my team and make some unforgettable memories, as well as compete again,” Addy Borden (9) said.
In sports, dedication is the most common way to improve and better one’s ability. There is often the case of natural talent and a lack of ambition for betterment. Natural talent and devotion are both traits that a coach would want any athlete to have but does natural talent deserve to be celebrated or honored more than hard work and dedication. According to “The American Journal of Bioethics”, natural talent is rare in an athlete, but when an athlete has a natural talent, they often perform just as well as an athlete that trains for that particular sport. Most coaches want dedication because it shows commitment to that sport. An athlete that takes time to train and work outside of practice is most likely to perform better at meets and competitions compared to someone that may be but talented and does not work or train outside of practice. “As a coach, I would much rather have a dedicated athlete of average talent than a naturally talented athlete who lacks dedication,” coach Brandon Jerrell said. “Naturally talented athletes without dedication are frustrating to coach because they waste the incredible skills that they have and never come close to their potential.” Sports take time and dedication in order for athletes to better themselves, and athletes are more likely to do better at their sports if they put in extra work and cooperate with their coaches. Coaches experience frustration with naturally talented athletes without dedication and would rather have athletes and players putting in the time and work to better perform. “I take a lot of pride in seeing my athletes improve over the course of the season so it is very discouraging when someone doesn’t put the effort forward to get to the next level,” Jerrell said. Being naturally talented in a sport does not mean that player or athlete is lazy and has a poor work ethic, and even though a player can be naturally talented in a sport, he or she still needs to put forth work and training outside of practice. Talented athletes still need to work toward bettering themselves in sports. Sports
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