For her tenth season as a cheerleader for Latrobe, Captain Emma Yurick is one of eighteen girls on the cheer team. Being the captain of seventeen other girls may seem stressful to some; however, she takes on this responsibility without any struggles or regrets.
Emma is a backspot which means stands behind the stunt and supports the flyer, or the person at the top of the stunt. She, along with the bases, helps support the flyer.
Yurick’s thoughts on the team’s performance this season can be summed up as they did great. Emma feels the girls have come very far since the start of this season. She said, “The girls have grown so much since we started practicing last spring. Our stunting has become more advanced and our performance level has improved. I think that everyone has grown to be more confident as the season progressed as well.”
The Greater Latrobe Cheer Team makes many appearances throughout the school year with very little downtime. In the fall they cheer for football, and in the winter they cheer for boys’ and girls’ basketball as well as boys’ and girls’ wrestling home games.
Cheerleading is not the same for every sport. Depending on the sport being cheered for, the team has different routines/responsibilities. For example, the amount of cheering at football games is different from the amount of cheering at basketball games. Emma explains the difference by saying, “For football, we stand on the track at Memorial Stadium and perform from the beginning to the end of the game. We go out on the field for pregame and watch the marching band perform during halftime. When cheering for basketball, we cheer around the team as they warm up and we cheer in the stands amongst the crowd during the game. We go out in the middle of the court in between quarters and during timeouts, and we have our halftime performance, said Emma.”
Being the captain comes with extra responsibilities. Yurick accepts these responsibilities without complaint. She said, “Being the captain comes with many extra responsibilities. I have to help make the practice and game day plans. I also help decide what uniforms we will be wearing to events. Being the captain also means making decisions for the betterment of the team and being a positive role model to all of the girls.”
She feels like their uniforms allow a lot of variation. She said, “I feel that we have a lot of versatility with our uniforms. We have about four uniforms that we alternate throughout the year and mix and match. It allows us to have a different look for each game and appearance.”
Being a captain also requires being a positive role model not only while participating in cheer, but also outside of cheer as well. Emma explains the importance of being someone that younger cheerleaders can idolize by saying, “As the captain, I try to lead the team by showing a good example all of the time. This means showing respect and kindness to all team members and giving my full effort both during cheer as well as in the classroom and throughout the school community,” said Yurick.
Emma is not ready to let cheer go yet. She will go from cheering with the Latrobe Wildcats to cheering alongside Thiel mascot Tommy the Tomcat, for she plans to participate in competitive cheer at a collegiate level as she has already committed to Thiel College. Thiel is a private college located in Greenville, Pennsylvania. She plans to pursue her Master’s in physician assistant studies. She will also be a member of Thiel’s Dietrich Honors Institute (DHI).
According to Thiel College, this is what they look for when accepting high school seniors into the DHI, “The Dietrich Honors Institute at Thiel College seeks incoming students with a 3.7 high school GPA and a record of pursuing academic and co-curricular challenges.”
It is clear that Emma Yurick prefers to challenge herself rather than to take the easy route. It shows immensely in her attitude, academics, and her cheerleading.
