By Chris Cox 

South Haven head cheer coach Deb Ray cheered in high school and in college, but she admittedly does not have a lot of experience coaching cheer. Because of that, she is relying heavily on her two co-captains Makaylin Kuchar and Elizabeth Giger.

“She relies on us for quite a bit,” says Kuchar. “We try to keep everyone going on and off the court or on and off the field. She also wants to keep a positive attitude toward everything.”

Being the two seniors on the small squad, Giger says she and Kuchar have really worked this year to get the underclassmen ready to take over once they graduate.

“We’ve been teaching them all that we can,” she says. “We have also slowly let them step up while encouraging them to call out cheers.”

Ray praised Giger and Kuchar for their leadership skills and says because of them, she doesn’t feel the need to try and micromanage the squad.

“They are both very smart girls at the top of their class,” says Ray. “They are also good kids outside of school. Giving them the opportunity to show that to the younger girls will hopefully rub off on them.”

With a small squad, Ray knows she’s going to rely on the younger students to keep the South Haven cheer squad moving forward. Based off what she’s seen this year, she feels like the squad will be in good hands. 

“They’ve all done very well this year,” Ray says. “Tatum was a returner and has done well this year after having no real cheer experience before last year. Teylin came in this year with zero cheer experience. She has really grown this year too. Then Syra, she’s just Syra. She didn’t have any experience with cheer but had performance experience at another school before coming here. She leads our spunk department.”

While some might think small teams could be at a disadvantage, Kuchar says that is not the case with this year’s group.

“It’s really been quite a triumph,” Kuchar says. “Everyone works so well together. Even when Corky is on the field, it makes everything feel more alive. I feel like having a smaller team has actually been an advantage.”  

The South Haven cheer squad includes co-captain Elizabeth Giger (Sr.), co-captain MaKaylin Kuchar (Sr.), Syra Stucky (Jr.), Teylin Wartick (Jr.), and Tatum Rountree (So.). Corky the Cardinal is Grayson Kuchar (Fr.).