Peter Burtnett
Copyright: The Daily Nonpareil (used with permission)

Iowa School for the Deaf cheerleaders, from left to right: Amiya Wood, Kailani Mefy, Rifenta Kisichy, Jadaella Jeffery, Ashley Vera Nieto, Kaitlyn Johns
Courtesy Iowa School for the Deaf

The first time was so nice, they had to do it twice.

Winning the GPSD cheer tournament and finishing third at the National Deaf Cheer Competition that is.

For the second straight year, the Iowa School for the Deaf cheerleading team won the cheer competition at the Great Plains Schools for the Deaf tournament (also basketball) held Feb. 1-3 in Delavan, Wisc.

The Bobcats won in the face of some scrutiny after last year’s cheer championship – the first in their history – which was hosted in Council Bluffs and was a source of negative talk claiming that the win was given via pity vote based on an injury suffered by one of the Bobcats, then-senior Kalista Nipper.

“I kind of played defense on some of that to make sure that the girls were exposed to some of that negativity,” co-coach Megan Shama said. “There were all of these justifiers, and it’s kind of like, no, we earned that first place. And I think this year was kind of proof of that. Like that feeling of Iowa’s on the map.”

Returning from last year’s team were Ashley Vera Nieto, junior, and Rifenta Kisichy, sophomore. Kisichy was unavailable for the interview with The Nonpareil.

Joining them were sophomores Kailani Mefy and Kaitlyn Johns, freshman Amiya Wood and eighth grader Jadaella Jeffrey.

“We have a strong cheer team, and we’re bringing it,” Shama continued.

The word that came to mind for co-coach Renca Dunn and Shama was validation.

“We feel validated,” Shama said. “We like, we’ve done it, we’re showing up.”

The atmosphere between the GPSD and National tournaments was very different, where at GPSD the focus and time is split between basketball and cheer, while Nationals is focused exclusively on cheer. Eight schools competed at GPSD and 16 total (10 in Division II, the Bobcats’ division) at Nationals.

For cheer-only student-athletes like Jeffrey, it was a challenge in spite of being off the court but still a positive experience.

“We had to cheer both games, both the boys and the girls,” Jeffrey said. “So just more of that. And I met a lot of new friends at both of those competitions, met a lot of people.”

For Mefy in her first year of cheer, she faced a different experience at Nationals.

“It was huge, it was a little overwhelming,” she said. “And so it really felt different but I just have really enjoyed my time this year being on the cheer squad.”

Wood experienced the challenge of wakefulness at Nationals, which is more of a two-day event in comparison to GPSD.

Amiya Wood identifies by they/them pronouns.

“It was a little bit more difficult,” they said. “A lot more requires you to stay awake, and (thinking) ‘Let’s keep going’ and have this energy, and it was a really nice experience.”

Encountering cheer squads with different stunts and routines was also nice for them to witness in depth.

“So it was really nice to bring a really good experience with me,” Wood said. “I’m not used to socializing with that many people, large groups. I think that I realized that is good in this capacity, something in common that we all have, that we meet new people and get out there.”

Each of the cheerleaders either made note of or felt frustration watching other teams compete.

Johns: “I felt like even though there were frustrations, we kept going. And when we found out we were champions again, I think our self esteem just soared.”

Wood had been inspired to join the team by its success last year.

“That prompted me to want to join this year too,” they said.

After the mood went back and forth between frustration and a sense of accomplishment, Wood did not anticipate winning.

“I thought we did good, maybe we will get third or something,” they said. “And so I feel like all of that, building a practice, bringing that strength and bringing all of who we are to that felt really good.”

Jeffrey also was surprised by the GPSD first-place finish in the midst of strong competition.

“All of the hard work we put in was worth it,” she said. “I mean, we did it, it felt good. Obviously my heart was beating, I was excited.”

For Mefy, there was a steep learning curve.

“She picked up the routine very well,” Dunn said. “I see all the effort that she put into picking it up so quickly because honestly she didn’t join us until a few weeks before the tournament.”

Learning to pick up what everyone else had learned over the course of the season, Dunn was impressed by Mefy’s ability to perform at a high level.

“So she’s really amazing,” Dunn said. “I want to give her some kudos here because I know that she has more of a shy nature, or reserved nature, but I want her to know that she really did do an amazing feat to be able to just join them and catch up with everyone else on the team.”

Lacking a senior, the Bobcats anticipate a full cast of returners to aim for a GPSD three-peat and another top-three finish at Nationals.

“I want to really focus on our stunts, on our facial expressions, our energy,” Vera Nieto said. She will be the lone senior Bobcat next year.

Jeffrey, an eighth grader, looks forward to spending more time with her teammates outside of practice and competitions. As a flyer, she wants to be able to literally reach higher in backs and pops.

“So I’m actually going to be interacting with these girls, even more,” she said. “Because I’m in middle school and they’re in high school, I’m not able to really interact with them, maybe at practice but that’s it. So I really think that makes a difference. I’m definitely going to join next year. And I think the team can be successful and we can get awards because we’re good, we’re a strong team.”

The coaches have the mindset to never stop learning, Shama said, and are already studying film and taking workshops.

ISD cheerleaders do face the challenge of limited specialization – most cheerleaders begin from an elementary school age, while the Bobcats are mostly new to the sport – but benefit from being past square one for next year.

“When you’re talking about students who are deaf and hard of hearing, they often don’t have those opportunities,” Dunn said. “We not only have to focus on the general stuff much, we’ve gotten down a lot of that, but we can really tailor it and hone in on some of those skills. We’re not starting from square one, right, from scratch. We can be even stronger, they know each other, they have a good rapport with each other, they know the routine.”

From the tournaments, the Bobcats also had three all-tournament members, Johns and Kisichy from GPSD, and Jeffrey at Nationals.