Mariner cheerleading coach Amber Jones, at right, stands with her team after the 2018 Class D state championships in Bangor. She was named Coach of the Year at the Penobscot Valley Conference Championships January 19 in Lincoln. By Leslie Rice
Deer Isle—In just her second year coaching the Deer Isle-Stonington cheerleaders, Amber Jones was honored as Coach of the Year in Class D cheering by the Penobscot Valley Conference, in Lincoln on January 19. Thirty-two schools are conference members across all four classes.
“I was very surprised,” Jones said. “I’ve only been coaching at the high school level for a little over a year, so the fact that other coaches voted for me was really flattering and heart warming.”
As owner of Island Cheer and Tumbling, and as the island’s middle school and high school cheerleading coach, Jones coaches three teams.
“Unless you’ve been a coach…you don’t fully understand all that goes in,” Jones said. “Sitting in the coaches’ meeting chatting about the issues, up hill battles, and [the] great victories all of our teams have had this far has made me feel like my life isn’t as crazy as it seemed but just normal [for] a cheering coach with three teams and 50-plus participants.”
Jones also recognizes the role her own youth coaches have played in helping her realize the “huge opportunity” in coaching youth sports. “I see changes in the kids. They come in unsure and shy and then they get one new skill and everything changes,” she said. “They are bound and determined, they are fighters for new skills and progress and they care so much for cheering.”
She added: “I coach because my coaches and cheering have given me everything I have. When I found this sport in 5th grade I felt like I found my thing, something that made me confident and proud.”
It is the coaches who vote for the annual PVC award, and at the ceremony they were able to show their support in a more personal way. “So many coaches came up to me, to hug and congratulate me, it was such a cool experience to have that,” Jones said. “I could hear our little section of island fans screaming, and it was just one of those ‘aha’ moments when you think this is why I put everything into this sport and these programs, so that our program can get recognized and our kids can be proud.”