Last year’s Deer Isle-Stonington High School cheerleaders perform at regionals. Photo by Anne Berleant
Deer Isle—The 2019-20 Deer Isle-Stonington cheering squad will look different this year, not only because of smaller participation numbers, but because there will also be George Stevens Academy cheerleaders in Mariner uniforms.
“We have a cooperative team this year, we only have one athlete from GSA who was on my middle level cheering team last year from off island and is with us again this year,” said DISHS cheerleading coach Amber Jones.
The Maine Principals’ association allows students from other schools to compete on other teams if their home school does not offer that program. Since Jones opened up the middle level cheering program to students off-island in Sedgwick and Brooklin, she has been able to reach students who would generally attend George Stevens Academy for high school because of proximity.
“Many of those kids live closer to Blue Hill than the Island, and they end up attending GSA where there is no cheering program at this time,” said Jones. “It works well for everybody.”
The middle level program is the biggest one this season, boasting 22 cheerleaders who will eventually become part of the varsity program when they reach high school.
“We only have five kids this year [on varsity] unfortunately,” said Jones. “But the interest is there in the middle level, and we just have to keep building. Until then, I’m so happy to have the opportunity to keep coaching kids I’ve had for years past no matter if they are at DIS or GSA.”
The team will compete at the regional championship on January 25 at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, and the state championship is scheduled for February 8 in Augusta should they advance.