Best Cheer Team Ever? West Nassau
West Nassau High School is known for its fiercely competitive cheer team. Lead by Coach Samantha Beazley, the West Nassau Warriors have brought home many state, national, and world championship titles. Last season the team consecutively claimed their seventh state title and third national championship title. Prior to the pandemic, they held consecutive world championship titles. We had the opportunity to speak with Beazley and pick her brain about what it takes to be a West Nassau Cheerleader and what is the secret behind their impressive achievements.
After a difficult year and a half of navigating Coronavirus, the team is excited and ready to get back to some normalcy. Last year they were not able to practice and train as a complete team, abiding by strict protocols to maintain good health throughout the season. Additionally, with the 2021 World Championship being cancelled due to the pandemic, West Nassau was not able to go for a third consecutive world championship title.
Going into this year, Beazley says the team is taking advantage of every minute of practice time. “We’ve got to come in every single day and not take a second of practice time or times together for granted,” she said. “I think after having that experience last year, we can do it this year—we’ve just got to keep our minds right.”
The team starts the first half of their year focusing on football season, cheering, and drilling on the sidelines. During this time, Beazley says that they focus mainly on drilling and conditioning during practices.
“Drills on drills on drills bring you skills on skills on skills,” Beazley says, stressing that going back to the basics at the beginning of the year helps curate a prepared and focused athlete. “I’m a firm believer in drills. Every single year we go back to basics, and we start from scratch.”
The next half of the year they focus on getting ready for the competition season. The practices increase from three days a week to four days and go from the time school is let out to 6:30 at night. However, Beazley stresses that the team must “earn their way out of practice.” She emphasizes, “they have to do certain skills and a certain number of drills consecutively before they can get to that exit [out of practice].”
Beazley says that she likes to keep her athletes on their toes and ready for anything to happen during a competition.
“For me, my job is to make sure that I’m preparing them as best as possibly can for any and every scenario,” she said. “I try to create as many different scenarios as possible so that they feel confident not comfortable—because I always tell them that the comfort zone is the danger zone.”
Beazley recalls times where the music has cut out in the middle of practice, leading the team to have to count the beats and continue the routine in silence. When practicing the routines, Beazley is sure to time their warmups as if they are at competition. Additionally, she has the team practice waiting and coming out of the tunnel as if they are competing. By keeping her athletes prepared and confident, Beazley can keep them focused during these intense competitions against other cheer teams. “I try to be cool calm and collected,” she says. “I always tell them, ‘You should not stress until you see me stressed.’”
So, what is the secret to the team’s success? Beazley credits the culture created over time that demands hard work and tenacity from well-rounded student-athletes.
“Before I even see you in front of me at tryouts, I’m looking at the teacher evaluations, report cards, what kind of grades you have,” she said. “I kind of look at everything because I’m a firm believer if you cannot handle your business inside the classroom, you’ve got no business doing anything extra out of classroom and you’re probably not going to handle this outside the classroom.” Beazley emphasizes that a student-athlete should be that: a student first and an athlete second.
It will be exciting to watch West Nassau this year through the remainder of football season and competition season. With a fierce leader like Coach Beazley, they are certainly in good hands leading into the upcoming competition season. Go Warriors!
Written by: Janah Brown
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