West Louisville Elementary School became the first elementary school in DCPS to have a competitive cheer team this year. They recently competed in regionals and placed first in the Elementary Game Day division and will compete at the state competition in December.
The competitive team was added this year, but the cheer program for the school was created as a club last year. Before the program was started, co-head coach Brittney Edge noticed an interest in cheer as some of the students would practice cheerleading during recess, she said. The eagerness the younger students had gave her the idea to bring a program to the school.
“We had students who were interested in cheer and wanted to practice cheerleading during recess every day,” she said. “They could not wait to be old enough to join the middle school squads, which was such a long way off for some of them who were just in kindergarten! One day, Erinn Williams and I started talking about how awesome it would be to bring cheerleading to these younger kids. We were both all in, but we knew we couldn’t do it alone. So we approached Natalie Clatterbuck, our school nurse, who has lots of cheer experience and still has the skills and killer facials to pull off an awesome routine! When she agreed that it was a good idea, we knew we had to do it.”
Edge inquired about the program to the school’s principal Nathan Satterly, and he was more than happy to jump on board with the idea. Satterly wanted to ensure cheerleading was open to all of the students and was accessible and affordable for families, she said. When they officially started the program, they had about 60 students join.
“We began our first year as more of a club, getting our feet wet,” she said. “We had almost 60 kids join! It was wild, but we had so much fun. We learned from our kids just as much as they learned from us. We began with the fundamentals and helped them discover what cheerleading is all about. We even learned a whole routine and put on a little showcase for our school and our families as the year ended. We knew we wanted to do competition, and we had a group of kiddos who really wanted that aspect too, so we added that layer this year.”
Clatterbuck is grateful for the opportunity to help coach the students who many have little to no experience. She still coaches alongside Edge and Williams as they begin the program’s journey into the competitive side of the sport.
“As the school nurse and a parent of a WLES cheerleader, I’m super grateful for the opportunity to help coach this squad,” she said. “The majority of our cheerleaders have absolutely no experience, and I’m so excited to be able to provide them this opportunity to participate in a team sport at school.”
Despite the program being so young, Williams said the progress everyone in the program is making is the biggest win for them as coaches. With the competitive program, they are teaching the squad to extend their skills past the fundamentals. One aspect she took note of was the grit and determination the squad has to being successful, she said. Along with what is taught by Williams, Edge and Clatterbuck, the students also learn from the other cheer teams around the county.
“We are currently working with our team on the importance of consistency and extending skill past fundamentals,” she said. “We offer assistance with stunting and tumbling every practice and have been blessed to have mentoring squads throughout Daviess County who have been there since day one to help out. The bond our kids have with many students both in middle and high school is both heartwarming and encouraging. They really look up to the varsity athletes who have invested in them during joint practices and our choreography camp. It’s truly been a blessing interacting with so many other talented and vetted programs!”
