Daviess County High School’s Kitty Jones was recently named the 2022-23 Cheerleading Coach of the Year in Kentucky by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSH). Jones helped lead the Lady Panthers to a title in the State Competitive Cheer Game Day Division in addition to a third consecutive regional title.
According to KHSAA.com, those named Coach of the Year at the state level advance for consideration for Sectional Coach of the Year honors. Jones first was notified of the honor through an email asking her to fill out an application for this next round of voting. Jones said she was surprised when she realized she won the State Coach of the Year award because she was not informed she had ever been nominated.
“I received the email saying that I had won, but I really didn’t realize I had won because it said to submit an application for the sectional and national level as well,” she said. “I was just thinking I was nominated. Then people started contacting me, and I realized I won. It was a huge surprise.”
Although winning the award left her speechless, Jones said she began to think about the other coaches and the team she has around her.
“I made a post saying it should be the ‘Coaches’ award rather than the ‘Coach’ award,” she said. “I feel like we have a great team in place and that we all contribute. It shouldn’t just be me. I did a lot, but I have a really good team in place.”
Teamwork, respecting your teammates, and creating a general cohesiveness among the team is what Jones’ coaching philosophy is all about, she said. Jones values helping students become not just better athletes, but better people as well.
“Coaching is definitely all about developing individuals as people to be able to work together and kind of have that cohesiveness,” she said. “You have kids all the time that may not be friends outside of cheer, but when we’re working together we respect each other. Being on a team is about developing a person for their life and developing those skills.”
She continued, “One of my biggest philosophies is to respect your teammates. It’s hard with a lot of girls at times, but I just always say to them that you don’t know what someone is going through outside of practice or what kind of day they’ve had. We just need to go easy and try to work on the common goal.”
Jones has been coaching at Daviess County for 5 years and has been coaching in general for more than 20 years. She reflected on the time and effort needed to get to this point in her coaching career and the time it has taken from her family.
“I spend a lot of time away from home and a lot of time away from my kids,” she said. “My daughter is in college, and she’s grown up around me coaching. I’ve been coaching probably a majority of her life, so it’s an honor to be rewarded for something that you put a lot of work into. You spend a lot of time away from home. It’s not my only job, so it’s a lot.”
Jones will lead the Daviess County cheer team into regionals on November 11, where they will look to secure their fourth consecutive regional title in the large game day division.
