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AS A PROPERTY OWNER IN THE SANDPOINT AREA

REALTOR®

by JILLIAN CHANDLER

Last year marked Heather Dinkins second season as coach of the Sandpoint High School cheer team. Each season brings with it success and challenges, and Heather is proud of how her team overcame hardship to come out on top.

“I am most proud of how they faced adversity with injuries and different sideline and competition teams to still qualify for state in two routines,” Heather smiles.

She is excited about this cheer season, as she has brought in outside help to ramp up the team’s tumbling and stunting. “I am looking forward to seeing how far we can advance,” Heather shares. “My team also has half of the girls that have never cheered before, so it’s a big learning curve—but they are doing awesome!”

When it comes to her role as a coach for these young student-athletes, she finds seeing these kids “push themselves to accomplish what they didn’t think possible and develop synchronized teamwork” the most fulfilling.

As a coach, Heather wants her girls to walk away with learned lessons like time management, teamwork and responsibility. Ultimately, her goal each year for each member of her team is “that they become a better version of themselves throughout the season.” All summer long you could find the SHS cheer team working hard at practice 7 to 10am Monday through Friday, working on cheer jacks, stretching, kicks and jumps, tumbling, halftimes and cheers, stunting and conditioning, according to Heather. Now that school’s back in session, practices are held 3 to 5pm five days a week.

As a member of the cheer team, Heather expects these athletes to be enthusiastic about learning. “We push the limits every day,” she affirms. You have to be willing to try and forgiving when others mess up—especially in stunting.”

The local cheer team has built an audience of its own, and you can see them performing and cheering on SHS’s football games, boys’ and girls’ basketball, as well as wrestling matches. From December through February, the team is busy performing at their own cheer competitions.