Senior Shama Stropes has been cheering at the Varsity level for Terra Linda all four years of high school and has continuously shown stellar leadership and athletic skills.
As a base, Stropes has cheered for football, basketball, and the competition team. Starting the year off with football, Stropes is always ready to go on the sideline, leading her team in every capacity possible. During this season, the team is at every game with different dance routines and cheers to bring the crowd together in support of football. As a base, Stropes supports her teammates by ensuring that they don’t fall or get injured, a task that requires a lot of strength and athleticism. Stropes puts lots of dedication and extra effort into ensuring that her positioning and performance is always at the highest level, spending her free time practicing and perfecting every move.
Competition and basketball cheer occur over the same season, where Stropes balances two different cheer styles at once. “Basketball and comp are pretty different, but I really enjoy both. This is the first year we really got into competition, and it’s a lot more stunting and dancing compared to basketball, which requires a lot of precision and practice in addition to practicing for basketball,” Stropes comments. During the competition season, TLHS cheer was able to receive 3rd place for their game day fight song and 2nd place for their traditional routine at the USA competition. The team also qualified for nationals and cheered in Los Angeles at the Anaheim Convention Center. “Cheerleading is really hard because you’re not only an athlete but you’re a performing athlete. You need to be able to lift kids, throw them, flip, tumble, all while entertaining….and I really think Shama perfected that through competition, and as a game day cheerleader.” Head Coach and Social Sciences teacher Ashley Ayoob states.
11th grader and teammate, Giana Tar, comments, “She’s incredible, she’s a very supportive person and a great person to look up to and as a mentor.” This season, the cheer team stepped away from having captaincy but Stopes was always one to help her teammates and guide them through any difficulties, always encouraging and offering to help others. “I think she is definitely seen as a leader, and she steps up a lot whenever asked. She’s often put in a leadership position, she’s just really good at leading our team.” Tar adds.
Stropes is currently unsure where she will be attending school for the next four years, but she plans to continue her cheerleading career beyond Terra Linda. “I could 100% see her on the sideline at a college. I know she could do it, I think she has the passion and grit for it, and she could definitely make a team if she wanted to.” Head Coach Ayoob adds. Although this is the end of Stropes’ cheerleading career with Terra Linda, the whole Trojan family is excited to see what she does next!.
