Cheer up: Senior Riley Stark earns spot on prestigious Indiana team
Twenty-four hours to find a song, choreograph a routine and submit a video to a team of judges: Could it be done? For senior Riley Stark, it was a no-brainer.
\tStark not only did it, but she did it well, earning herself a spot on an exclusive 12-person All-Star cheer team -- after auditioning at the Indiana State Level Individual Cheer Competition. Stark is the first and only Plainfield student to have received this honor. In order to make the team, Stark had to spend an entire day focusing on what to submit for her audition tape. She only found out about the submission deadline two days before it was due, so it was very stressful to complete -- but was rewarding in the end. “I felt incredibly blessed to even have an opportunity,” said Stark. “I knew it was super prestigious and I wasn’t quite sure what kind of chance I had on making it.”
\tIn order to get to that position, Stark had a lot of work to do -- and not much time to do it. “It was actually a very last-minute hectic thing,” she explained. “It was a video submission to be selected for the team. There was a sort of miscommunication between me and my coaches and it came down to having less than two days to submit the video. This meant that I had to create, choreograph and film a routine in 24 hours. I emailed Coach Tabaska back and forth all night with music and ideas for this routine. The next day while TA-ing for her class, I went into the hallway under the staircase and worked on my routine for the whole period. Leaving her class second period, I still had an entire dance to make. Later that night, I met Coach Tabaska and Coach Cheek back at the high school to film. I was a little stressed out because of the craziness of it all. I had created an entire routine from scratch in less than a day, and never run it until that moment. I warmed up and we started filming. It took a few tries for me to work the kinks out, but I think it was about the fifth time filming it that we decided we would submit. That whole day, the only thing that was on my mind was this. Once it was done and submitted, I was relieved and proud of myself for all the work I had put into it that day.”
\tCheer has been a large part of Stark’s life since she was three years old. At the time, she actually was involved in soccer, but she only did cartwheels across the fields. From then on,though, she’s been a part of an estimated 30 cheer teams, ranging from All-Star competition teams to school competition teams to sideline teams. Stark hopes that she can continue to cheer into the future as well. “I currently plan to cheer at Ole Miss. If not at Ole Miss, whichever school I go to. I could also definitely see myself coaching a high school or an All-Star team after college,” she said.
\tLike other school sports, Covid-19 had a large impact on the cheer season last year. For Stark, her All-Star cheer team had many competitions that were virtual or even canceled. “The hardest part of everything was just the letdown,” said Stark. “Working so hard for a competition to just be canceled really took a toll on me. I can’t say I am the same athlete I was before Covid-19. I lost a lot of drive and passion.” Along with Stark’s All-Star team being negatively affected by Covid-19, the school team’s season was affected as well. Although they got to cheer at football games, they were not allowed to cheer at any basketball games, except Sectionals, cutting their usual season in almost half.
\tOver the course of her cheering career, Stark has developed close relationships with her coaches, especially Coach Allison Tabaska. “Coach Tabaska has definitely made my high school cheerleading career really successful. I know I always have her in my corner, not just in cheer, but in life,” said Stark. “She always wants the best for me and will do anything to help me get there. I am super thankful for that.”
The past 15 years of cheering have also resulted in lifelong friendships and countless memories for Stark. “My senior year, the student section was awesome,” she said. “It was so fun finally having all my friends up in the front and really leading the student section. Lots of funny and memorable moments grew from that. And, there are a few girls that I have cheered with for 10-12 years. Those memories are definitely always going to be special.”
Story by Kate Amos