Spirit, Strength, and Teamwork:
Inside Our Cheerleading Program
By Samantha DePriest
Mrs. Gale Hickman pictured center.
Image from TCS Cheer
A long standing tradition at TCS is for the cheer squads to attend the UCA Cheer camp in July before the football season kicks off. Varsity Coach Gale Hickman was proud to report back on the accomplishments of the squad. For the past nineteen years at Trinity Christian School, our littlest Lions have lovingly known Mrs. Hickman as their PreK teacher. In addition to teaching PreK, Mrs. Gale Hickman began serving as an assistant coach for the middle school cheer program in 2012 before taking the helm as varsity cheer coach in 2016.
Coach Hickman shares, “What another incredible start to our cheer season! Our Varsity cheerleaders had an outstanding week at the UCA Cheer Camp! Our 28 member large varsity squad took the 1st place Superior overall, earning the highest honor at camp! They also received 1st place Incorporation of a routine, recognizing their ability to successfully add and combine the new skills they learned at camp into their routine. What makes this accomplishment even more amazing is that our Varsity team had only one two hour practice together before attending camp. They came together, worked hard, encouraged one another, and were absolutely phenomenal!”
Coach Hickman goes on to share “Our JV team also brought home a 1st place trophy for their overall routine. They, too, had only practiced together once before camp and did an incredible job. They all worked together, and made the routine awesome! We are proud of our Varsity and Jv cheerleaders! Their hard work, teamwork, positive attitudes, and willingness to learn made this camp such a success, We can't wait to see what this amazing group accomplishes this season!
Congratulations to the following cheerleaders tried out and made the UCA all American Cheerleader Team! The Varsity All American Cheerleaders were Ally Walker, Adoria Ware, Ella Bailey, Avery Walcott, and Elizabeth Smith and the JV All American Cheerleaders were Addie Cherry and Ava Tabor.
Coach Hickman shared her final thoughts, “Our vision is to build a cheer program that develops not only exceptional athletes but exceptional Godly young women. We want to challenge our girls to grow into confident, disciplined, and dedicated cheerleaders who have the skills and work ethic to compete at the highest level, including becoming successful D1 collegiate cheerleaders.
To name a few alumni who have gone on after TCS to cheer at the collegiate level:
Class of 2026: Braelyn Hammerstone - Kennesaw State (D1) and Katie Seitz - Austin Peay (D1). Hailey Gammon made the UWG (D1) team and took a year off to focus on academics.
Class of 2024: Emerson Reifschneider - Georgia College competition team (D2)
Class of 2021: Tiana Hosea - Georgia State (D1)
Class of 2020: Emily Clanton - Mercer University (D1), Carlyn Hayes - Troy University (D1), and Kendall Patterson - Mercer University (D1), and Savannah Smith - Mercer University (D1)
Class 2019: Sharla Flagg - Kennesaw State (D1)
Coach Hickman shares, “Beyond the skills, trophies and accomplishments, our greatest goal is to help shape who they become by teaching them to always put God first. We want to teach them the importance of kindness, respect, compassion, teamwork, humility and how to always treat others with grace. Ultimately, we want to build young women who are strong, confident, successful, and known not just for what they can accomplish, but for the way they help and make others feel. For them to have a positive impact on people around them. Our team verse is “Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold.” Proverbs 11:27.”
