CONTRIBUTING WRITER – AMELY LOGAN
The brand new STUNT team marks the beginning of a sports era previously unknown in the St. Mary’s University community. Despite the uniqueness of the sport, Head Coach Jordan Wait-Parker describes how St. Mary’s University welcomed her by stating “I felt very supported, I was originally out of state when I got hired and the school accommodated me and helped me learn how things worked.” Building up a program is never easy, but it is evident that Coach Wait–Parker is more than ready to put in the work and make her athletes and program known, stating “It’s a unique experience, to be a coach of a new sport at the age of 26, you can help build the culture for the future of the program.” Like competitive cheerleading, STUNT includes a wide variety of skills such as jumps, tumbling, partner stunting, pyramids, and tosses.
However, unlike competitive cheerleading and its usual 2-minute routine, STUNT is a four-quarter game highlighting the athlete’s skills, with games lasting up to 45 minutes in length. With the STUNT season starting, the spring athletes have already begun practices, which take place from Monday–Thursday from 6:45 a.m. to 10 a.m. In these practices, STUNT athletes must be on time to roll out mats and begin warm-ups by 7 a.m. They then proceed to stretch and warm up their tumbling and stunts, followed by a runthrough of these routines, game quarters, and a run through of an entire game. STUNT practices end with an hour of gym workouts. These athletes are hard workers, simply demonstrated by the length and consistency of their practices. The STUNT season officially begins in the spring semester with their first competition, taking place on Feb. 1, 2023. These athletes are putting in the work to prepare for their first-ever season as the St. Mary’s STUNT team.
In an interview with Tiffany Gomez, a freshman exercise and sports science major, she shares how even as a long-time competitive cheerleader, STUNT was something brand new to her. When asked how she learned about STUNT, she described how she “heard about STUNT through a couple of coaches who were recruiting me and had seen it through social media.” It is evident STUNT is an attractive sport to current and prior competitive cheerleaders given the fact she states “I chose to join STUNT because it is a new sport that is similar to competitive cheerleading, I had done competitive cheerleading since I was 8 years old, and I wanted to try a new aspect of this sport. It’s not a common sport in Texas, so when I got the offer, I decided to go for it.”
While the similarities to competitive cheerleading may be what attract athletes to STUNT, it is evident the excitement of a new sport and the culture that has been built so far is what keeps STUNT athletes motivated and dedicated to their team. These athletes are excited for their first season as a team and Gomez describes how excited she is to “Be a part of a new program and create new memories with the team. It’s a brand-new experience, and different from the high school, and the all-star level.” Although this sport seems to be brand new to most of the St. Mary’s University and STUNT athletes alike, it has not stopped them from proving their abilities to the community and we can’t wait to see what they accomplish once the season starts. New beginnings at St. Mary’s University have always been a characteristic of this community, so let’s continue to demonstrate our support to the STUNT team as they embark on their first-ever competitive season in the Spring of 2023. The future is looking bright for this new chapter in athletics history.