Coupeville Sports

   A blast from the past, with Sylvia Arnold and Sylvia Hurlburt, who is now a sophomore cheering for CHS. (Kristin Hurlburt photo)

Sylvia Arnold changed the way a town views its cheerleaders.

In her 20 years on the job, the Coupeville High School cheer coach — a force of nature whose enthusiasm has never wavered through good times and bad times — did something very few cheer coaches would even consider.

She welcomed everyone into the family.

There were no cuts, no competition for a few select spots. If you showed up, if you put your all in, you were one of her girls for life.

It didn’t matter if you fit the “classic” cheerleader profile or if you wore glasses, had multiple hair colors, were taller or shorter or heavier, were outgoing or painfully withdrawn at the start.

You were one of her girls, end of story.

Other schools seem to be constantly amazed with the size of the Wolf cheer squad. The radio announcers from King’s talked about it non-stop for an entire game last year.

There will be some who will tell you it got out of hand, that having more cheerleaders than football players on the sideline is embarrassing.

It must be tough to be wrong, but you are.

As Miss Sylvia prepares for her final regular season game this Friday, I firmly believe she has positively impacted more lives than any coach in this town over the past two decades.

Not just at the high school level, but with the countless elementary and middle school girls she worked with, many of whom returned to cheer for her in later years.

I have seen kids transformed, young women (and a few guys) who carried her lessons with them as they embarked on wonderful journeys that have taken them far from this Island, and often brought them back.

She has given countless teenagers a belief that they can be great, that they are part of something bigger than just themselves. That you don’t have to fit the stereotype to be successful.

You see it in their smiles. In their confidence. In the way they return to see her year after year.

When you look at what she has built, there is nothing but pride. Pride in a town. Pride in being positive, in helping pull up the sister on your right and on your left, because that makes you stronger.

She will tell us she doesn’t want any hoopla. That she doesn’t need to be celebrated.

Nice try, but that’s not how it’s going down.

The next time you see her, whether it’s at a game, at the store, at church, passing her on the street, stop and say two words.

Thank you.

Thank you for giving of yourself. Thank you for making your town better for your presence. Thank you for taking something simple, cheer, and making it pay off in incredibly complex ways.

Thank you, Miss Sylvia, for being you.