On top of the ladder, Madeline Roberts is ready to fly in this photo by former OHHS cheer coach and renowned photo whiz Pamela Headridge.
There was a time when Madeline Roberts might have screamed at the mere thought of being a cheerleader.
A pedal-to-the-metal softball and basketball player who has never met a loose ball she couldn’t throw herself head-first after, the Coupeville High School junior had to be talked into joining the Wolf cheer squad. Now she is one of its best and brightest, a fireball whose irrepressible personality shines through in every cheer squad picture.
“I never really thought I’d be a cheerleader because I’d always been into softball and basketball and made fun of cheerleaders,” Roberts admitted. “I started cheer halfway through football season freshman year because they needed someone for competition cheer. My friend, who was on the team at the time, convinced me to do it.”
Once she was in, she was totally in, fully committing to the team’s “family on the mat, family off the mat” philosophy.
“The best part about being a cheerleader is the family you create with them over the years,” Roberts said. “Since freshman year, Julia Felici and I actually created a pregame routine to get us pumped for games and it really made us closer, not to mention it makes football season that much more exciting.”
How committed is she to the cause these days? She even enjoys cheering on sometimes miserable Washington fall evenings.
“I don’t think there’s anything about cheer I could do without,” Roberts said. “Some people would say rainy football games. But there’s just something about cheering for those boys in the rain that makes it that much more fun.”
Not that it is all fun and games. What few on the outside see is the time and sweat put in by Roberts and her teammates, under the peppy but detail-orientated tutelage of coach Sylvia Arnold.
“You know, cheerleading is actually really freaking hard. I mean, kids lift us, and that’s like at least 100 pounds and we get thrown and work our legs doing jump lines until they’re jello,” Roberts said. “It’s hard work. I’d tell them come to practice sometime and tell me how sore you are the next day, because Syl works us hard!”
Still, as much as she enjoys cheer, even with the hard work, she clings to softball as her true love. A star player for both the Wolves and her select team, she hopes to continue playing when she goes to college in two years.
“After high school I would hope to play some college softball up at Western and I really want to focus on studies in early childhood development,” Roberts said. “Working with kids is just something I’ve always been good at and love to do.
“I’d love to say cheer is my favorite sport but I love the dirt way too much and just the feeling of being fast on the field and going hard and winning,” she added.
As she progresses through school and life, becoming a well-rounded young woman (“To everyone’s surprise I really like to read books, and nobody ever believes me! And I love studying history. I just find the past so interesting and really think we could learn a lot from it.”), her choice of cheer has paid off in numerous ways. A close relationship with her coach has been one of the most evident.
“One person who has really had a big impact in my life is actually Sylvia Arnold. She may be my coach but she’s been there for me since I was a little kid,” Roberts said. “I used to live next door to her when I was a kid, but she’s been there for me in the toughest part of my life.
“My parents got divorced when I was little and, as I grew up, I had a really hard time dealing with it through middle school,” she added. “She started this group called Chill with Syl and it really helped me open up and see what God has in store for me.”
Coupeville Sports 