From cheerleading to acrobatics and everything in between, STUNT covers it all. Last year, Saint Mary’s Athletics announced STUNT as the newest sport added to the department and welcomed the new STUNT head coach Jill Humphrey to help lead the new team. The Belles Stunt team has 20 student-athletes on the roster, and its season is set to begin in February.
The Observer spoke with Humphrey to talk about her thoughts preparing for the upcoming season.
Q: What is your personal definition of STUNT?
A: There are four quarters involved with STUNT, the first quarter is partner stunts, the second quarter is pyramid and basket, the third quarter [is] jumps and tumbling and the fourth quarter is team routine. There are 24 routines competing that all colleges and divisions have to learn this year, and the team with [the] least deductions takes the point in that quarter. It is a mix of cheerleading, gymnastics, acrobatics and tumbling.
Q: As you are new to the Saint Mary’s Campus, how are you liking it so far?
A: I absolutely love it. I love that it is an all women’s college, and I love that all of the higher-up administration — like the head athletic director, assistant athletic director, athletic trainers and coaches — are mostly all women, and it is very empowering and I love coaching at an all women’s college.
Q: As STUNT is a new sport this year, how are you preparing your team for the upcoming season?
A: Right now we are focusing on the basics. There are 24 routines to memorize, and right now we are focusing on the first 12 and we are going to add more routines as we go, but just having clean basics and formations as we go.
Q: How do you think the team is looking so far and is there anything that you are looking to improve on?
A: I think that we have a very talented group. I know a lot of teams start with smaller rosters or minimum roster requirements, but we really do have a lot of talent. We have a lot of young — we have some girls that are first-year stunt, athletes to first-year cheerleading, we have a few weightlifters that have never cheered before, we have some gymnasts that have never done stunting before, so just teaching people how to do new roles but making sure that everybody has great basics is really what we’re focused on heading into the season.
