Challenges abound, but cheerleading squad finds ‘we can do anything’

Dressed in blue and white uniforms, the girls dropped their pompoms, got into formation and hoisted a teammate into the air.

It was your typical school cheerleading practice, but it was also extraordinary for one main reason: All the members are visually impaired.

This is the third year that the Georgia Academy for the Blind has had a competitive cheerleading team. The Macon school, which has students enrolled from across the state, had just a pep squad in the past, school Superintendent Cindy Gibson said.

To try out for the team, students must be at least 13 years old or in sixth grade and no older than 21, said coach Tracie Zabokrtsky, who coached middle school cheerleaders when she lived in Texas. To meet competition rules set by the South Central Association of Schools for the Blind, the Panthers squad has six main cheerleaders, an alternate, a mascot and a student manager.

“I think it is absolutely amazing how we are visually impaired but we can do anything. I’m proud to be a cheerleader at GAB,” said senior Britany Locklear, a competitive team member for three years and pep squad member before that.

Members go up against Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia schools in competitions every winter, Zabokrtsky said. They just got back from Mississippi, where freshman Tyzia Brooks won the individual cheer category and team captain Jayla Jackson, also a freshman, won the Miss Congeniality Award.

The Panthers won the 2016 Spirit Award and first place in the compulsory cheer category in 2015. The team also cheers at school wrestling matches, “goal ball” games and pep rallies and serves as ushers for other events.

For people with visual impairments, it can be challenge to know how their body fills the space around them. Repetition, focusing on body placement and slowing down the pace of the movements are all important when teaching the cheerleaders. Gibson said members visualize what they want their moves to look like.

“We try to give them all the opportunities we can to be a part of something special,” Zabokrtsky said. “They have worked as a team, and that is what I want to see, ... the friendship, the trust, the building each other up.”

Brooks, who has been on the school team for two years, said she wanted to join to prove to people that she could do it. Jackson, a three-year member, said she loves smiling and making people happy, and cheerleading is a great way to do that. Locklear wanted to follow in the footsteps of her sister, who also was a cheerleader.

“I just wanted to try something new,” said team co-captain Lashayla Stanford, a freshman who became part of the team this year. “I looked at being a cheerleader as being a good leader of the school. I’m spreading spirit and making people feel good about themselves.”

This story was originally published February 17, 2017 at 5:32 PM with the headline "Challenges abound, but cheerleading squad finds ‘we can do anything’."