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08/23/2018 12:00 AMLea MacDougall knew that she was going to make some mistakes when she joined the East Haven cheerleading squad as a freshman. Fortunately for Lea, her older sister Kristy competed for the team and helped her adjust to the life of a high-school athlete. Now a senior, Lea is the one who’s making her incoming teammates feel welcome as the Yellowjackets get ready for another season.
“When I was a freshman, I had my sister to help me. I know how most freshman don’t really have anyone, so I try to help them learn new stunts and cheers,” says Lea, who started cheering when she was in 5th grade. “I like helping the girls. I try to be really friendly and try to help all of them. It’s still the beginning of the season, so we’re trying to teach all the freshmen the football cheers.”
Head Coach Michelle Maru is taking notice of everything that Lea is doing to prep the Easties for success this year. Maru likes to have Lea work with the younger athletes on the team when they do their drills and stunts, because she knows they are going to learn a lot from Lea.
“She brings a lot of strength to our team. She is a very hard worker and always wants to improve,” says Maru. “Every practice, you’ll always find Lea walking over to the newer girls or the groups that are having trouble, and she gives them tips and works with them until they are confident enough to do stuff themselves.”
Lea loves lending a hand to her teammates on the mat. Lea isn’t a captain for East Haven, but she still takes great pride in making sure that everyone on the squad is performing to the best of their ability.
“During practices, I even pull some girls off to the side and try to help them individually, so they don’t feel awkward and out of place,” says Lea. “Like if one girl isn’t sure what she’s doing and the others do, I’ll pull her to the side and do it one on one.”
While Lea has a lot of fun cheering on East Haven’s football and basketball squads, she looks forward to when the cheerleading team begins its competition season during the winter. Leah’s favorite competition is the New England Cheerleading Association meet, which is held at East Haven High School each year.
“I’ve been doing that one for a while, so it’s been my favorite. We also tend to do the best there,” Lea says. “It’s fun, because we work all year to get to our competition season. We work to get our stunts and routines down, so to finally compete is a relief—to know our hard work paid off and we’re performing.”
Lea has spent a lot of time working on her jumping skills throughout her time as an Easties’ cheerleader. Leah says she’s come a long way these past few years and continues to work at it.
“Fixing my jumps has made me a better cheerleader. When I first started, I had no idea what I was doing or how to jump,” she says. “As I got older, I got better at it and have more control. At the high school, we do drills, doing about 10 in a row to get our form right. We go over the motions all the time for where our arm placement should be.”
Lea’s effort resulted in her earning the nod to serve as East Haven’s representative in a jumping competition at the Hatter Fest Cheer Competition in Danbury last season. Although she felt a few butterflies, Lea was honored to compete on behalf of the Yellowjackets at such marquee meet.
“We all perform as a team, and then coach picks one girl to go on the mat and do her jumps in front of the audience and judges,” says Lea. “It was very nerve-wracking, because everyone is looking at you directly.”
Lea is uncertain if she’s going to continue her cheerleading career in college. Right now, she’s focused on making the most of her final season cheering at her hometown high school.
“This team is very close and we all get along,” says Lea. “It’s good to be on this team.”