![Stunt captain and junior Addison Arredondo completes a full extension arabesque. “All three of [the captains] have really great tumbling,” Head stunt coach Samantha Zimmerle said. “They're great stunters, and last year, when all three of them were on the team, they really just kept the hype up. We were really excited to offer them a captain spot.”](https://portolapilot.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Stunt-Photo-2-1200x864.jpg)
As the second year of the Stunt program begins, the team prepares for its first league competition on March 3.
The 2024-25 season was challenging, as other schools already had established Stunt teams with more experienced routines. This year, the team aims to qualify for CIF by practicing harder routines, according to sophomore Kinsley Gibson.
“One of our goals is to get all tumbling routines one through six, to get all partner stunts one through six and to make it to CIF this year,” Gibson said. “We want to go to CIF because it’s really fun, not only for the whole team to bond together, but it’s a really good pathway to move on next year, and it puts our team on a platform.”
During preseason, the team received materials to learn all routines independently. Practicing four times a week, along with conditioning, the team worked to master all of the routines and skills needed for competition, according to Stunt coach Rachel Schneble. However, in the middle of preseason, the team received disappointing news when they found inconsistencies between the reference video and eight-count sheets, and had to relearn some of their routines.
“Our routines weren’t vetted very well in terms of the videos versus the eight-count sheets,” Schneble said. “When we learn, we’re supposed to learn from the videos, but we’re judged on the eight-count sheets, so we’ve had a lot of communication back and forth with USA Cheer about the inconsistencies. The final updates to the sheets were made this past week, which is unfortunate because we’ve spent so much time working on routines that now have to be changed. Thankfully, it’s just little things to match the videos, but that’s been the most frustrating part in terms of challenges.”
Joining the team this year, head Stunt coach Samantha Zimmerle aims to push the team to learn the higher-level routines four, five and six. The experience gained last year with routines two, four and six made it easier for the team to focus on mastering the new routines this season, according to Zimmerle.
“I hope we just continue to grow and keep bringing in athletes, making sure that we’re having fun while cheerleading and encouraging women to be in the sports field,” Zimmerle said. “My main goal for the program is to start seeing some Stunt athletes go to college for Stunt. I think that would be really impressive and exciting for the program.”
