All around Sunlake High School, students share many talents, hobbies, and sports they do outside of school. Whether it may be a sport, work, or an interesting hobby, Seahawks are all unique in their own ways. For a special feature in the sophomore class, Anastasia Rakoch has one cheerful, dedicated hobby—competitive cheerleading.

Outside of school, Anastasia cheers for One Elite, a competitive cheerleading team. She is passionate about her sport and loves what she does. “I have been cheering for the past six years. I started to cheer after my friend brought me to “bring a friend to cheer day.” From the start of that practice, I knew this is the sport I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The environment was very bright and happy. Out of all the sports I had tried before, cheerleading attracted me the most, and ever since I have been doing it and am really happy with it.” Before cheerleading in Florida, Anastasia lived in Canada and cheered there. “I cheered for West Halifax Cheer in Canada for five years, and here I cheer for One Elite Allstars. It’s my first season at this gym. My favorite part of the team is the bonds and memories I make with my teammates and coaches throughout the season.” In every sport, there are things people enjoy and some things they don’t enjoy, but for Anastasia, she enjoys everything about cheerleading. She says, “Competitions are the best part of the sport for me. Everything about competitions is very fun like getting ready, being backstage, performing, and how you feel after performing on stage. There’s no part about the sport that I don’t enjoy. Everything turns into something fun even the hard and tiring practices when you feel like passing out.” For the future, Anastasia aspires to continue her sport of cheerleading. “I will continue to cheer throughout college since I love the sport and it makes me happy as well as keeps me in shape.”