Sports are a big part of our community at BIC. It consists of some of the brightest minds of the school and certainly the most athletic. Cheer, like other sports, challenges the athletes to master technical skills and with that they must have a coach to guide them. 

This year we have two new additions to the coaching staff at BIC, Mrs. Sarah Wattigney and Mrs. Alli Stone. Both have worked hard over the summer to prepare the cheerleaders of BIC for the upcoming season. 

Mrs. Wattigney is the head coach of the 24-25 cheer team. “As the coach, I plan to prepare the cheerleaders for competition next year,” Mrs Wattigney said. In her past she was a cheerleader at Oak Ridge High School in a small town near Imboden. Through her high school years there she cheered from 8th to 11th grade.  

Mrs. Wattigney previously served as  the BIC coach for 8 years until 2020 when she thought she would retire permanently from coaching. Years later the need for a coach arose, and the opportunity for her came to light. “I probably enjoy coaching more now than I ever have before.  My view on cheer has changed a lot in the past few years.  I feel less pressure now than I did before, ” said Wattigney. With her new mindset cheer has become her passion once again. 

One big change made to the way Cheer is run is the addition of an assistant coach,  Mrs. Stone. Stone stated that she is looking forward to building the cheer program, adding,  “The girls are already amazing, and I cannot wait to see how much they can improve.” Mrs Stone’s powerful energy to push these cheerleaders has helped build back  the cheer team to what it once was. 

Mrs. Stone’s rich cheer background comes from the successful Brooklynn Cheer program. She cheered for the Brookland Bearcats since she was in 5th grade and gymnastics from the age of 3. Her love and hard work of cheer further encouraged her to want to become a cheer coach. Her background makes her a wonderful coach with the ability to expand on her knowledge to the BIC cheerleaders. 

Coincidentally, both Cheer coaches teach math at BIC High School in addition to their coaching duties. Outside of the classroom,  Mrs. Wattigney is a mother of three, and all three of her daughters were on the cheer squad. She has been happily married for over 25 years and enjoys birdwatching. As for Mrs Stone, she has a loving husband and has an abundance of Converse tennis shoes to her name. 

These coaches have big plans for their cheerleaders hoping to build their skills as much as possible in preparation of competition next year. When asked about the challenges facing the cheer squad, Wattigney stated, “Our lack of crowd involvement is probably the biggest problem that we face.  Things have changed now that everyone has cell phones.  It’s also difficult to go to a local competition and not have any BIC fans there to support our girls besides just the cheerleaders’ families.” Hopefully with new coaches comes a new opportunity to resolve these problems and build school spirit at BIC.