Educator of the Year Nomination
Coach Jen Kryspin


Have you ever had a coach that has pushed you to do things you would never think about doing? Well, that’s my cheerleading coach; her name is Jen. She knows how to have fun and also get the work done during practice. Coach Jen isn’t just my high school cheerleading coach; she was also my competitive cheer coach when I was a little girl. She would always call everyone “buttercup” or “sunshine.” I think the most important thing about Coach Jen is that she taught me how to be a flyer even when I was scared out of my mind.

When I got to Cheerleading tryouts for high school, I was very nervous, mainly because I already knew Coach Jen, and if we are being honest, as a little kid I wasn’t the biggest fan of her. I was also nervous because I was a freshman, and I didn’t know anyone except two or three people. When we started tryouts, both the coaches and everyone on the team told me I would be a flyer which I didn’t like to hear. Being a flyer has always scared me, and I never wanted to do it. Once we started practicing and stunting, Coach Jen made me fly; I was very scared and almost cried. When you’re a flyer, you have to trust your bases and back, and since I didn’t know them or how good they were, it was hard for me to do but Coach Jen had no problem forcing me to do it, and I’m glad she did. When I got up in the stunt, I felt so proud of myself for doing it and getting over my fear. Thanks to Coach Jen I now love to fly and I love to try new and fun stunts; I’m so happy she pushed me out of my comfort zone.

When we are at practice, she tries to act not only like our coach but also a friend. We always make jokes and even though half the time we all hate each other during practice, when it’s time for the football games, we all love each other. I know she is harder on me when it comes to stunting and knowing cheers because she knows I can do better, and she wants to push me to be as good as I can. So even when she is yelling at me when I fall out of a stunt and I just want to quit, I know she is doing it because she knows me and how much I’m capable of. When we are on the bus going to football games she is always in the back of the bus with us talking to us and having a good time, I think that makes her a better coach because if she just sat in the front and didn’t have close relationships with any of us then we would only think of her as our coach and we wouldn’t be as comfortable talking to her about things if we have no one else to talk to.
In the summer we have to go to cheer camp, and since I was a freshman, I didn’t really know what to do when we got there. Everyone was doing cheer games; I was very uncomfortable. Coach Jen told all the older girls to pair up with freshman and help us feel comfortable. During the day and at night she told us to go and find someone from another team and to make friends with them; I think that helped us get better at being more outgoing. At the camp they had stunting class and learning cheers classes. When we got to the stunting class, I was really nervous because I was still new at flying, by then I trusted my stunt group more which helped me, but the camp directors and Coach Jen wanted me to try stunts I’ve never done before. I was really scared but decided I should just get it over with and do it; when we tried one of the stunts; it took us a couple times to figure it out. I became determined to figure it out, and I hit the stunt perfectly. By the end of the day we got it down. I was so happy when we did it, and I could tell Coach Jen was very proud of me, from that day on I loved to fly. Camp really taught me a lot and towards the end of camp I could tell we all had bonded a lot and really became a team.

As you can tell Coach Jen has really made a difference in my life and I got my love for cheerleading back. I’m so glad I got to have her as a coach because I think if it was anyone else, they wouldn’t have pushed me as much as she did. I can’t wait till cheerleading starts up again; I can’t wait to get even better. Coach Jen has taught me to never give up even when you become frustrated because you can’t get it right or keep forgetting how to do a cheer. Even when she is yelling at me and I’m about to quit, I know I would regret it because I love to cheer, and Coach Jen has helped me to become a hundred times better in just one year. The one thing she would always tell us before going to a game was “fake it till you make it” so even when we aren’t having a good day, when it’s game time, we always have to have a smile on our faces and make sure we are ready to win as a team. Is there really anyone else who deserves this award like Coach Jen? I can’t think of one; she is my choice for Teen Ink’s Educator of the Year.