BUFFALO, N.Y. — Three days a week, Frontier Elementary School becomes practice space for high school cheerleaders. But for Taryn Mapps, cheerleading occupies much more than just three days a week.
“I have practice everyday. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday for my school cheer team and then for my competitive cheer team I have practice Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday,” said Taryn, a freshman.
A schedule almost a decade in the making. She has been a cheerleader since six years old.
“Taryn as an infant, toddler, was climbing out of everything, climbing up the cupboards,” said Jessica Mapps, Taryn’s mother.
But her motivation to cheer really came from her mentors.
“The older girls, they motivated me to be like them,” Taryn said.
“She’s been on the team since 7th grade and she’s a freshman now,” said Nicolette Banister, varsity cheerleading coach at Frontier High School.
Her diligence led her to become one of 10 girls nationwide chosen for the Nfinity All American Freshman Team, a program that recognizes high-achieving cheerleaders.
“Nfinity is one of the big cheer brands that we have it’s just like under armor and nike for other sports,” Banister said. “The competitiveness of the infinity team involved a lot and it was nice to see too that they included the academic portion.”
To make the team, Taryn worked hard for both the grades and the skills.
“In school, I always want to have the best grades and in cheer I always want to be the best for me and my team,” she said.
“When we applied, we had to send a tumbling video in, a stunting video in and her game day video,” said Jessica.
Now Taryn will take her love for cheerleading to Atlanta for an Nfinity banquet to meet other athletes just like her.
“Being part of this infinity all American is really gonna really set up connections for her for the rest of her life and cheerleading is definitely something she, I feel, will do the rest of her life,” said her mother.
Giving Taryn the chance to become a role model just like the ones that made her fall in love with the sport.
“I always push myself to be better and want to be the best person for myself,” she said.