Truckee High School cheer coach Kristen Torres and junior varsity cheer coach Abigail Chamberlain, formerly Abigail Hatten, plan on stepping down from their positions next year. Although both care passionately about the program, they need more time for family and their jobs.

In addition to being the head cheer coach, Kristen Torres is a Spanish teacher, department lead for world languages and co-advisor of Link Crew at Truckee High School.

Torres joined Truckee High School five years ago and has been the head cheer coach for three years. When Erika Murphy, then the athletic director, first asked her to coach, she declined because her children were very young. A year later Murphy asked again, and after running it by her family Torres accepted the position.

During her three years as the head coach, they established a 501(c)(3) for the organization, making them tax-exempt. This enabled them to purchase new uniforms for the Varsity team and work towards a new competition level so girls could choose between sideline and competitive cheer.

Truckee High School cheer currently has 22 on the Varsity squad and eight on Junior Varsity. Torres says she loves being a part of “the Truckee High spirit and impacting and influencing that school spirit and trying to raise it up as much as I can.”

Abigail Chamberlain has worked at Truckee High School as a biology and science teacher for three years. She has been in the Truckee Tahoe Unified School District for six years.

Despite her credentials in the sciences, Chamberlain says that she “[has] never been able to do a cartwheel.” She has enjoyed working with the girls in cheer, but she herself has never been a cheerleader.

Cheer skills aren’t the most important part of her job; Chamberlain is passionate about working with the girls.

“I think that it’s a really positive experience, and I think that they all have a really positive relationship, and it’s a really nice opportunity to get to know your coach or teacher outside of just the classroom environment and kind of get to know each other more on a personal level,” says Chamberlain.

Despite her love for the program, Torres desires more time she can dedicate to her family. Currently, Torres has two sons; ages 6 and 9. Torres described a recent night when she attended a game and didn’t return home until 11 p.m, resulting in her not seeing her kids for the entire day. She wants to be more involved in their lives; Torres says “these are precious moments that [she is] missing.”

Cheer is also the only sport in the district that requires the coach to sign up for two seasons instead of one. This means that Torres works from August to March, despite her pay being the same as most coaches that work for only one season. Torres said she can afford to coach in the fall because her “boys are really busy in the fall,” but it would benefit her family to have a free spring.

To solve this problem, Torres reached out to Kristen Kramer, superintendent of the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District, as well as the board of education. She requested an adjustment of her contract to reflect other sports, but after a follow-up, she got confirmation from Mike Shepherd, the head of HR, that her contract wouldn’t be changed.

This was a disappointment to Torres, who “would have loved to continue, but… [it feels] like it’s just asking too much of [her] time away from [her] family.”

Chamberlain feels similarly, saying she “just can’t commit to having [to work] after school, multiple days a week, and every weekend.” With a second job she works on weekends and expected family changes in the next year, she can no longer afford the time that cheer requires.

On top of this, having never been in cheer herself, she believes that “these other women are more qualified than [she is].”

Natalie Grindy, a marriage and family therapist who has participated in cheer for some time, was named by both Torres and Chamberlain as a trusted candidate to take over. Chamberlain also indicated that she knew some people outside of the program that may be interested in the Junior Varsity coach position.

Chamberlain says, “as we’re fading out, the new people that are most likely going to be taking over can really help set the program up for more success and really help the program continue to develop and grow.”

With all the work and time she put into Truckee High Cheer, Torres hopes to continue to be part of the program. Other than Head coach, there are many positions she can take within the program, such as treasurer and other assistant roles.

Although both the Varsity and Junior Varsity coaches are planning to step down, there seems to be a bright future for Truckee High School cheer.