Every Thursday and Friday during football season, English teacher Jasmin Castorena ditches the essays and red pen in favor of pom poms and pyramids.
Castorena is the head coach for both football cheerleading during the fall season, and basketball cheerleading during Winter.
Castorena started cheering when she was in the eighth grade, and continued all the way until her freshman year of college at William and Mary. Her coaching career started at a middle school for two years, and then to a high school. She was a junior varsity coach for one year, and then moved up and became the assistant coach for varsity.
When Castorena used to cheer, one of her coaches was very influential and left a lasting impression on her. “She was tough, but she was fair,” Castorena said. “And like I’ve never, I don’t think I’ve ever met another person who coached quite like her, and still, as an adult, I have so much respect for her.”
Along with coaching, Castorena is also an English teacher for the freshman students a part of the Math and Science center. Balancing being a teacher and a coach is a very demanding and hard thing to do, but Castorena has ways to balance both of them.
“Just [being] really organized with my time [is how I balance being a teacher and coach],” Castorena said. “[Being] really thoughtful about what I’m gonna get done, and just really maximizing the amount of productivity I put into my planning periods, so that I can try to be both at my best.”
She decided to start coaching because of her love for Clover Hill. “I love this school, and I love promoting school spirit,” she said. “I love being involved in the community, and so I felt like that it was a really good way for me to take the skills that I have and the things that I’m good at to give back to the school.”
Castorena has big and small goals for the team. These vary from 5 years, to goals she hopes happens next season. “My ultimate goal is to get us to UCA Game Day nationals at Disney World,” Castorena said. “[For] small, short term goals, I want to just expand the program, which we’re doing really well at going into basketball season,” she said. “[The team is] growing very, very quickly, and just looking good on the sideline, promoting school spirit, you know putting a team out there that people want to join and be a part of.”
With the addition of 17 new cheerleaders, Castorena is excited to start the winter season!
Quincia Douglas Davis • Nov 2, 2024 at 10:22 am
This article tells me how passionite Coach Castorena is in cheer. You can tell how much she loves to cheer she started cheering at middle school and stuck with it through college and now she is the Coach of the Cavalier Cheerleaders. I can’t wait to see the many cheers the coach and the team has prepared for us this school year.
Nia Evans • Oct 30, 2024 at 4:50 pm
I found this article very interesting and exciting because as a basketball player the cheerleaders are a big part of the games. I’m really excited to see the changes Coach Castorena makes to the team and all the differences in the cheers and stuff! I think with Coach Castorenas big cheer background she will do great things with the team.
Taniya Hubbard • Oct 30, 2024 at 9:41 am
Coach Castorena seems like an awesome person. Congratulations on head coach and the 17 new cheerleaders. I used to cheer all of elementary school up until half of 6th grade. I was impressed at the football games with the cheerleaders awesome cheers, flips, and pyramids. I hope that Cavalier cheer continues to rise and achieve their goals.
Kara Harris • Oct 29, 2024 at 2:50 pm
I’m really looking forward to seeing how the addition of a new head coach will ramp up the cheer program at Clover Hill. Many of my friends are currently preparing for basketball cheer in the winter, so hearing they have an awesome coach makes me excited. I was really impressed by the cheerleaders at the football games, so I’m happy to see more of them later in the year. I’m glad the new head coach, Mrs. Castorena, is someone who is passionate about both cheer and Clover Hill as a school. I can’t wait to attend basketball games this season in order to support the basketball program and the cheer team this winter.