Giselle Richards (Muscogee Creek): “I come from a family of competitive cheerleaders”

By Dan Ninham (Oneida)

The first family of native competitive cheerleading may be in Oklahoma. Styles of dance, gymnastics, tumbling, stunting, and cheering are required. The precision and execution begins at a young age with individual practice in gymnastics and cheerleading. Add a team of gymnasts and cheerleaders together that have trained for most of their young years and the challenge increases immensely to be at an elite level to compete on the national and world stage.

Giselle Richards is a senior at Lincoln Christian School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She participates in competitive cheer and is a track team runner. Giselle maintains a 3.8 GPA and is graduating high school with 24 college credits going into college. 

”I am Muscogee Creek from Oklahoma,” said Giselle. “My parents are Tyler English-Rush and Chance Rush. My mom is Muscogee Creek and my dad is a member of the MHA Nation from North Dakota. They both do a lot of work in Indian Country and I’m proud of them for that. We all live in Tulsa, OK.”

“I am an athlete in competitive cheer and track,” said Giselle. “I’ve trained in competitive cheer for seven years. It takes a lot of training to develop your tumbling, stunting, and performance skills. I now perform on what is called the ‘Worlds’ level and is the highest level in competitive cheer.”

“My tribal core values have taught me to hold myself to a high standard,” said Giselle. “I know as a young Native woman, I can overcome anything if I set my mind to it. I know that I am mentally strong, and I know that if I focus on always being the best version of myself then I will win. I also keep my values close to me and try to be good role model, stay humble, and kind to everyone.”

“My mom has always encouraged me and pushed me in a good way,” said Giselle. “For track, my main influence has been my dad Chance. With me being new to the sport, he taught me a lot about my technique and how to shave off more time from my races. He was a very successful runner in high school and college.”

State Level Track Athlete During Her First And Last HS Season

“I’m new to track,” said Giselle. “I trained and was a part of the varsity track team at Lincoln Christian School my sophomore year. However, I was ineligible to compete that year because I just transferred to Lincoln from another school and the Oklahoma athletic rules make you sit out a year if you transfer. After my sophomore year the track coach told me I had to choose between track and competitive cheer because the ‘Cheerleading Worlds’ competition conflicted with the track regional meet. It was difficult because I really enjoyed track, but I chose cheer because I had already put so many years into my training there.”

“Once my senior year started, the track program at my school started recruiting me again for the team and they said they would make the track schedule work with my cheer schedule, so I was all in. Up until a few weeks ago due to COVID-19 pandemic I trained three-four days a week for cheer, five days a week for track, plus my additional track coach twice a week,” added Giselle.

“Everything is up in the air right now with the pandemic going on,” said Giselle. “I know the remainder of my academic year is online and my track season just got canceled. I’m still working out hard at home on the peloton bike, in house workouts, lifting weights, and running in my neighborhood.” 

“First and foremost as an athlete I am very competitive,” said Giselle. “My tribal core values play a big part in that. I’m most competitive because I’m competitive with myself. I hold myself to a high standard. Every time I compete I work hard to be better than I was the last time. Track felt easy to me in a way because I could mainly focus on beating my time from the last meet. And I accomplished that at all four meets I competed in since January. I improved my times each time.”

Dad Chance Rush competed in track in both high school and college. He was offered 25 D1 track scholarships. He won six Oklahoma state titles in high school in Class 5A. In college he won two NAIA National championships and was a four-time All American at Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU). Chance graduated in 2000 from OBU with a social work degree. He also attended Haskell Indian Nations University in 1997-98.

“She’s spiritual in all that she does,” said dad Chance. “On and off the mat she puts her faith and character first. She honors the talent God gave her.” 

“For track I came into this year new to competing at meets and received a college scholarship offer after my very first meet,” said Giselle. “I am already committed to going to OU, but it was exciting to receive an offer after my very first meet! My times kept getting faster from there and at my last two meets I was the top point scorer. I won the 200, and the 4×4 Relay. I was on my way to winning a state championship in May, but now my season was canceled. I know there are a lot of 2020 seniors that are now in this same situation. It’s disappointing, but I know there are very serious issues going on right now in the world that we need to overcome. Maybe I can do both cheer and track at OU!”

“Giselle joined our team for the first time this year as a senior and we are sure glad she did,” said Stephen Lewelling, Lincoln Christian School, Head Track Coach. “She is an exceptional athlete and a wonderful young woman. Giselle worked her tail off every day in practice and competed on every rep. She was more than willing to step up and try her hand at anything we asked of her to help her team. As a natural athlete and strong competitor, she anchored all of our sprint relays and was a medalist in the long jump. In our last meet of the season, Giselle helped us bring home the gold medal in the 4×400 relay, placed third in the long jump and lead us to a second place team finish.” 

“Giselle has a joy about her that is evident in everything she does and I know she will be a light in her community,” added Coach Stephen. 

The Team Is Among The Nation’s Best In Competitive Cheerleading 

“My cheer team meets virtually and we are assigned workouts to complete as well,” said Giselle. “What may become of the remainder of my cheer season is up in the air. However, it’s looking more and more like it may be done as well. We were scheduled to compete at ‘Worlds’ in Orlando in April. That of course has been postponed.”

“My regular cheer season would normally finish after ‘Worlds’ in April and then tryouts for the new season begins in May. I will be attending the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the fall and I’m planning to tryout for the OU cheer team. Those tryouts were scheduled in May right after the state track meet. All of this has now been canceled now. OU will let me know how they are going to do cheer tryouts now with the changes,” added Giselle.

“Competitive cheer is so much about teamwork and your mentality. You have to not only have the skills but also have yourself confident and knowing you can hit all your skills perfectly when you compete. Then you have to do your best to hype your team up to make sure everyone is in the same mindset. If everyone is, then that’s when the magic happens and we will hit the routine we’ve worked all year on,” added Giselle.

“I come from a family of competitive cheerleaders,” said Giselle. “My oldest sister started it all. She competed for years and now coaches at my cheer gym and has won

National Championships. My sister Dani is a junior and competes on the same competitive cheer team as me as well as her school team.  She goes to Union High School. My 12-year old sister Izzy is quickly becoming one of the best tumblers of the family and competes at my cheer gym on a junior level team. And my youngest sister Annabelle also trains and competes at our gym on a mini-level team. I think we all hold each other accountable and are competitive with each other in a good way.”

“My athletics has already led me to some exciting opportunities,” said Giselle. “I was selected last year to be a model for an athletic company called ‘Rebel Athletic’.

I’ve been able to be a part of their anti-bullying video and movement, as well as taking part in some very cool photo shoots.”

“My biggest accomplishment is winning the two biggest National competitions in the same year in 2017,” said Giselle. “We won the ‘NCA (National Cheerleading Association) All Star Nationals.’ There are more than 25,000 athletes at this competition from all over the world and my team won. My sister Dani was on the same team and it was so awesome to share the experience with her. Then a month later we went to compete at the Summit in Orlando and won that too! That year was an experience I will never forget. We worked so hard for three years and finally accomplished what is very difficult to accomplish.”

Giselle looks up to her cheer coach and mentor Cathryn Weeden. Cathryn has coached Giselle for six years. She is now the gym owner at Luxe Athletics along with Giselle’s coach. She formerly was an OU cheerleader. Coach Cathryn has great insight to Giselle as a competitor and athlete. She knows her very well. 

Coach Cathryn Weeden, Luxe Athletics owner, said: “I have been coaching Giselle for the last six years and have known their family for 10. Giselle is a great leader. She’s calm under pressure, confident in her abilities and gives 120% on the floor.  As a veteran member of our cheer program and worlds team, Giselle is one of our strongest leaders at Luxe. She puts in the extra time, works hard at practice and is an encourager of all in her team.“

“Our younger kids look up to Giselle because she not only is a fantastic athlete, but she’s a great performer, a great sister and stays really active outside of the gym. Between private school, competitive cheer and running track for school, Giselle is a busy young lady. But never too busy to put in the work needed to get the job done,” added Coach Cathryn.

“If I could have 10 Giselle’s I would in a heartbeat,” said Coach Cathryn. “She’s a great young lady and is going to be a phenomenal young woman when she transitions to college. We are hoping to see her cheer on the sidelines at Oklahoma in the fall!”

Coach Cathryn is demanding and focused on execution of skills for peak performance. Countless hours of training go toward a two and half minute competitive routine. This is not unlike all athletic coaches who were elite athletes who became elite coaches to instruct elite athletes. The cycle of being elite is stressful and has high pressure to execute perfection.

“Every gym is different, and I think what’s important is to make sure you find the gym where you truly trust the coaches there,” said mom Tyler. “Coach Cathryn is very high demanding and expects the best out of the athletes. She also loves these kids inside and out and teaches them a lot about good sportsmanship, or taking the high road in their behavior. She teaches them a lot about character. That’s what sold me on her. And it’s because Giselle grew up in this program and with a tough coach like she has that she now as a senior has excellent time management skills, self-discipline, and doesn’t know any other way than to give 100% of her effort. They’re taught to be accountable and responsible not just for themselves, but for their team.  Honestly, I think the life skills Giselle has acquired through competitive cheer are irreplaceable.” 

Tyler’s background is with cheer, but mostly intensive ballet training. She danced in the pre-professional program at The Washington Ballet throughout high school and danced in college at The New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL. “I use my experience from intensive training to guide my daughters in their athletics and academics,” said mom Tyler. “I try to teach them the importance of self-discipline.”

The techniques of competitive cheer are called skills. Tyler commented on one of the skills: “On the team, tumblers are expected to throw a certain ‘tumbling pass’ in the routine. It’s when they run and throw certain tumbling skills. They practice as a team, but then they have to practice their individual skills to perfect them and work on gaining more. Giselle’s pass is a more advanced pass because she does a ‘whip’ that is the part where she doesn’t put her hands down and then ends with a ‘full’ and that is the twist at the end. The only pass more advanced than this is if she ended with a ‘double full’ and means she would spin twice at the end.”

“She’s expected to hit her pass perfectly in their routine with great technique. If a member of the team misses a skill on anything then it causes a deduction to their score. 

This pass is their running tumbling skills in the routine they are accountable for,” added Tyler. 

Jaxon Presley, Giselle’s cheerleading coach, said: “I had the honor to coach GiGi “Giselle Richards” for five years and she is one of the most selfless athletes I’ve ever coached. She continues to always push the limits and with her there are no limits. She takes private lessons every week and is always pushing for new skills. She is currently on our ‘Worlds team,’ and it is the highest level team in our gym.” 

“When GiGi isn’t in practice, she is hopping in a extra tumbling class to perfect her skills and learn new and more elite level skills. On top of spending time in the gym she is also on her track team for her high school. Being involved in multiple sports in school is hard especially two sports that are very demanding on the body and mind. And GiGi does it with fierceness and grace.  She is an extremely smart and talented young woman. She always has a helping hand to our ‘little’s’ at the gym, as well as helping her community. I cannot wait to see what the future holds for GiGi after graduating high school. I know she will succeed in everything she puts her mind and heart into.” 

“Giselle is a leader by being the girl that everyone can look up to,” said Tyler. “She’s extremely competitive, but she’s the first to try to lift others up around her. She stays humble and a friend to everyone. From her sisters to younger girls at the gym, I think they admire her talents but more importantly she’s a leader to them by showing you can work hard, be competitive and be compassionate and kind. She volunteers in downtown Tulsa and serves dinner to the homeless once a month, however barely talks about this. This is an example of her leadership and she doesn’t talk about it or try to tell others what to do, she leads by being it.”

Photo and Video Credit: Tyler English-Rush