At a Glance:

Favorite type of food: Mexican

Favorite cheer: AO

What college did you go to: Trinity Valley and University of North Texas

Dog or cat: Dog

Looking Deeper:

The Red Ledger: How does working at a high school differ from working at a gym?

Shelly Wiggins: At the high school you focus more on school spirit, but at the gym it’s strictly about competitive cheering.

TRL: Why did you choose to coach at the high school?

SW: I don’t get to see my family as much as I want to, so now I coach a few teams at the gym and the high school team.

TRL: How do UIL competitions differ from competitive cheer competitions?

SW: Competitive is a two and a half minute routine with lots of tumbling and stunting, while UIL is more based on getting the crowd involved than routines.

TRL: Why do you like coaching?

SW: I love to impact children’s lives inside and outside of cheerleading, and I love to see them grow. I enjoy helping them grow as individuals.

TRL: What’s you favorite part about this year’s team?

SW: Everything’s new this year and the girls are very open to changes and that makes it fun.

TRL: Do you have a family?

SW: I’m married to my husband Zach, who coaches at Faubion Middle School in McKinney, and I have two kids: Lylah, she’s 7, she cheers and plays soccer; and Jaxon who’s 9 and plays baseball and football.

TRL: How does coaching conflict with family?

SW: A lot of after hours so it just takes away from family time.

TRL: What do you like most about Lovejoy?

SW: I like that they’re open to changes, and they want every program in the school to be the best it can be, and they’re working hard to make that happen.

TRL: What are some things that you want to do differently with the cheer team than past years?

SW: We’re really trying to raise school spirit and focus on not just the cheerleaders, but focus on everybody. In addition to that we’re working on strengthening their individual areas of cheer.