After head cheer coach Bri Eigenman announced that she will leave Roseville High School to continue her coaching career at Granite Bay next year, the position opened up to applicants and was quickly snatched up by cheer veteran Gabie Vega.

Vega has gotten to know the team over the past few years through the Universal Cheeleaders Association, as she is a member of staff and the team attends its annual summer camp every year as well as other events that it hosts.

She said that she could not resist jumping at the opportunity to coach the girls on the team because of how much they have impressed her with their talent and drive.

“What I love about this team is that they hold themselves to a really high standard,” Vega said. “They set goals for themselves and they are going to accomplish them. These girls, they’re really motivated and that’s rare to see in high-schoolers – such a strong sense of self-motivation.”

Even though she already views the girls highly, Vega still feels that she can bring many new things to the team. One of the main things is experience.

She currently cheers for Sacramento State University as a junior, doing both regular and STUNT, but she began when she was little, cheering for All Stars first and for her high school later.

She has two years of coaching competitive high school cheer, three years of coaching All Star cheer levels 1-3, four years of coaching advanced middle school cheer and five years of coaching competitive youth cheer.

She is also a USA Cheer STUNT Official and has received the Presidential Service Award for her volunteer work with youth cheer programs in New York.

Vega hopes to use her experience to bring the team to new heights. She said that, judging by what she saw during the tryouts for next year, next year’s team is going to be very talented and skillful.

Although falling short of another one this year, the cheer team has two JAMZ Nationals titles, but Vega believes the girls can earn more.

“These girls have the talent and we’re just going to have to put in a little bit more work than last season and then we’re going to get that title,” Vega said. “I one-hundred percent plan on having them compete and I’m actually thinking about trying out some new and more advanced competitions for them because I think that they’ve got the talent and I think that they’re going to do phenomenal and only shine.”

Vega also plans to fill in Eigenman’s role as the STUNT cheer coach as well.

She considers STUNT cheer her area of expertise and is excited to coach the team in its second year at RHS because, as a STUNT Official, she has already had the chance to see the team perform and was impressed by what she saw.

Junior cheerleader Chloe Storrs looks forward to next year with Vega as the team’s coach.

Even though the girls will have to adjust to a new coach after having Eigenman for years, Storrs thinks highly of Vega and is not worried about the transition.

“When I first met Gabie, I knew this was going to be a good year because she has been in the cheer program for practically all her life and she seems like a person who is very dedicated and ready to fix what may or may not need to be fixed in the program,” Storrs said. “She told us it’s going to be weird but she will always put our best interest at heart.”