Seaside High School cheerleading: 'I love it so much'

From band kid to head cheerleading coach. This describes the journey for Seaside High School cheerleading coach Victoria Keller.

Though Keller said she has been a dancer since age 4, she never tried out for her high school’s cheer or dance team. Instead, she was a “band kid,” who was on the color guard in the marching band.

So how did she end up as the Seaside cheerleading coach?

The long and winding road

After high school, Keller attended Western Oregon University where she received a bachelor’s degree in secondary education and teaching.

She said her time on the drum corps in college during the summers of 2014 and 2015 helped her learn the skills and proficiencies she would later use in coaching.

After graduating from college, Keller was hired as a language arts teacher at Seaside High School.

Her coaching opportunity was presented to her in 2021.

“I was asked to coach the cheer team by the athletic director and athletic secretaries when the old coach left the team,” Keller said.

Assistant coach Ashley Graffius — who also works at Seaside School as a career counseling specialist — had a more traditional athletic background in high school. She participated in softball and basketball, which she says gave her the first experiences of working in a team dynamic. She also coached young athletes in several sports.

“I do have some coaching experience as well with grade school and youth athletics coaching t-ball and soccer,” Graffius said.

She said she was already contemplating putting together a cheer team when Keller reached out.

“I was looking to start a youth or middle school cheer team when Victoria approached me with the opportunity to coach the high school varsity team instead.”

Together, they have helped grow the cheerleading team and have also helped Seaside cheering reach new heights.

For instance, in 2025 the Seagulls participated in competitions for the first time since Keller took over the head coaching position five years ago. Keller said the Seagulls cheer team competed in both the fall and winter season, which spanned from Oct. 2025 to April 2026. For the upcoming competitions, Seaside is focusing its sights on one competition.

“This year, we plan on competing for the winter season only,” Keller said.

Keller said the growth of the program has been something that she and Graffius have been happy to see. From both an increase in numbers and in interest, to the cheerleaders growing in confidence, Keller and Graffius said they are happy to be a part of the process.

Seaside’s cheer program. How does it work?

The Seaside cheerleading team consists of 19 members and has three senior captains, Aasha Slot, Finn Wright and Clover Bellew.

The Seaside program takes a unique approach to stunting and skill work. Instead of having a coach help the girls with stunting, Keller said cheerleaders attend camps where they can work on their skills and stunting, in addition to ongoing training.

“As a whole, most of our training is done throughout the year,” Keller said. “We utilize our veterans to help the new cheerleaders feel more comfortable with the cheers and routines before the season starts.”

Each Seaside cheer captain takes charge of one of the three separate areas of expertise, including dance/kicks/jumps; stunting; and cheers.

Since Keller has a background in dance, not in cheerleading, “we train in (dance) primarily. When we are able to have someone come in to help us with stunting, we do so as it is a favorite pastime of the cheerleaders. … We are not in a position to come up with our own acrobatic stunts, but if a cheerleader comes to the team with experience, we are always happy to include acrobatics in our routines.”

Keller said she choreographs many of the dance routines herself.

Senior captains weigh-in

Senior captains Slot, Wright and Bellew have been cheerleaders for much of their high school career. Slot and Bellew started off as freshmen, while Wright joined the team as sophomore.

Each captain said that being a member of the Seaside cheer program has been a great experience and encouraged incoming freshmen to give it a try.

“I definitely recommend girls who are starting out or going into high school to give cheer a shot,” Slot said. “It really makes your high school experience so much better.”

Wright agreed. “There’s no harm in trying it.”

Bellew said “I think that anybody can cheer, it’s all about having fun.” Bellew said it’s been a great experience. “It’s some of the best people I’ve met where I can always be energetic and happy and put my effort into something. There’s something for everybody.”

While Slot focuses on cheerleading, Wright also participates in the drama program. Bellew is a track athlete and runs the 300-meter hurdles. She placed seventh at state last year in the high jump.

Despite their different backgrounds, Slot, Wright and Bellew share a bond as cheerleading captains.

“I love it,” Slot said. “I don’t see myself doing any other sport.”

Wright agreed, saying, “I’ve made a lot of new friends and it helps me keep friends.”

“I love it so much,” Bellew said.

Notes

Seaside cheerleading is listed as an official sport through the schools athletic department.

The cheerleaders are able to letter like every other athlete. Seaside cheerleaders receive letters for both the fall and winter season if they participate in both. Though the uniforms are personalized to fit each cheerleader, the cheerleaders are tasked with paying for the majority of the uniform cost themselves. The money comes out of the school account at first, and the fee is put on the cheerleaders school account.

Through fundraisers such as selling 50/50 raffle tickets at each home football and basketball game, as well as outside fundraising like “Fill the calendar/bow,” kid cheer camps and through websites such as “Snap! Raise,” means the cheerleaders only end up having to pay for a portion of their uniform and gear.

Challenges, benefits and rewards

As in any sport, there are challenges, benefits and rewards. What are they for the Seaside cheerleaders?

According to Keller, the biggest challenge is helping students balance the mental and emotional aspects of being a teenager with the physical demands of the sport.

“Trying to balance school life, team life and home life is hard in and of itself,” Keller said. “Add in ‘being a teenager’ to that while navigating relationships — and growing is its own challenge.”

Keller said another challenge is managing team dynamics.

Because all of the cheerleaders come from different backgrounds, have different personalities and bring a variety of experience and commitment levels — that all makes it challenging to build a team.

But the benefits far outweigh those challenges,including teamwork, belonging and shared accomplishments. Keller also said that cheerleading provides a myriad of physical, mental and social benefits.

“(Our) athletes develop coordination, endurance and body awareness,” Keller said. “They also learn valuable life skills, including time management, communication, accountability, perseverance and leadership.”

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