Kayla McCormack, right, is seen with a former coach Kailyn Getchell of Whitman. / Courtesy photo

Whitman-Hanson Regional High alum Kayla McCormack (’12) has been named the head coach of Marshfield High’s cheerleading team.

Kayla McCormack has spent much of her life in the sport of cheerleading, learning every step of the way, thus priming her for her newest position.

McCormack, a 2012 Whitman-Hanson Regional High graduate, was recently named head cheerleading coach at Marshfield High.

“I’m really excited, I can’t wait to get started,” she said.

McCormack began cheerleading in third grade and quickly came to the decision it was the right sport for her as it mixed two of her favorite activities.

“I did gymnastics growing up and my mom was a gymnastics coach,” McCormack explained. “I liked the tumbling aspect and I also liked doing dance, so it was like the perfect combination.”

While at W-H, McCormack was a four-year varsity cheerleader and helped the Panthers to three state titles (fall of 2008 and 2011, winter of 2011) and a national crown (2010). She captained the team her senior season.

McCormack also served as an assistant coach at the youth level during her time at W-H. It was in the capacity that she developed even more of a fire for the sport.

“I kind of learned my passion for it a little more,” she said. “It helped me realize that I like helping other people who share the same passion.”

McCormack then went on to Quinnipiac University, where she captained its acrobatics and tumbling team, earning NCATA All-America honors. McCormack’s time there was a major stepping-stone for her.

“I think Quinnipiac helped me a lot, growing up a lot being away at college and learning to be on my own,” McCormack said. “As I got older there, I helped the incoming freshman and the underclassman kind of adjust – adjust to college and adjust to being on a Division I sports team.”

After graduating from Quinnipiac in the spring of 2016, McCormack’s next stop was a return to her high school alma mater. McCormack served as an assistant coach on the W-H cheerleading team for the 2016-17 school year, putting the skill set she had been developing over the years to use.

“I helped them out a lot with their tumbling and I was kind of just there to assist the head coach,” she explained. “[I] helped them with their technique and all of the things that I’d learned from Quinnipiac.”

The Panthers claimed their first national title in four years during McCormack’s 10-month stint.

Her ties to the Marshfield cheerleading program stem from her time working as a tumbling instructor at a nearby gym, Cheer Essentials, a post she began in 2010.

“I believe I’ve learned a lot from coaching in the past,” McCormack explained. “I worked with Marshfield because they would come into my gym sometimes and have practices there. So, I know a lot of girls. I know what the program has kind of done in the past and I just think I have a lot of knowledge about cheerleading that I can help them be really successful because they have a lot of talent.”

As for what McCormack learned at W-H that she will try to implement at Marshfield, she replied, “How to work really hard and efficiently.”