Poteau High School sophomore Jaylee Tackett thrives on pressure.

“I’ve been in competitive sports a lot of my life and I like the pressure of having to perform. I just like to push myself to do better,” said the two-year member of the Pirates’ cheer squad.

It started for Jaylee when she got into competitive cheer at an early age for three years and then there was travel softball, and then one day cheer was introduced.

“A bunch of my friends were cheering in elementary school and I’d always wanted to do that, and I started cheering in our little league cheer program and have been doing it ever since,” Tackett said.

Her cheer coach, Valarie Odom, describes Jaylee as the first to say yes.

“She’s a go-getter. If I need a volunteer to show a skill, she’s always the first to raise her hand. She’s very goal-oriented and so I try to challenge her with stunts or skills to learn,” said Odom.

Jaylee is the flyer in the squad’s stunts and says it’s that part of cheer that she likes best.

“I like the stunts, especially doing them on Friday nights in front of the home crowd and having a chance to show off in front of everyone,” Tackett said.

Like a lot of little girls, Jaylee grew up admiring the varsity cheerleaders as role models, and she also has another one that she knows well.

“My friend, Kyjia Jenkins, and I have done gymnastics and cheered together the last four years and we push each other and help each other out,” said Tackett, who is vice president of the FCCLA chapter and treasurer of the sophomore class and the student council, in National Honor Society, and plays on the golf team. “We’ve been to a couple of cheer camps and we’re going to the OU camp soon, which is kind of like a mini combine for cheer.

“My dad plays golf, and once I got to high school, I picked it up because some of my friends were doing it and I ended up liking it, and I do that in the spring after we’re done with cheer.”

Jaylee already has a cheer memory for her scrapbook.

This year at the football quarterfinals it was a real back-and-forth game and so we were really excited cheering the whole game,” she said.