Apollo High School cheerleading coach Wes Nall has been involved in the sport since 1995, when he walked into his first practice during his freshman year at Graves County High School.
“Graves County has had a long-standing tradition of coed cheerleading that dates back to the late 80s, early 90s,” Nall said. “The school is a household name in high school coed cheerleading these days, but that all came about after my time there.”
While Nall enjoyed his high school years in cheer, where the team ranked 15th his sophomore year and 11th his junior year with the Universal Cheerleaders Association, he said the team was never content with those placements and it left him feeling hungry and wanting more.
Since 2000, Nall has assisted other teams throughout southern Illinois, northwest Tennessee and the Jackson Purchase region, improve their choreography, adjust their routines and refine their pyramid and stunt work.
Nall moved to Owensboro in 2004 and volunteered at Owensboro Catholic High School before accepting the coaching position at AHS in 2014.
When it comes to encouraging males in the sport, he recommends young men just stick with it and give it a chance, just like he did.
“We have had one season of having three male cheerleaders at AHS, and now, this year, we have a male who is a freshman,” Nall said. “Every potential male cheerleader I’ve ever met has been skeptical at first, but most of them enjoy the activity tremendously and miss it when it’s over.”
He also believes in “coaching for significance,” by implementing standards in his cheer program, rather than rules. By holding his athletes to higher standards, he feels he gets better results.
“We don’t have rules — kids will challenge rules and see how far they can get away with them,” Nall said. “We have standards — kids will strive to live up to standards if they are reinforced in the right way. Our only rule is, ‘Don’t let your teammates down.’”
As far as competition goes, Nall said he is far more competitive than most people tend to realize, he just takes a character-driven perspective.
“Cheerleading differs tremendously from other activities [when it comes to team competition],” Nall said. “My belief is that if we take care of the intangibles such as character, teamwork, mental toughness and unity — the wins will eventually come our way. We also go out and focus on competing against ourselves.”
Although Nall believes his team should be mentally and physically strong, he said he tries to never use any form of conditioning as a punishment.
“We have better effort and results viewing conditioning as something that builds us as a team,” Nall said. “I have great stories of kids who will actually battle to be better at something when I reward their efforts with conditioning.”
Most of all, Nall said it brings him joy when he sees “the look” in an athlete’s eyes that shows him that they have accomplished what they have strived for or set out to do.
“Perfecting cheerleading skills is a lesson in patience, mental toughness and persistence — this is especially true for tumbling skills,” Nall said. “Seeing a kid struggle for days, weeks, months, and sometimes years, trying to obtain a skill — then seeing ‘the look’ on that kid’s face when they either, do it the first time, or figure out they have the ability even if it’s not quite there yet, is awesome.”
When it comes to recruiting, Nall said the athletes in his program have done more to recruit in the last two years than anyone.
“We have created a culture that is welcoming,” Nall said. “People are learning that if they come into our program and live up to our standards, they will have opportunities and can be part of a great team. We had 27 on our roster last year, and 19 returned this year. We have 46 on our roster right now — 27 are cheerleaders who are freshmen or otherwise new to the program.”
Regardless of the UCA competition results or end of the season standings, Nall has found true happiness in coaching cheer at Apollo.
“My athletes are my happy place,” Nall said. “I make decisions about my work schedule and career based on the impact it will make to my ability to be there for this program. We reach out every season looking for sponsors, hosting youth camps, etc. This year, the community has responded in a way like I’ve never seen, and we are so grateful.”
