Georgia Northwestern Cheer Cats Head Coach Karen Stoker is big on bringing in as many recruits as she can that have good tumbling skills and her latest signee is no exception.
Gordon Lee senior Hannah Marshall became the newest member of the recently-crowned National Champions when she signed her papers in front of family and friends at Gordon Lee on Thursday.
Marshall has only been cheering since 2011, but has cheered for both United and Hot Shots Cheerleading in her somewhat brief career, in addition to being part of the squads at Gordon Lee Middle and Gordon Lee High School.
She was also a competition dancer for 15 years, giving her a myriad of skills that Stoker believes will help her and the team succeed.
"Hannah is the first cheerleader we've ever signed out of Gordon Lee, so we're excited for her to be the first," Stoker said. "She had a great tryout. (Assistant) Coach (Rhys) Turner, (Assistant) Coach (Kristi) Thomas and I were all there to watch and she just has spectacular skills.
"She's got good cheer skills, great motions, great jumps and she just presents herself really well out on the floor. She's a phenomenal athlete and her tumbling skills are wonderful. I've always said that I need at least one more than half of our kids to be tumblers and every one of the folks that we've recruited so far this year have had that skill so we're really excited about adding them to the folks we have now."
It was at the beginning of her senior year back in August when Marshall said she decided that she wanted to pursue cheerleading on the collegiate level.
"I got accepted to three different colleges, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to go away (to school) just yet," she explained. "I really wanted to stay at home and Georgia Northwestern is so close by and it's a good place where I can keep cheering and begin this next journey.
"I heard they have a really good dental hygienist program, which is what I want to do, and it's right down the street from Chickamauga, where I've always lived. Plus, they just won a national championship, so I'm really excited about that. Hopefully (the whole squad) can come together as a family, learn from each other and have fun."
Stoker added that she felt sure that Marshall would be a major asset to the team.
"She's got a great personality and it just oozes out of her when she's cheerleading," the coach said. "I think she's also got that leadership component that I think will really help as we grow our team and go from this year to the next two. We're really excited about having her come on board."