Spirit Week 2024: Ferris senior Maia Siemers pulls double duty playing, cheering for Saxons
A lot of people – students, teachers and administrators – put in a lot of effort every year to make sure “Spirit Week” at the Spokane Arena is a rousing, fun-filled event for everyone involved.
This year’s edition comes a little earlier on the calendar. The festivities kick off Tuesday with the “Railroad Rumble” between Rogers and Cheney, continue Wednesday with “Groovy Shoes” between North Central and Shadle Park, and conclude with the granddaddy of them all – “Rubber Chicken” starring Ferris and Lewis and Clark.
The other three spirit games involving Greater Spokane League schools between Central Valley-University (“Stinky Sneaker”), West Valley-East Valley (“Golden Throne”), and Mead-Mt. Spokane will be played after the new year and in different venues.
One Ferris student athlete is pulling double duty preparing for the 41st anniversary of Rubber Chicken – senior Maia Siemers is a forward on the girls basketball team and a cheerleader for the boys team.
“I usually go to basketball for two hours, and then I would have cheer afterwards for two hours,” Siemers said after basketball practice at the school on Monday. “I’ve been doing that for the whole (school) year to get ready for Rubber Chicken. But it’s so worth it. I love doing both sports.”
“It’s just one of those weeks where you’ve got to be paying attention to detail, getting them ready for the big atmosphere, as well as getting them to have fun,” Ferris girls basketball coach Courtney Gray said. “With spirit week, they’ve got different events each day scheduled for them, so they’re all getting hyped and ready to go. But then we have to get them focused and dialed in, because it’s still a game for us.”
In an age of specialization for high school athletes, basketball and cheer might be an unlikely combination.
“It’s truly the atmosphere. Both teams are my best friends,” Siemers said. “So, when I go to both practices, I’m with my favorite people. It’s my social life as well. It’s not just practice.
“It’s not just like running and grinding – it’s fun for me. I’ve been doing both of them for such a long time.”
Gray coordinates with Ferris cheer coach Emily Schultz to make sure Siemers isn’t overwhelmed with her responsibilities. For instance, Siemers doesn’t cheer when the boys team has the early game so she isn’t worn out for the girls game.
“She’s one of our hard workers; she’s one of our leaders,” Gray said. “She’s been a captain the last two years for us, and she’s going to do what you ask her to do. She’s always one of those ones that it’s ‘Yes, Coach,’ all the time, and ‘You want me to do this, I’ll go out there and do that,’ and she’ll play whatever role you need her to play.”
This year, with spirit week before the holidays, there’s a little bit more pressure in the preparation. For the two-sport Siemers, it’s double the workload.
“(Cheer) practices have been definitely longer,” she said. “And then on top of our dances for cheer, we also do a dance for basketball. And during halftime we do our little dance for the (competition).
“So that means extra prep, we have extra team dinners, we have extra practices after basketball to get that dance prepared. And then we have extra practices for Rubber Chicken, after lunches and stuff like that. We’re just constantly practicing, constantly getting ready.”
On top of all of the preparations for the spirit competition, there is the basketball to think about. Obviously, the big game is Thursday against Lewis and Clark. But the Saxons also host University in a nonleague contest Tuesday as they gear up for league play after the first of the new year.
“It’s all just about locking in, differentiating the two,” Siemers said. “I would say with basketball, I’ve been playing this since I was 5 years old on different club teams, on different school teams, and it just means so much to me. So, when it comes to basketball, I’m fully locked in. As soon as I step on the court, I’m ready to play. I’m ready to grind. I’m ready to go.”
This is Gray’s second year as coach of the Saxons, so she has a better idea of what to expect out of the spirit game.
“We definitely have a better game plan,” she said. “We know what to expect and how to work the nerves out and get through those so that we are coming in and playing at a high level early on and not spending the time to loosen up those nerves and everything.”
Siemers said she doesn’t find her thoughts drifting between sports when she’s participating in one.
“Honestly, they’re so different. Cheer is so different from basketball,” she said. “When I’m in the mat room practicing for cheer, my head is just on cheer. I can’t even mix the two.”