Junior Mary Sousley has been chosen as Athlete of the Week for the week of November 5, 2012.

Mary started cheering when she was just 8, but she has always been around cheering since her mother is a coach. In middle school, Mary cheered at J.C. Booth in both 7^th and 8^th grade. In 2008, she began cheering for Ace All-Stars, a competitive team. Since she started, she has been there for about four years and is currently on the level five medium co-ed team, Ace Thunderbirds. This level is the highest at the Ace Atlanta gym. Mary is also in her third year of varsity competitive cheerleading.

Throughout her cheerleading career, Mary has had many influences, but she said, “My mother was the one who first got me started in cheerleading.” Since then, she’s had numerous coaches. Mary said, “My coaches taught me to never give up, and they say if you want something that bad, you have to work for it because nothing in life will never be just handed to you. I have applied this to my everyday life, and I believe this is why I have became the person I am today.”

When asked about her favorite season of cheerleading, Mary said it has been this year. “We have gone through a lot this year with many people getting injuries, but we somehow manage to stay a strong team. We have done very well this year, and recently, we won first place back to back two weekends in a row, and I am hoping we will stay on our winning streak as we make our way to Regions this weekend and hopefully next weekend State.” The varsity competition cheerleading team at McIntosh has been extremely successful thus far in their season.

Although Mary’s favorite season is this year, her favorite memory took place in her freshman year when the team went to Regions. “At Regions, we hit our routine perfectly, and one of my coaches got so excited she ran onto the mat to hug us and one of her heels flew up in the air and into the stands.”

In the future, Mary plans to cheer in college on an athletic scholarship, and her dream job is to own her own cheerleading gym and coach her own team.