Guidance Counselor Lindsay Leverson is the new head coach this year of the H-F step team.

The Steppers team were the 2018 Youth Step USA National Champions. The team was lead by Catherine Ross-Cook, the head step coach since 2009.
Since then she has lead various teams to victory.

After coaching the team for more than eight years she chose to step down from the position.

Cook said choosing to step down from being the head coach was a difficult decision, but spending more time with her family was the better decision to make in the long run. She still continues to assist in some practices and comes to help out with choreography for the team.

Once Cook stepped down Leverson, the assistant coach at the time, was asked if she wanted to become the head coach. Having prior experience from high school she accepted the offer and started coaching the team.

“When she retired they were looking for someone to take over the team, that was when I decided to step up and accept the position,” Leverson said.

Her experience coaching step in high school has helped her instruct practices when Cook left. With the guidance of assistant coaches and co-coach Dawn Edwards, the team is ready for the upcoming year. They have a large number of students that have a lot of potential Leverson said.

A member of the step team Anton Brooks has been on the team for four years now and said he will miss having Cook as a coach.

“At first I was very disappointed, I felt like I knew it wasn’t gonna be the same without Mrs. Cook and I knew there would be a lot to get used to,” Brooks said.
The team has brought in a large number of freshman to the team as well as some sophomores. They are focused on rebuilding the team and becoming more comfortable under the different leadership team that they have.

“We brought in 34 new members to the team, mainly freshman and a few sophomores. As they’re learning on being on the step team, I’m learning on that leadership position as well,” Leverson said.

Assistant coach Jaron Boyd recently stepped down from the position, is still helping out with the team and said he is very excited for this upcoming season. He also said that he is impressed with the large turnout of talented steppers.

“I feel the team is off to a wonderful start this year. It’s under the great leadership of Coach Leverson and Coach Edwards. They have been doing an amazing job,” Boyd said. “The coaches have the same high expectations for the participants just as any other year. I am very excited about the future of the team.”

With such a great turnout of students the team is prepared for their upcoming competitions.

Since the change of leadership, the team has decided that this year they are mainly focused on re-building the team as a whole. They plan on getting to know each other and strive to succeed as a team in the future.

The first appearance the 2018-2019 steppers team will make is at Voyage to Excellence on Nov. 28. They will be introducing the new step members that have made it on the team.
From there they will be participating in a few competitions throughout the year starting in January through April.