Hit Hit

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  Wai'anae, Hawai'i
  October 29th, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii
  
  Can do guys can do! Even though Waianae High School has not had a male cheerleader in three years, sophomore Stephen Kaopuiki decided to change that this year.
  
  Kaopuiki never pictured himself cheering, he was the guy who would make fun of the cheerleaders. He thought cheerleading was so easy he could do it no problem, not knowing how much work it really is.
  
  “I’ve never pictured myself cheering, I thought it was stupid but now I love it. I began to feel more comfortable being around a crowd and people," Kaopuiki said.
  
  Kaopuiki decided to try out for the team.
  
  “What encouraged me to jon was my friend Jazmine a returnee telling me to join," Kaopuiki said.
  
  However after making the team and is experiencing his first year Kaopuiki is noticing that some people do talk about the cheerleaders especially Kaopuiki because he is the only male, he doesn’t care what other people think about him but say but he thinks “they shouldn’t knock it till they try it”.
  
  Not only is Kaopuiki learning what people say about cheerleading, but he’s learning what work cheerleaders put.
  
  Kaopuiki said, “I like stunting and dancing, its fun and I feel proud when I hit a stunt” and so he did.
  
  Kaopuiki says his team is his support because they push and tell me to try new things. To illustrate Kaopuiki motivation to becoming the best he can be is to keep going because “once I hit it I feel proud”.
  
  When being doubted by others one thing that can lift him back up is friends because ‘they help me improve so that I can prove the ones who doubted me wrong”.
  
  Kaopuiki says if you like it and have fun doing it you shouldn’t need to care what others think. In the future he plans on coming back for his Junior year but doesn’t know yet if wants to get scholarships to do college cheerleading.
  
  Stephen plans on showing his school spirit by doing what he loves for the next years to come.

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Looking Back

Dani Kaohe, Reporter

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Raeanna Labrador, Photographer

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