Maya Hamah Shines Both on the Sidelines and on the Field

When she wasn’t cheerleading for other athletes, Bloomfield High School senior Maya Hamah was on the playing field herself.

The 18-year-old varsity cheerleader is also a member of the track and field team at her school where she competes in the javelin throw.

She earned varsity letters for cheerleading during the fall and winter seasons and for track in the spring. Hamah joins an elite group of athletes to receive three varsity letters.

It's like our little group," she said. "It's a little different from everybody else who plays one sport because they stop at some point because they're tired‚ and it just shows you keep pushing yourself to do more."

Hamah admits that one of the toughest aspects of jumping from season to season is the physical and mental adjustment to each sport.

"You have to adjust to every single sport all over again," she said. "With cheerleading, doing it with a bunch of girls 24/7 and then going to track‚you have a different group of people who are doing different things."

She recalled the summers she spent training for cheerleading in preparation for the fall football season.

"Oh my God, I had no summer," she said. "Everyday! I used to come home and sleep with ice packs on my back. I didn't think it was going to be so intense with stunting and tumbling."

But the hard work seems to have paid off.

Bloomfield High School Athletic director and Hamah's javelin coach, Steve Jenkins, was impressed by her leadership skills and willingness to help others on the team.

"Maya was a tremendous athlete but more significantly a tremendous leader," he said. "We had a very young team and Maya, who was a senior, took a lot of those kids under her wing and she was an asset for our team. She's a good girl."

Hamah, who will be attending Penn State in the fall to study psychology, says the policy on ineligibility to play sports due to poor grades helped her stay focused on her school work while also participating in three sports.

"When you hear from the coaches that you can't be on a team unless you have certain grades, you beat yourself up about that because if you really want to play that sport, you just keep the grades up no matter what," she said.

Though she’s graduating this month, Hamah said she will still be around to help  Coach Jenkins with summer workouts.