Elizabeth “Libby” Horvath has coached cheerleading for well over 16 years, with eight of them being at Warren Hills.
Horvath started her career on her middle school team and continued cheering in high school at Hunterdon Central.

During her junior and senior years, the cheer team made it to finals at the National High School Cheerleading Competition for the second and third time in school history. Her senior year team were also Skyland Conference and Hunterdon Warren Sussex Champions.

Horvath started her coaching career at Hunterdon Central. She also coached one year at Readington Middle School and one year at Randolph High School before coming to Warren Hills.

This season, Horvath coached the Warren Hills Cheerleading Competition Team to place seventh in the nation, being one of only two New Jersey teams to make it to finals.

Every sport has its challenges during the course of their season. Horvath said that the biggest challenge during the cheer season is that it runs from August to the end of February.

“Seven months is a significant commitment for our top-notch student-athletes, who are consistently achieving excellent grades and are also heavily involved in our school community,” she said. “Balancing all of these demands while constantly working towards our competitive goals can at times be overwhelming.”

Horvath shared that her favorite part of coaching is the hard work, but also the fun times.

“My favorite thing about coaching is creating opportunities for athletes to set and work towards goals that foster confidence and hard work,” she said. “However, the downtimes when we laugh together and make silly memories come in a close second.”

Horvath gave some advice to future athletes.

“My advice for future athletes is to understand that athletics is about being a part of something bigger than you as an individual,” she said. “Putting aside personal ideas of how you want it to be is essential for the collective success of the team, trusting in each other, even when it seems impossible, or at times worthless, is what separates good teams from great teams.”

With so many achievements throughout the years Horvath said that trophies are not what she prizes about coaching.

“Trophies and wins will ultimately be forgotten,” she said, “but the grit, determination, and the conscious choice to band together to be a part of something bigger than themselves will stay with them forever.”