September 2026 Local Legend: Rye Daves

Every month, the Cottage Grove community gets the opportunity to recognize someone who helps make our town a better place. There are people who volunteer when they have extra time, and then there are people who somehow make the time even when they already have about 47 other things going on. Rye Daves is definitely the second kind. 😂

Most people probably know Rye through local youth cheerleading. They see her at practices, games, performances, fundraisers, or running around trying to keep everything and everyone organized. What they may not see are the late nights, endless messages, difficult decisions, problems that need solving, and the emotional side of coaching kids.

I’ve gotten to know Rye a little more over the last several months through local youth cheer and the fundraiser to help get rain jackets for the girls, and one thing became obvious pretty quickly: she cares—a lot. After reading through her answers, I realized I didn’t need to do much explaining. Rye told her story better than I could.

The community voted, and I’m proud to introduce our September 2026 Local Legend, Rye Daves.

Take a few minutes to get to know Rye in her own words.

Meet Rye Daves

For those who may not know you yet, tell us a little about yourself. Who is Rye Daves outside of all the titles and responsibilities people may associate with you?

Outside of the titles and responsibilities, I’m just Rye. I’m a wife and mom first, I love watching my kids play sports. I am a friend, and somebody who cares probably a little too much sometimes about things I am responsible for 😂 I love my family, I love being involved in our community, and I genuinely love watching kids grow into confident, capable people. I love my little farm and my flowers. I love to read and paint. I love coffee and I love pretty tea cups! I love the rain and pumpkins, and candles and to be honest I am pretty basic!

I’m definitely a person who stays busy. I like having a project, creating things, helping people, and finding ways to make things better. But at the end of the day, the most important thing to me is my family and the people I get to do life with.

Coaching and volunteering are a huge part of my life, but they’re really just an extension of who I am. I care deeply about people and I want the people around me to know they matter.

How did you become part of the Cottage Grove community, and what has made this area feel like home to you?

Cottage Grove became home because of the people. Like any small town, everybody knows everybody, and that can be both a blessing and a challenge, but there is something really special about being part of a community where people show up for each other.

What has made it feel like home is getting involved. I’ve met so many amazing families through my kids, through sports, through the school, and through volunteering. I’ve watched kids grow up, watched families celebrate big milestones, and gotten to be part of moments that I never would have experienced if I had just stayed opted out. I love going to the grocery store and running into people and having a chat. I live for that.

For me, home isn’t just a place. It’s the relationships you build and the people you get to serve alongside.

Take us back to the beginning—what first led you to coaching cheer and working with local youth?

It really started with my kids and wanting to be involved in their lives. I’ve always been the kind of mom who wants to help, and coaching was a natural extension of that.

So when I was asked by a friend to volunteer I said yes!

It had been 20 years since I cheered, turns out it’s like riding a bike. You just have to jump on and trust you will go where you are steering.

What started as a simple yes sure, turned into something I genuinely love. I discovered that I really enjoy teaching kids not just the physical skills, but the confidence, discipline, teamwork, and resilience that come with being part of a team.

Cheer gave me an opportunity to combine a lot of things I love: working with kids, being creative, organizing, teaching, and building something bigger than yourself.

People often see the practices, games, and performances, but what goes on behind the scenes that most people never get to see?

There is SO much that happens behind the scenes. 😂

There are schedules, uniforms, fundraising, equipment, music, choreography, communication with parents, organizing practices, coordinating coaches, solving problems, ordering things, answering messages and usually about 47 things that need to be figured out at the same time.

But honestly, the biggest part people don’t see is the emotional work.

You’re helping a kid who is frustrated because she can’t get a skill. You’re encouraging the girl who doesn’t think she belongs. You’re teaching kids how to handle disappointment, how to communicate, how to be accountable, and how to work with people who may not be their best friend all the time.

The routine they perform might be 1 or 2 minutes, but there are months of work, patience, mistakes, tears, laughter, and growth behind those few minutes.

Is there one athlete, season, or special moment that reminded you exactly why you do what you do?

There isn’t one single athlete or moment that stands out because I think the little moments are what keep me going.

It’s watching a kid who was terrified to try something finally do it. It’s seeing a quiet kid start finding her voice. It’s watching girls who didn’t know each other become a team. It’s having a former athlete come back and tell you she made varsity her freshman year.

Those moments remind me that we’re not really just teaching cheer. We are teaching life.

Sometimes you get to be one small part of a kid’s life during a really important season, and you may never know how much that mattered to them. That is incredibly rewardi.

What challenges have you faced along the way, and how have those experiences shaped the person and coach you are today?

I’ve definitely learned that when you care deeply about something, challenges come with it.

There have been moments where I’ve had to make difficult decisions, deal with conflict, advocate for kids, and learn how to lead people who don’t always agree with me. I’ve also had to learn that being a good leader doesn’t mean everyone will always be happy with you.

Those experiences have made me more confident, but they’ve also made me more compassionate. I’ve learned to listen more, communicate better, stand up for what I believe is right, and not take every difficult moment personally.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that you can be firm and still be kind. You can have standards and still give people grace. That’s something I try very hard to model for the kids I coach.

Cheerleading teaches much more than routines and stunts. What do you hope your athletes carry with them long after their time on the team ends?

I hope they remember that they are capable of hard things.

Cheer is uncomfortable sometimes. You fall. You get scared. You don’t get a skill right away. You have to trust other people and let other people trust you. You have to learn how to fail without giving up.

I want my athletes to leave knowing how to work hard, how to be part of a team, how to advocate for themselves, how to encourage other people, and how to get back up when something doesn’t go their way.

But more than anything, I want them to know their worth isn’t determined by how well they perform.

I want them to become strong, kind, confident young women who know they have something valuable to contribute wherever life takes them.

Nobody becomes a Local Legend entirely on their own. Who has supported, inspired, or believed in you throughout your journey?

My family, without question.

My husband has supported me through the late nights, the crazy schedules, the practices, the events, and all the times I’ve said, “I just have one more thing to do.” 😂 My kids have also grown up watching me and their dad volunteer and coach, and I hope they understand that being involved in your community and giving your time to other people is something worth doing.

I’ve also been incredibly fortunate to have the best coaches in the whole world, friends, parents, athletes, team manager who nominated me! community members who have encouraged me along the way.

And I have to give a huge thank you to all of the other people who volunteer their time to youth sports. Coaches, board members, team moms, referees, concession volunteers, people who set up fields and gyms, everyone who carries bags and boxes and speakers to my car every night after practice, The high school coaches. there are so many people working behind the scenes because they believe our kids deserve these opportunities. I could not do it without all of you!

What does being voted Local Legend of the Month mean to you, and what went through your mind when you learned the community had chosen you?

Honestly, I was shocked.

I don’t do what I do because I expect recognition. I do it because I love the kids and I love our community. So finding out that people noticed enough to nominate me and then actually chose me, means more than I can really put into words.

There are so many people in our community who give their time and energy, so being recognized alongside all of those people is a huge honor.

It also made me stop and realize that sometimes you don’t know the impact you’re having until somebody tells you. That’s probably the most meaningful part of this for me.

This is your opportunity to tell your story. Is there anything we didn’t ask that you would like people to know—someone you want to thank, a cause you want to highlight, something you’re proud of, or a message you would like to leave with the community?

I think the biggest thing I would want people to know is that I believe strongly in showing up.

Show up for your kids. Show up for your neighbors. Show up for the kid who is struggling. Show up even when nobody is going to give you credit for it.

Youth sports are about so much more than winning games or performing a perfect routine. They give kids a place to belong, a place to learn how to work through hard things, and a place to build relationships that can last for years.

I’m incredibly proud of the program we’ve been able to build and of the coaches, families, and athletes who make it what it is. But I’m probably most proud of the fact that I get to be part of something that gives kids an opportunity to feel confident, supported, and proud of themselves.

And to every person who has trusted me with their child, volunteered beside me, encouraged me, or simply said, “Thank you” along the way, thank you. I don’t take that trust lightly.

I may have been the person whose name was chosen for Local Legend, but I know I didn’t get here alone. This is really a reflection of a community that believes our kids are worth showing up for.

Why Rye’s Story Stood Out

There were quite a few parts of Rye’s story that stood out to me, but I think my favorite was when she talked about the little moments. Not trophies, awards, or winning a competition, but the scared kid who finally tries, the quiet kid who starts finding her voice, the girls who begin the season as strangers and become a team, and the former athlete who comes back excited to say she made varsity. Those might seem like little moments to everyone else, but they probably don’t feel little to the kids living them.

I also appreciated Rye being honest about the part of coaching people don’t always see. It isn’t only learning routines and stunts. Coaches are helping kids work through frustration, disappointment, fear, and all the other things that come with growing up. When Rye said, “We’re not really just teaching cheer. We are teaching life,” that pretty much summed it up.

This summer, I got to see a small part of that commitment while our community worked together to raise money for rain jackets for the local cheerleaders. We reached about half of the goal, Magnolia Gardens stepped in and matched the rest, and every girl received a jacket. That was a pretty cool thing to watch come together, but it also reminded me how many volunteers are constantly working behind the scenes to make opportunities like that possible for local kids.

Rye gave a lot of the credit in her answers to her husband, kids, fellow coaches, parents, volunteers, and everyone else who helps. I think that says quite a bit about her too. She may not have expected the recognition, but the community noticed what she was doing.

Congratulations, Rye. Thank you for the time, patience, and heart you continue to give to our local kids and their families. Being voted September’s Local Legend is well deserved.

Nominate a Future Local Legend

If you know someone making a positive impact in Cottage Grove, watch for the next Local Legend nomination and voting poll in the Groovin’ in the Grove Facebook group. Every month, the community helps decide who gets recognized and whose story gets shared.

If you enjoy these community spotlights, local business features, event coverage, and everything else happening through Groovin’ in the Grove, you can support the project and help me continue investing my time and resources back into our community.

Stay Groovy Grove,

Austin Hall
Your local resident ginger