Western cheerleaders get in the game with new
competitive cheer team

Thursday, December
21, 2006

By LEE
THOMPSON

TIMES
SPORTS WRITER

Ramy O'Keefe and her friends will admit
they're peppy.

But enthusiasm and a
bright smile aren't enough to make a good cheerleader anymore.

Balance and flexibility,
strength and stamina. These are the tools of today's cheerleader.

And Bay City
Western's first-year competitive cheer team is enabling O'Keefe and her
teammates to prove that athleticism and competitiveness - two qualities they
say have been long overlooked in cheerleaders - are indeed part of the
package.

''A lot of people seem to
think we're just a bunch of dumb blondes,'' said O'Keefe, a senior who has
been in cheerleading since fifth grade. ''(Competitive
cheer) should make more people realize that this is a sport, we are smart and
we are athletes.

''They'll see that we're
not just people who stand on the sidelines anymore.''

The Michigan High School
Athletic Association helped lay to rest the cheerleading-as-a-sport argument
when it began sponsoring competitive cheer as a varsity sport in 1994. But it
took 13 seasons before the sport reached Bay County,
with Western finally breaking the ice this winter.

Western joins the likes of
Midland Dow, Saginaw Heritage, Saginaw Arthur Hill and Mount Pleasant - schools the Warriors face
in Saginaw Valley League play in other sports - in the competitive cheer
arena this season. Western makes its varsity debut Jan. 18 at the Saginaw
Heritage Invitational.

That's when the 15-member
team will embark on a new era of cheerleading.

The girls still take their
sideline cheerleading seriously, rallying fan support at football and
basketball contests. But competitive cheer gives them a different outlet -
and gets them in the game.

''It gives cheerleading
a purpose instead of just being on the sidelines,'' said Western junior
Cameron Learman.

''I don't think (other athletes)
realize that we're just as competitive as them. If you put a group of
cheerleaders from another school on the other side of the room, there would
be some competition going on right now.''

That's the aspect that Western
coach Calli Ruffertshofer
is enjoying the most. She said she's watched her cheerleaders pour their
hearts into Western basketball and football games - and get riled by bad
calls or bad plays - and she knew they had the fire it takes to compete.

''At one of the basketball games, every
time there was a timeout the cheerleaders on the other team would come on the
floor and tumble,'' said Ruffertshofer. ''All of a
sudden two of our girls ran out there and did their own tumble. It was like a
tumble-off. The crowd was going nuts.

''But it showed how competitive
these girls are. They're extremely competitive.''

They'll need that drive for MHSAA
competitive cheer events, which are a drastic change from the non-sanctioned
cheering events of the past. The MHSAA regulations are strict and demanding
and require a variety of skills, a ton of concentration and impeccable
precision.

And, while Western is making its
first voyage into this type of competition, there are teams out there that
are very skilled, very polished and very good. In the 13 years of MHSAA
competition, Rochester
has won the Division I state championship 10 times and Grandville has won the
other three.

Western will get its first glimpse
of statewide competition at the Division I regional on March 3 at Lake Orion.
The state finals are slated for March 9-10 at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids.

Competitions are judged in a
three-round format. The first round features a required routine where teams
are rated on a scale of 1-10 on floor mobility, vocals, jumps, team coordination,
difficulty and variety and general impression. The second round is a
compulsory round, a tasking portion where the teams are rated on flexibility,
jumping and tumbling. The third round is the open round where the overall
presentation is evaluated.

And don't think for a moment that
these routines are easy - moves aren't called Russian Lift, Dead Man Lift and
the Torch if they're easy.

In addition to your cartwheels,
front rolls, hand springs and splits, the girls are also asked to execute a
number of stunts, where ''flyers'' are hoisted into the air for a dazzling
display of tucks, pikes and layouts before falling into the arms of their
teammates.

''You've got to be able to trust
your teammates,'' said sophomore Brookelyn Clarey, one of Western's flyers. ''I've seen a lot of
squads where the girl in the air didn't do everything she was supposed to
because she didn't trust the girls underneath her.''

To make certain they're prepared,
the squad does much more than practice. The girls spend 45 minutes out of
every two-hour practice on conditioning and are expected to run, do abdominal
exercises and hit the weight room in the offseason.
And practicing the routines means a non-stop series of jumping, tumbling,
lifting and dancing.

''You'd be surprised at how
athletic these girls are,'' said Ruffertshofer, a
2000 Western graduate who has coached in the program the past seven seasons.

''Every year we try to get the
football players to do a routine with us. If they don't think what we do is
difficult, they usually change their minds by the time they're done.''

Ruffertshofer said many of the girls are also
involved in gymnastics and dance, and all of them are strong academically -
as she requires to be on the roster.

Although appearance and attitude
are reflected in their scores during competition (''We do have to be peppy,''
says O'Keefe. ''If you don't show a lot of energy, you'll look bored.''),
cheerleading has become less about smiles and spirits and more about
athleticism and precision.

''Every
tiny, little thing has to be perfect. If one person is off, the whole thing
is off,'' said O'Keefe. ''We strive for perfection on every routine.''