Two cheer coaches get one final
hurrah

Friday,
March 09, 2007

GEOFF
MOTT

THE SAGINAW NEWS

A pair of area competitive
cheer coaching legends will call it a career Saturday.

But in their last order of
business, Breckenridge coach Deb Gaines and Chesaning coach Lisa Maike have plans of adding one more state title to their
lengthy list of accomplishments.

The two teams join Mount Pleasant and Merrill at Grand Rapids' Delta Plex
for the competitive cheer state meet. Division 1 action begins tonight with
the Divisions 2-4 meets beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Gaines is finishing her
26th season as the Huskies coach and with six of the last seven Division 4
state titles, the success has been fun.

"I love it,"
said Gaines, a secretary in the Breckenridge superintendent's office. "I
love working with the kids and seeing the improvement along the way. They
change so much, from when they are freshmen coming in raw and not having that
many skills, to performing aerials and hand springs. It's real fun."

Gaines was a cheerleader
when she attended Breckenridge and the now 50-year-old took over the middle
school program before moving to the high school level when the job became
open. In the 14 years the Michigan High School Athletic Association has
offered a competition for the sport, the Huskies have claimed every regional
title.

Breckenridge returns eight
of 12 cheerleaders from last year's state title run, including five seniors.

"The team looks great
and I feel if they go and reach their potential this weekend, we'll have a
great shot (at the title)," Gaines said. "We've got a smaller squad
and that takes me back to when I started years ago. But they put in a lot of
work and are tough."

Maike has coached the Indians for 19
years and helped them win back-to-back Class B titles in 1997 and 1998. The
Indians added two more titles in 2001 and 2003, yet Maike
believes this group of 16 competitors "is probably the best team I've
coached in 19 years."

The 47-year-old history
and geography teacher at Chesaning
Middle School was also
a cheerleader at Chesaning who returned to catapult her alma mater to elite
status.

"My coach (Kathy Dickie) kept calling me and wanted me to come back so she
could retire," Maike said. "I coach like
I teach in the classroom. It's so similar. You take the physical ability
versus the mental ability. You have to be tough in both aspects. These girls
are so intense and they are using the same skills gymnasts use."

The team has won eight of
the 11 meets it competed in. Also making the season special for Maike is coaching her daughter, Emily, who is one of six
seniors.

"With my daughter
graduating and heading to Michigan
State, that cemented my
decision to stop coaching," Maike said.
"It's been so special too because this was the first time we hosted regionals and we won it. That was my present."

And Chesaning and
Breckenridge both got presents from their longtime coaches. The two schools
are feared at the state level.

"I was wanted to find
the right people and bring them in to help out," Maike
said. "I took over a program from a small town and a small school and I
wanted to make sure we had everything that the big schools had."