Special report: The inside stories from
the championships

FREE PRESS STAFF • March 8,
2008

Members of the Troy Athens competitive cheer team
perform their routine at the state finals at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids on
Friday.

(ADAM BIRD/Special to the Free Press)

Tucked in their back pockets

The back tuck, in Troy
Athens cheer coach Stephanie Brosky's words, is
"a back handspring with no hands."

"They throw
themselves in the air, flip backwards and land on their feet, with no
hands," Brosky said. "It's hard enough
that most teams in the state can't do it. That's like your ticket to the
state finals."

Brosky's Red Hawks were surely to display
the skill Friday night at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids at the Division 1 competitive
cheer state meet, which continues today with Divisions 2, 3 and 4.

The back tuck is
arguably the toughest of many skills that will be seen during the three
rounds of competition. Athens
added it three years ago, and it propelled the Red Hawks to back-to-back
state finals appearance in 2007 and 2008.

By Chris Lau