Tigers
win WMC cheer meet

Competitive
cheer fan base growing

By Allison Scarbrough

Herald-Journal
Writer

January 29, 2009

SHELBY — The
bleachers were packed with excited fans as Shelby, Hart, North Muskegon and
Montague cheer teams battled for the top slot during the West Michigan
Conference meet last Wednesday, Jan. 21.

As fans marched up the
bleachers to watch the action on the mat, it became clearly evident that
competitive cheer is an up and coming sport.

Cheerleading has
traditionally been a sport in which participants cheer for other teams. Now,
the cheerleaders are receiving the cheers. It’s a spectator sport
instead of a sideline activity.

The hosts won the varsity
competition with a final score of 653.5640 after three rounds. North Muskegon took second place; Hart finished
third; and Montague was fourth.

“The team did a
wonderful job at Wednesday’s performance,” said Shelby coach Penny Grinage-Guy.
“On the day of the competition the team had to change everything around
due to one girl going home ill, another coming back from the doctor’s
on crutches from an injury not related to cheer, and a third out with a sore
wrist.

“So, while it was
not the stellar performance the girls had hoped to show their home crowd,
they did a great job putting together their round three 45 minutes prior to
the competition,” Grinage-Guy continued.
“I was very proud of their tenacity and drive to put it all together as
well as they did. But I think what I was the proudest of was that they
learned something about themselves that night — that they can work
through adversity and still be successful.”

While the veteran Tiger
team worked through last-minute changes, the Pirates dealt with their
inexperience. The Hart cheer team just became a competitive squad last
season.

“For this only
being our second year, the girls are working really hard and showing some
great skill progressions,” said Hart coach Jennifer Peterson.