Cheerleading coach uses positive attitude to revive USA program

Saturday,
November 27, 2004By Kristina Riggle

Special
to the Times

In a high school of just
340 kids or so, it can be tough to lure enough students to cheer on the
sidelines for the football and basketball teams. In 1998, Unionville-Sebewaing Area High School's
football team made it to the state championships, with only three
cheerleaders to rally the Patriot faithful.

There were none at all
the following basketball season.

Enter Stacey Wascher and her friend Nicole Greenia,
who took on the coaching duties for junior varsity and varsity cheerleaders
at USA High School during the 1999-2000
basketball season. Wascher
and Greenia had been cheering together from seventh
grade right through their college years at Saginaw Valley
State University.

"I was excited about
it right away, because we had cheered together so long," Wascher said.

Greenia soon got a teaching job in
another city, and Wascher took on both the junior
varsity and varsity squads herself.

The Patriots battle
Detroit St. Martin de Porres at 10 a.m. today at
the Pontiac Silverdome for the Division 7 state
championship title. The USA
varsity football team is 13-0 this season.

Parents and students say Wascher's positive attitude and good relationship with
the cheerleaders have helped resuscitate the program to vigorous health. This
year, there are 11 junior varsity and 14 varsity cheerleaders.

"The program has
grown every year," said parent Karen Lowthian.
"... She's had the program grow that much in just that short amount of
time."

Cheerleaders and parents
also cite her dedication. Wascher takes a week's
vacation from her "day job" as a customer service representative
for Duro-Last Roofing in Saginaw every summer to attend a
cheerleading camp with the girls.

Wascher, 27, has a rapport with the girls
as well.

"She's really got
great common sense and great maturity for her age, she handles the girls very
well and is very fair to them," said Mark Gainforth,
USA High School athletic director.

The cheerleaders couldn't
agree more.

"She takes a week
off every summer to go to camp," said senior Yvette Wissner
about what makes Wascher such a great coach.

Sophomore Emily Lowthian said, "She works in Saginaw and drives here" for every
practice and game. "For basketball it gets even more
crazy."

They also say they feel a
special connection with their coach.

"She's more than a
coach, she's a friend," said Abby Joles, a
senior.

The cheerleaders say they
also appreciate how much respect Wascher gives
them: asking their opinions and listening to their points of view.

"As crabby as we can
get, she's always understanding and always keeps a
positive attitude," Joles said.

When asked why she has a
good working relationship with the young women, Wascher
said she lets them vote on decisions and shares her own experiences.

"I do tell them
about the goofy things I've done and the mistakes I've made," she said.

The girls say Wascher's youth is an asset, and they appreciate that
she's a talented cheerleader herself.

"She understands us
more because she's younger. She knows what's cool," Wissner
said.

Wascher says she doesn't always feel
"cool." When she started coaching, she was only a few years older
than the seniors. But recently, Wascher said she
cracked a joke with a "Mork and Mindy"
reference and no one knew what she was talking about.

"Every year I
definitely feel older and older as the age gap keeps getting bigger and bigger,"
she said.

As a student herself, Wascher cheered in her hometown of Reese from seventh
grade on up through her senior year of high school.

"Reese is (USA's)
biggest rival, so that's pretty funny," Wascher
said.

At Saginaw Valley
State University,
Wascher cheered for two years and got a bachelor's
degree in marketing.

When she started coaching
at USA
with Greenia, there were about 10 senior girls
interested in cheerleading. They were so athletic they caught on quick to the
moves, and wowed the school, Wascher said.

"They were able to
do stunts that Nicole and I did in college," she said. That got the
student body's attention and revived interest in the program, which has been
growing ever since.

"Right now, this is
the biggest both squads have ever been," Wascher
said.

Before high school, there
aren't many opportunities in the area to learn to cheer, so Wascher often teaches the cheerleaders starting from the
basics. When she sees their progress through the years, that's a point of
pride.

"I like teaching
people from the beginning," she said.

One opportunity for young
people is a cheerleading clinic Wascher has
organized for kids from kindergarten through the eighth grade. They learned
some cheers, and then cheered at a game.

"Last basketball season
we had 72 kids, which is amazing," she said.

For the future, Wascher would like to incorporate more gymnastics into
the routines, but that's "really hard to do."

But in the meantime,
she'll just keep doing what she loves.

"Once you get too
old to do it anymore, you coach it," she said, laughing.

© 2004 Bay City Times. Used
with permission

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