Catholic Central enters competitive cheer ranks

Thursday,
January 27, 2005By Dean Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

GRANDVILLE -- Emily Werkema, Annette Leestma and
Laura Smearman wanted to do more in their senior
year than just cheer on the sidelines for the boys
basketball team.

The Calvin Christian trio
wanted to have the experience of performing in a different atmosphere.

"We've been cheering
together since our freshman year and we just really wanted to make the leap
to a competitive team," said Werkema, who's a
captain along with Leestma, Smearman
and senior Anna Zinderman.

"We wanted to be
able to compete against other schools, but because we had only done sideline
for basketball games this was all new to us."

Last summer, the Squires
received the approval from the school board to enter the competitive cheer
ranks. The team competed for the first time Jan. 12 at the Allendale
Invitational under first-year coach Lisa Sandee.

Sandee, a former Calvin Christian
cheerleader who previously coached at Union,
has 21 girls on the inaugural team and said they've been receptive to
learning about what it takes to compete at a higher level.

"The season has been
going better than expected and their attitudes have been completely
positive," Sandee said. "They realize
that we're not going to go out and take first place on the mat this year.
They understand that and I think they're just proud to know that they are the
founding team."

Before competing in front
of judges, the Squires attended last month's Competitive Cheer Coaches'
Association of Michigan Invitational at Comstock Park.

First competition

Sandee said it was the first time that
anyone on her team had ever been to a competition and she added that six of
her girls had never cheered before.

"They didn't know
what to expect so that's why we went to the invitational," she said.
"I wanted them to get an idea of what went on."

Werkema said they marveled at watching
the top area teams like Grandville, East Kentwood and West
Ottawa compete.

"We were blown away
by how good they were, but it was exciting to see that we could be at that
level in a few years," Werkema said. "We
were a little nervous when we first started, but really excited and we're
hoping that we can do well this season.

"We just love
cheerleading and we're going to take it by step by step. We're hoping to do
the best we can with what we have and we want to keep building our
program."

The Squires, who were
placed in Tier 2 of the O-K Rainbow Conference, finished 7th out of 10 teams
at Allendale and will compete in nine other events during the season.

"For a first-year
team I was very happy with that finish and they just loved every minute of it
and took everything in," Sandee said. "I
have a great group of seniors and they are all such hard workers and right
now it's just baby steps. We've set goals for ourselves for each competition
and we're looking forward to bettering ourselves every time we take the
floor."

The remainder of Calvin's
squad includes seniors Carley Canan,
Ashley DeVries, Carmen Kramer, Courtney Peterson
and Jackie Paauw, juniors Denise DeYoung, Sarah Hollebeek, Amy Mejeir, Kelli Rozeboom and Kim Zuverink, sophomores Tricia DeGraaf,
Lauren Hollebeek, Bethany Kortman,
Sarah Ross, Kelsey VanderArk and Bethany VanderLaan and freshman Cortney
Ketchem.

© 2005 Grand Rapids Press. Used
with permission

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