Cheerleading makeover

New coach
vows to turn around Lincoln's program

Monday,
July 25, 2005BY SETH GORDON

News
Staff Reporter

After a difficult and
frustrating season last year, the Lincoln High School cheerleading team has something
to cheer about again.

New head coach Tricia
Clark took over the program last month and is working hard to rebuild a team
that was shaken from disorganization and the resignation of former head coach
Corin Carlson.

Carlson resigned after
the team was unable to arrange travel to the United Spirit Association's
national tournament in California, Lincoln High School athletics director Sid
Wright said.

Because of the way last
season ended, Wright has suspended the team from competitive cheer for one
season, leaving Clark to focus on sideline cheerleading.

But Clark's No. 1 goal
for the season is to rebuild her team's chemistry and trust in one another.
To help accomplish this, Clark decided to have team members learn all the
roles on the team.

"I would like to see
them learn everyone else's job so we always have a stunt team and we know how
to stunt together,'' Clark said.  "I
would like to see them come together more as a team that way. Right now, we
have a bunch of individuals, and that is just not going to cut it. The
definition of a team is 'together everyone achieves more.' ''

Clark had another hurdle
to overcome. Along with the suspension of competitive cheer, no boys will be
on the team this year. Without the physical strength of boys, stunting and
above-the-ground routines would be difficult.

Clark knew that most on
her team didn't have the necessary strength for stunting, so she reached out
to a local physical trainer to help condition the girls. Shaun Davis of Ann
Arbor, who works independently in the area, volunteered to train the girls for
the year.

"Tricia is a friend
of mine, and when she found out that there weren't any boys on the team this
year, she know that they were going to need the upper-body strength,'' Davis
said. "She knew I was a physical trainer, and
she asked me if I would volunteer my time to help the girls with their upper
body strength.''

Davis works with the
girls three times a week in 30-minute sessions. He has them working in pairs,
circuiting through six stations of exercises designed to improve their
stunting.

"He's killing us,
but it feels good,'' junior Meghan Briggs said. "We're
going to be in shape this year.''

In addition to building
upper body strength, Davis' workouts help build team chemistry by rotating
the partners that the girls pair up with for each workout.

While Clark focuses on
team-building this year, she and her staff will attend the Michigan
Cheerleading Coaches Association competitive cheer seminar this fall. Some of
the staff will complete their certifications while Clark prepares to return
the team to competition in a year's time.

Seth Gordon can be
reached at [email-masked] or

(734) 482-2829.

© 2005 Ann Arbor News. Used
with permission

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