Unity
Christian gets jump-start on conference season

Thursday,
January 12, 2006

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

Unity Christian competitive cheer
co-coach Kristen Koetje wanted to give her team a
chance to perform before heading into the conference season.

Last month's Competitive Cheer
Coaches Association of Michigan Scholarship Invitational provided the perfect
setting for her team to accomplish that.

"It was the first time that we
had ever competed that early and it was a really good experience for the
girls to get out there early and show their material," said Koetje, who's sharing coaching duties with Trisha Clark
this season.

"We
wanted to get them out there before our first conference meet and it was a
good opportunity to do that."

The Crusaders set the tone for the
season by competing at the CCAM Invitational and placed fifth in their Class
B pool with a score of 570.1.

The early outing paid dividends for
Unity, when it took part in its first O-K Green Conference meet last week.

Improved scores were evident as the
Crusaders placed third with a final score of 627.3. They took third behind
runner-up Reeths-Puffer and last year's Class B runner-up Holland Christian,
but were second entering the final stunt round.

"I felt like they were more
prepared because we went to that meet last month and they did an awesome job
(on Thursday)," Koetje said. "They showed
other teams that they want it more than ever before and it was a very good
start for us."

Although small in size with only 11
girls on the roster, Unity is hoping to continue the steady progression that
has been seen since the school instituted competitive cheer as a varsity
sport four year ago.

Last season, they won their first
invitational championship in school history at Falcon Fest and enhanced their
scores on a weekly basis.

"This is a great group of
girls and I see more confidence in them," Koetje
said. "They've been really good at putting out what they got and giving
it their all. We have a small team, but they've been positive and I'm
teaching them to think big."

The Crusaders return five from last
season, in addition to five junior varsity girls and one freshman.

The entire team consists of seniors
Audra Bennett, Rachel VanDyke and Jessica DeVries, juniors Kristen Holcomb, Bre
Koster, Sammie Love and Lindsay Kerkstra,
sophomores Martha Smith, Hannah Osborne, Michelle ZanDam
and freshman Lauren Vollink.

Koetje understands that achieving their
ultimate goal of advancing to the state finals will be challenging, but she
just wants to put a team on the floor that competes to the best of its
ability.

"We would like to go to state,
but it's more important that they give their all every meet and that they're
satisfied with how they competed overall," Koetje
said. "We want them to improve and do the best they can."