Injuries
hobble Allendale cheerers

Thursday,
January 19, 2006

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

The Allendale competitive cheer
team began the season with a relatively small group of 13 individuals.

It provided little room for error,
and so far injuries have hindered progress, especially in the team's most
critical round.

"It's been hard because we've
had two knee injuries and we had a girl fall from one of our stunts and had
to be rushed to the hospital," fourth-year Allendale coach Kendra DeRose said. "We've had to change round three a lot
because of that and that makes it tough for a small team because we don't
have too many replacements."

Despite the setbacks in their final
round, the Falcons have remained competitive in other rounds and have had a
promising beginning.

They opened the season with a
runner-up finish in Class 2B at the Grandville Invitational and placed third
in Class B/C/D in Saturday's Jenison Invitational.

"We're still working on
getting better in round three, but I've been happy with our scores in rounds
one and two," DeRose said. "Our scores
have been consistent in those rounds."

The Falcons graduated three from a
year ago and remain youthful with only two seniors, but a majority of the
juniors have competed on the varsity team since they were freshmen.

Experienced seniors Mo Jackson, who
has fully recovered from knee surgery seven weeks ago, and Samm Bristol, in addition to the five juniors, have
played a key role in the mentoring of four sophomores and two freshmen.

"They've been on the team for
three years now and they've stepped up into more of the leadership
roles," DeRose said of her junior class.
"They have a lot of experience on the mat and they've become big role
models for the younger girls on the team."