Co-op cheer
team finds rooting for three schools difficult

Thursday,
January 26, 2006

By
Kelly Hill

The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND
RAPIDS -- By the very nature of their sport, cheerleaders
support their school, their colors, their mascot.

That, however, presents a problem
for the members of the Forest Hills
competitive cheer team.

The 19 members of the team
represent all three Forest Hills high
schools: Central, Eastern and Northern. So which school does the team cheer
for?

Which colors does the team cheer
for? Green and white? Columbia
blue, white and black? Crimson, black and white?

Which mascot do they cheer for? The
Rangers? Hawks? Huskies?

While the Forest
Hills competitive cheer team can choreograph routines like any other
team, the cheers which they shout during those routines are complicated
because of the composition of the team.

"It's hard to talk about three
different schools," said coach Leslie Landis, who noted that Forest
Hills Northern is the team's host school and, for that reason, the team wears
Northern uniforms.

"It's hard to be neutral. We
don't cheer for a mascot. The only color we cheer for is black. It is hard to
come up with words when you have no specific mascot or color, except
black."

Despite such difficulty, the Forest
Hills competitive cheer team finished fifth in the
Competitive Cheer Coaches Association meet in December at Allegan High School.

The Rangers, Huskies and Hawks
posted the highest Round 3 score of the Class A teams in the meet.

"We've had a very good season
so far," said Landis, who coached at Forest Hills
for two seasons a dozen years ago and is in her first season back.

"These girls have really good
attitudes and they work really hard.

"They are very dedicated. Most
of the seniors have cheered together all through high school."

This year's team, which includes
two members from Forest Hills Central, four from Eastern and 13 from
Northern, features seven cheerers -- Emily Dwyer, Brittney Maring, Bekah LaFave, Jill Fahner, Holly Karr,
Courtney Swenk and Katherine Kutzli
-- all of whom attend Forest Hills Northern.

Forest Hills, which won the Blue
Devil Invitational earlier this month at Gull
Lake, was scheduled to open its
conference schedule Wednesday night at Byron Center.

"Right now we are trying to be
more consistent and build confidence," Landis said.

Landis coached at East Kentwood and
Godwin Heights
during her seasons away from Forest Hills.

"I missed the kids,"
Landis said. "This is a great community to coach in and a great
administration to coach for. The kids are awesome and we have great parents
and great support."