Cheers for 25
years

Thursday,
February 09, 2006

By Dean
Holzwarth

The Grand Rapids Press

GRANDVILLE -- It was a celebration
befitting a coach who has touched the lives of so many female athletes.

Grandville competitive cheer coach
Julie Smith-Boyd was honored Monday night for 25 years of coaching after the
Grandville Invitational.

"This is really cool and it
was almost overwhelming to look up there and see so many people that I
coached come back for this," Smith-Boyd said. "It was just really
awesome and it was one of the highlights of my career."

Smith-Boyd, a 1977 Grandville
graduate, cheered at Central
Michigan University
for four years before returning to Grandville as a junior varsity coach in
1981.

She has since turned the Grandville
program into a state powerhouse with 12 regional titles and three state
titles, the latest coming in 2004.

"The whole thing started when
we were on our way to a football game and a parent said that this was Julie's
25th year and we had to do something for her," Grandville cheer boosters
president Judy Grifhorst said. "We wanted the
alumni and community to be involved."

An emotional Smith-Boyd fought back
tears as kind words were expressed toward her by parents and her current
seniors.

She also received a diamond
bracelet, 25 roses and a short video tribute was shown.

The ceremony also included a
performance from nearly 30 of Smith-Boyd's former cheerleaders from the last
10 years.

"I was really impressed by
that," Smith-Boyd said. "Kristen Jones got that together and I
don't know how many times they practiced, but they were very good.

"Their precision and arm
motions were awesome."

A pair of former Grandville
cheerleaders, 1992 graduates Sally Daling and Jen Tolson, said Smith-Boyd was the reason why they both got
into coaching and judging.

"She's truly been instrumental
in many girls lives because of how many former
cheerleaders she had who got into coaching and judging and wanting to be
involved in the sport of cheerleading," Tolson
said.

"That says a lot about her as
a coach and she inspired so many female athletes to strive and push to be the
best that they can be."

Said Daling:
"She's built the best tradition at Grandville and to say that we cheered
for Grandville is something that we will always be proud of. I got my passion
for cheering from cheering at Grandville."

The current team topped off the
night by winning the invitational over area rivals Rockford
and West Ottawa.

"Even for my team tonight, I
wanted them to do so great, so they could say that this is what it has
become," Smith-Boyd said. "It was just a lot of fun."