Lansing State Journal

Published March 10, 2006

[ From the Lansing State
Journal ]

Allen Park cheerleaders aim for state title

Competitive cheer coach takes
team to fifth straight final

Photo by Ankur
Dholakia/Associated Press)

In formation: Allen Park High School's competitive cheer team competes
in the Michigan High School Athletic Association State Cheerleading
Finals on March 4 at Ladywood High School in Livonia.

Associated Press

ALLEN PARK - Long hours of practicing
five to six days a week stand behind the bid by Allen
Park High School's
competitive cheer team to win a state title Saturday at the DeltaPlex in Grand Rapids.

Competitive cheering won recognition from the Michigan High School
Athletic Association in 1994. The sport involves year-round training to
pull off difficult and risky routines.

"I educate my girls to be athletes," Allen Park coach Julie Goodwin told The
Detroit News. She is in her fifth year and is taking the team to a fifth
straight state final.

"They're not allowed to cry," she said. "There is no
crying. You come on the floor like an athlete, you
leave the floor like an athlete."

"I really preach that they're athletes and the seriousness of the
sport," she said. "You see kids walking in waving at their
parents in the stands - I said to the team, 'Do you see the football
players walking in waving to their moms and dads? No. They're focused on
what they need to do, and that's what you guys have to do.'"

The girls say they have to challenge cheer-leading stereotypes every
day.

"People think it's just like you smile, and you jump up and
down," said Allen Park
senior Chelsea Guilder, who has been in organized cheering since age 7.
"When they make fun of it, I do get really defensive because it's not
like that at all. It's tumbling, and everything has to be perfect,
everything has to be on. You have to see it to believe it."

"Anybody who doesn't believe that it is a sport should come to a
practice and practice with us and try to do everything," said junior Margeaux Leighton of Bedford.

Colette Norscia was a cheerleader before the sport was sanctioned. Now
she is in her seventh year as coach at Southgate Anderson, making its
fourth straight appearance in the state championships.

Her program has come a long way since she started.

"We were practicing in the cafeteria," Norscia said. "I
fought really hard to get the same facility use" as other sports

.