The Lucknow Sentinel, 1985-05-29, Page 5ri
S24-9981
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The F.E. Madill Acro Cheer squad are at the top of the heap in cheerleading, wimung the
All -Ontario Championship and other awards this year. They are, bottom row, left to
right, Douna Raynard, Lesley Ten Pas, and Stacey. Thomson. Second row, Byron Thomp-
son, Jamie MacPherson, Doug McFarlan, Dave Linton, Doug Wood, Ed Sweeney, Darrin
Watts• and Pearl the Mustang (Julie Nichcills and Heidi Strong). Third row, Joelle
Reavie, Ginny Le Van, Bert Sjaarda, Judy Ten Pas and Shawna Thomson. At the top is
Charlotte Cassidy.
Cheerleaders will perform/ at
Barry Manilow concert
By Man Rivett
Cheerleading to most football or basket-
ball fans is a group of pretty ra-ra girls who
do cartwheels while cheering the home
team on to victory. This perception,
however, is largely untrue as cheerleading
is becoming on par with the sports events
themselves. The Dallas Cowboy
Cheerleaders are a shining example of a
squad that can not only cheer but also per-
form difficult acrobatic routines.
While Cheerleading in high schools may
not be as advanced as those in the NFL or
college ranks, Dian Wood and .Louanna
Alexander, coaches of Wingham's F.E.
Madill Acro Cheer Squad„are giving high
• school cheerleading higher standards.
• "Cheerleading is not on •the sidelines
anymore. They have their own routines
which are increasingly difficult. It has ad-
vanced in that you're not an appendage that
is like an extra to a basketball team but you
• have you're own identity," says Mrs. Wood
who is an art teacher at school.
Acro Squad
Over the past six years, the 18 -member
Acrc Squad, including seven boys, has hid
its fair share of accomplishments. Airs.
Wood says "Acro" means the, squad. per-
forms boy -girl paired stunts. The team has
c mpeted in the All -Ontario Cheerleading
Charnpionships for three years and last year
placed sixth. This yerir, however, the team
placed first. In addition, the team placed
first in the Ontario Cheerleading Competi-
tion at Canada's Wonderland on'May 11. The
Wingham squad was one of 37 teams coming
from as far away as Sault Ste. Marie and
Thunder Bay which competed in the event,
says Mrs, Wood.
Barry Manilow
Because of their win at the Ontario
Cheerleading competition, the F.E. Madill
team was contacted last week and invited to
perform at the Barry Manilow concerts at •
Kingswood Music Theatre on July 22 and 23,
says Mrs. Wood. The girls, minus the guys,
will dance to the song Copacabana with
Barry Manilow during the second set of his
concerts.
The team, who had to recruit five other
girls from the school, for the project, will
receive instruction on the routine' by
Hollywood choreographer Ivan Korpan the
morning of the show and the 'squad will do
the routine that evening, says Mrs. Wood.
Donna Haynard, a grade 9 student and
resident of Lucknow, is one of the
cheerleaders who is taking part in the show.
She says She and the rest of the squad are
looking to participating hi the show.
"I think it's a little unusual but it's going
to be tremendous fun," she said.
She joined the • cheerleading team this
year after she saw them perform at grade 8
FEATURE REPORT
orientation at the high school. thought it
was a lot of fun sal joined."
"I like being a part of the team a whole
lot. We get along really good and when we go
to competitions we have a great time." she
says.
/ Mrs. Wood' says she got involved in
coaching the cheerleaders because she
always enjoyed the excitement that
cheerleading brought to basketball and foot-
ball games,
"I love watching basketball and football
the cheering adds to the spiritof the game. I
enjoy the excitement of the games and the
cheerleading part," she says.
The squad usually practises one or two
times a week an'd sometimes more if they
are learning d routine for a competition.
They perform at approximately 15 home
basketball and football games,
Mrs. Wood points out there are two kinds
of routines that the squad practises, namely
those involving cheers and music. For
, cheers, the team will learn the words to a
' cheer and make up the movements to go
along with the chant. The cheers are usually
learned from a book or copied from other
schools.
For the All -Ontario competition, they
were required to do a five minute music
routine. She says Mrs. Alexander handles
all the choreography that goes into prepar-
ing a dance number. Mrs. Wood and the rest
of the team agree that Mrs. Alexander's
superb choreography has helped them
become winners. Mrs. Wood says the group
has two cheers and one music routine down
pat. ,
While practising, there is a lot of em-
phasis put on safety while attempting a new
routine. There are always lots of mats and ,
crashpads as well as spotters to catch them
if they fall, she says.
Mrs. Wood says the main ingredient in
the squab's success has been the addition of,
boys to the team. The hardest part was con-
vincing the boys that their role in
cheerleading would require a great deal of
strength and 'athletic ability.
"We videotaped the U.S. College Cheer -
Off and let them see it. I think that seeing ,
other guys doing difficult stunts and not do-
ing "pansy" stuff ... they knew that they
were not going to do pom-pom stuff.
Because it was athletic, the guys feel com-
fortable with it."
Jamie McPherson, a member of the
cheerleading squad, said he got involved
Mum to page 8
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17
•-
ees
Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, May 29, 1985—Page 5
t i
a.1
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