The Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-06-05, Page 171
a
AP.
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Wednesday, June 5, 1985
Acro -cheer: more than bouncin
By Henry Hess
The time was when,everyone knew
what a cheerleader was supposed to
look like. She (it was ALWAYS she)
was cute, bouncy, popular and probably
dated the captain the football teaii$.
Well, times are changing and so are
cheerleaders. Not ev rything, mind
you. They are stil good-looking,
athletic and popular, but these days
there is also the cha ce that a cheer-
leader might BE the aptain of the foot-
ball team.
No longer, it seems, is a cheerleading
squad just a line •f pretty girls in
pleated skirts and school sweaters,
kicking up their legs and -shaking their
pompons while P exhorting the home
team on to victory. The girls are still
there and so are the skirts, sweaters
and pompons. But they have been
joined by another, distinctly masculine,
influence.
Top-flight squads today. are' co-ed,
combining beauty with brawn in a fast -
paced and exciting routine which has
been tagged acro -cheer: acrobatics
plus cheerleading. And one of the prime
examples of this new sport, based on its
achievements during the past. few
months, is the Mustang Acro -Cheer
Squad from F. E. Madill Secondary
School in. Wingham.
Before this year the Mustangs were a
traditional all -girl high school squad,
whose best -ever showing were some
second -place finishes in regional
competition and 'a sixth at last year's
all -Ontario cheerleading cham-
pionships: not bad, but still short of
excellence.
In 1985., with the addition of some
boys, a lot of hard work by boys and
girls and some enthusiastic and in-
:- novative coaching, the Mustangs not
only captured the provincial cham-
pionship but went on to take first place
at a follow-up competition at Canada's
Wonderland, defeating competitors
from the top big -city high schools in
Ontario.
This is not something that happens all
by itself, explained Dian Wood, an art
teacher at Madill who with Louanna
Alexander, a supply teacher, coaches
the cheerleaders.
At their try -outs last September they
1fvited girls and boys, but only. two boys
showed up. So they formed asquad of 13
girls and two boys and cheered at the
school football and basketball games.
- "We knew we wanted more boys on
the squad," Mrs. Wood said, "so we told
people to watch the college cheer -offs in
°,the States (on TV) —to see that guys
Could be cheerleaders without being
sissies."
They then did the logical thing: they
sent the girls out to find some boys.
The boys they brought back were
some of the best athletes in the school,
including people like Doug Wood, one of
the top junior pole vaulters in all of
Canada.
Not just anyone can be an acro -cheer-
leader, Mrs. Wood explained. Con-
siderable athletic ability and a lot of
strength are required to perform the
beauties
various Lifts and mounts the sport
demands — not to mention sufficient
strength of character to resist some
taunts of "queerleaders" from a few
fellow -students.
By January a squad of nine girls and
seven boys started holding intensive
practices, at first three times a week
and then every day as the all -Ontario
championships drew near. Along the
way they became close friends, holding
house parties and after -practice ac-
tivities, a "real team", Mrs. Wood said.
Mrs. Alexander, herself a former
cheerleader, choreographed their
music routine and student Debbie
Hodgins, an award-winning member of
the Wingham Canadette majorettes
whose part-time job did not allow her to
be a member of the squad, helped to
coach the cheer routines.
They also got a hand 'from other
students and some parents in sewing
together the 28 strips of fabric which
went into each purple -and -white
pleated skirt and getting them pressed
JUDY TENPAS, (left)
wearing the purple -and -
white uniform of the Madill
cheerleaders, demon-
strates a split lift with the
aid of Doug Wood.
and delivered to Toronto just hours
before the big competition was set to
begin.
It all paid off in the end and when they
heard the judges announce that the new
1985 cheerleading champions are F. E.
Madill from Wingham it was "just
unbelievable".
"When they won nobody could speak ;
they just screamed and cried," recalled
Mrs. Alexander, while Mrs. Wood said
everyone was in shock. "We thought we
might come in second or third. It took a
while to sink in."
Two months later, in May, the
Mustang cheerleaders traveled to
Canada's Wonderland for an open high
school competition and once again they
can -ie home with rave reviews and the .
first -place trophy. Their performance
at Wonderland also paid off in another,
entirely unexpected, -way: an invitation
to return in July to form part of a
chorus line for a Barry Manilow con-
cert, with all expenses paid plus a $500
donation to the school's cheerleading
fund.
(Please turn to Page 2)
FLYING SUPERMAN—
(right) ' Ginny LeVan and
Bert. Sjaarda, two mem-
bers of the Acro -Cheer
Squad, demonstrate the
"Flying Superman" lift dur-
ing a squad practice.
THE SILHOUETTE MOUNT -,Charlotte Cassidy raises her arms high atop the
pyramid formation the squad . calls, its "Silhouette. Mount". Other members of the
:pyramid seert.here in practice leading up to the all -Ontario title include Jamie McPher-
son, Doug -Wood and Darrin. Watts on.the.bottom, with Joelle Reavie, Ginny LeVan,
Bert Sjaarda, Judy TenPas and Shawna Thomson on the second level.
A DARING DISMOUNT—Other members of the squad
watch as Charlotte Cassidy performs her daring swan
dive off the top of a pyramid during a practice session at
the school, relying on the strong arms of Doug
McFarlan and Darrin Watts to catch her. This was just
one part of a thrilling routine which enabled the Madill
cheerleaders to win their first-ever all -Ontario title this
year.
THE ALL -ONTARIO'S CHEERLEADING CHAMPIONS from F. E. Madill Secondary
School, Wingham, show their form in the "Silhouette Mount", one of two different
pyramids they can form. Members of the squad which won the 1985 provincial title at
a competition this spring involving cheerleaders from 43 high schools across the pro-
vince are: (seated) Donna Reynard, Tina DeBoer, Lesley TenPas, Stacey Thomson;
(standing, first leve!) Byron Thompson, Jamie McPherson, Dave Linton, Doug Wood,
Darrin Watts; (second level) Joelle Reavie, Ginny LeVan, Bert Sjaarda, Judy TenPas,
Shawna Thomson; and topping the pyramid is Charlotte Cassidy. The squad received
strong support from its mascot, Pearl the Mustang, formed by Heidi Strong and Julie
Nicholls.
THE STAG LIFT, demonstrated by Shawna Thomson
and Darrin Watts, is another variation in the repertoire of
lifts used by the Madill cheerleaders.
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