LJ Cheer: Stunting

Captain Reign Salas (R) and her

Viking cheer teammates

let loose with some spirit

during the girls basketball

halftime. (Photos by Ed Piper)

One of many things that was so refreshing at the boys-girls basketball doubleheader at La Jolla High Fri., Jan. 30, was the reappearance of stunting by the LJHS Cheer squad.

The girls (and one guy, Sean Nelson) also performed their choreographed routine at the halftimes of both the girls varsity game and the boys varsity game. If this has happened before, it hasn't been frequent.

The cheerleaders were grinning, loud, and pretty precise in their steps and motions, and it added a lot of energy to a fun, healthy, energetic night.

The Vikings' cheerleaders hadn't done stunting--the pyramiding on one another's shoulders to build towers, and the like--since losing their previous cheer advisor back in the sixth week of the football season, the middle of October.

New Cheer Advisor Mia Kelley promised in an initial phone interview that the girls would be stunting during Western League basketball games, and next year "they will be competing" (in cheer competitions against other schools' cheer squads).

Kelley delivered on her first promise, and a month later, the Vikes broke out their stunting skills for the first time in three and a half months. It was a good show. (View the photos on my sports photo website, ljhssportsbyedpiper.shutterfly.com.)

Halle Trimm (at

top) goes vertical

as the "flyer" in

her first appearance

as a Vike cheer-

leader.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the basketball court--cheer squads spent the entire two games lined up at opposite ends of the gym while cheering--the Lincoln cheerleaders brought their usual loud, foot-stomping style with them. It's a whole different style of cheer, and it adds a lot of flavor.

My granddaughter Alexis was a cheerleader on La Jolla's team from 2004 to 2008. She is African-American, Italian, Sicilian, Russian, Jewish, and the whole kit-and-caboodle. She was often one of the few African-American cheerleaders on the squads she served on during her years at La Jolla High. She always enjoyed the camaraderie and the competition between the rival schools' cheer squads. What I mean to say is, I think of her when I see the Viking and Hornet squads out there pounding out with their distinct styles. It presents a positive outlook for our teenagers, it's a place where they can get loud and burn off some energy, as my parents used to say, and the whole community gains from the interaction and exchange.

By the way, Ashley Monzon, the Vikings' cheer advisor prior to this year, came up and said hello at the basketball games at Cathedral Catholic High School Tues., Jan. 27. She is leading the dance squad there. Mia owes a big debt to Ashley for the health of the cheer program at LJHS. When Ashley arrived five years ago, she had to establish some new rules and clean house. Then-Assistant Principal Bev Greco was a part of that new regime that helped bring out more positives and decrease some of the negatives of the program at that time.


Copyright 2015 Ed Piper