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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Realizing the Dream
Western Arkansas, AR
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Angie Baker, Director of Operations, Team Cheer USA and Team Dance USA
Cory Goodwin always dreamed of being a college cheerleader. When she was in junior high, she and a friend traveled to Texas to be a part of a clinic with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, she cheered in junior high at Huntsville and also cheered her first year of high school. However, Cory is one of those young people who is a talented athlete in several sports. She played volleyball, basketball and soccer for Huntsville High and after her sophomore year, she and her parents realized something had to give. She simply couldn’t do it all. So, she put those dreams of cheerleading to the side, though she never forgot them. As a senior, she attended the state tournament in both volleyball and soccer and was a member of the State Championship basketball team at Huntsville. Once basketball was over, those dreams of cheering in college popped up again. “I always knew I wanted to cheer in college, but I got so busy in high school with everything else. I just thought I should not give up on the dream and give it a shot once everything calmed down”, Cory says. Cory got back in the gym and started working on cheer skills that she would need to try out. Cory is a talented tumbler and used that strength to help her gain a spot on the Small Coed cheer team at the University of Central Arkansas.
This dream is a familiar one for Maggie Day from Fayetteville. For Maggie, cheerleading was her primary activity and she dreamed of being on the sidelines at Ole Miss since she was a little girl. Maggie cheered at Woodland Junior High and then at Fayetteville High School and says “I always knew I wanted to cheer at Ole Miss, but I didn’t get really serious about it until my senior year.” Maggie loves to stunt and enjoys trying new skills in the air. Maggie worked hard to get ready for tryouts, spending a great deal of time in the gym working on coed stunting and especially on a skill that had been challenging for her, a standing back tuck. All of her work paid off and we will see her on the sidelines at Ole Miss this fall.
Margaret Esch of Bentonville has been chasing this same dream since she first attended a Razorback football game when she was 7 years old. “I saw those amazing girls (and guys) out on the field, I knew that that was the place for me! So I told myself I was going to be there some day.” Margaret loves all aspects of cheerleading-she just enjoys being able to be out there in front of a crowd. “It makes me so happy to say that from the sidelines, you not only please the crowd and make them yell; but you also see the that you are a true "light" in your family's lives when you're out there, doing what you do best!” Margaret cheered for 5 years in school and 4 years of all star and will continue her cheerleading career at Avila University in Kansas City in the fall.
“I’ve always known I wanted to cheer in college. Since I was a little girl, when we would go to football or basketball games, I went to watch the cheerleaders,” says Bridgett Connors. Bridgett cheered at Ramay Junior High and at Fayetteville High School and also cheered all stars for 4 years. Bridgett loves to stunt-she loves being in the air and learning all of the skills and techniques involved in stunting. When asked about her first college practice, the one aspect that brought a big smile to her face was stunting because they got to try all kinds of new, difficult stunts that she hadn’t had an opportunity to do in high school. Bridgett enjoys the competitive aspect of cheerleading and will get an opportunity to continue with that experience at the University of Central Arkansas where she will be a member of the Large Coed team.
Madison Farrish also had dreams of cheering in college. Madison’s twin sister, Mary Beth, played basketball, so Madison grew up in the unique position of cheering for her sister from the sidelines. Madison cheered at Woodland Junior High and at Fayetteville High School. She loves stunting and tumbling and found herself in the gym working on perfecting her coed stunting skills her senior year, since most of her experience had been all girl. Madison will be cheering at the University of Arkansas.
There are other young ladies that graduated in 2008 in Northwest Arkansas that will be cheering in college as well, but couldn’t be reached in time for this article. Jordan Kaufman from Bentonville will cheer at the University of Arkansas and Morgan Linn from Har-Ber will cheer at University of Central Arkansas. This list does not include everyone who made a college team, but it is representative of the talent from our corner of the state that we will be seeing on the sidelines next fall.
All of these young ladies spoke to the difference in college tryouts, from high school. Trying out with returning members of the team was somewhat intimidating for some of the girls and the format of a college tryout was a little bit overwhelming. They all say that tryouts were a positive experience and one that they won’t soon forget. All of these girls have the same advice for girls interested in cheering in college: start getting ready as soon as you know you are interested in pursuing this option. Cheering in college is different than cheering in high school and is not as easy a transition as one might think. In the end, realizing the dream was well worth the effort involved to get there.
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