Archive: Sports

Part of the fun of Youth Football League games is watching young cheerleaders go through their paces.  Last Sunday the cheerleaders got to showcase their routines when Lansing hosted the 5th Annual Cheerleading Showcase for the first time.  Squads from Lansing, Dryden, Groton, Moravia, Seneca Falls, and Trumansburg competed at The FIELD. 

""I eat, sleep, breath, and live cheerleading right now," laughs Theresa Armstrong, who directs the program for the Lansing Recreational Department.  "I don't want to stress competition.  I took the word out of the program this year because I don't want to take away the feeling of having to be number one.  I look at it more as a showcase so the girls get to show what they've learned throughout the season.  For some girls it's their first year and they're pretty proud of what they've learned."


That was evident as the squads warmed up.  One of the indoor fields was designated for practice and the other for the showcase.  On the practice field teams enthusiastically went through their routines one more time before going in front of the judges.

Competing teams were required to perform at least one cheer and one dance.  Multiple cheers were permitted, and the entire presentation was limited to four and a half minutes per team.  Teams were split into junior and senior squads.  Squad sizes ranged from 6 cheerleaders to 19.  Junior squads typically range from third to fifth graders.  Senior squads range from fifth through eighth graders.


Armstrong and Assistant Director Lucy Newhart-Mix coach the Lansing teams, but with the responsibility of hosting the showcase this year they have depended heavily on assistant coaches Amanda Moon and Jennifer Robinson.

"They're awesome," says Newhart-Mix".  "Amanda was a varsity cheerleader who graduated from Lansing two years ago.  Jennifer was a Trumansburg cheerleader for years.  We're lucky that we have someone who knows what they're doing."


Armstrong and Newhart-Mix got involved because their daughters are on the squad.  Both say they wanted to work with the Rec Department program because of the value it offers their girls, and for the continuity it provides kids who want to continue cheerleading as they grow older.

"There are so many things that you can take from this program," Armstrong  says.  "If she understands about teamwork and working together toward a common goal, that's really important because at this age level they're so impressionable.  Cheerleading is a perfect example of how to work together toward a common goal."

Registration and practice started at 8am, including a coaches meeting in which the order the teams would compete was set.  The junior squads competed at 10pm.  During the break the Seneca Falls Flag Expo and Trumansburg Flag Expo performed.  Then the senior squads performed, and trophies were awarded at the end of the event.


The judges included two from Lansing, including Next Jennaration's Jenna Stevenson and Katherine Gooch, who led cheers all the way through college.  All the girls got certificates and awards, and the winning squad in each age group get to hold on to the trophies for a year until there are new winners next year.  Trumansburg's junior squad won that right, as did Groton's senior squad.

In Lansing youth cheerleaders get to cheer with the varsity team at half-time during the Homecoming Day game.  Armstrong also has a daughter on the varsity team.

"That's the nice thing about the Rec Department and the school," she says.  "They work very closely together.  They use these gyms for basketball, cheerleading, small fry, any number of things."

----
v5i45