Tiny cheerleaders give big cheers at camp

For 3-foot-5 Alyson Garcia and 3-foot-3 Kaylah Standeford, a Saturday at the Plains High School gymnasium may have been a career-altering day.

They were the shortest of the 39 girls and one boy to sign up for the Plains High School Cheer Camp, but their diminished height apparently didn't curb their enthusiasm for the camp. “They cheer all the time; they haven't stopped cheering,” said Rena Garcia, Alyson's mother.

Suzy VonHeeder, the camp's coordinator, hopes the camp cheerleaders will be tomorrow's Plains High School cheerleading squad in years to come.

The little cheerleaders from age 5 to 14 signed up for the Plains High School Cheer Camp at the school's gymnasium March 15. Six of VonHeeder's cheerleaders from this season helped teach the children cheers, chants and stunts for about five hours before the cheerleaders in training put on a 30-minute show for their parents at the end of the camp.

“They did great,” said “Coach Von,” who has been the school's cheerleader coach for four years. She took over the squad from Debbi Kirschbaum, who served as the coach for five years and held the cheerleader camp each year. Prior to Kirschbaum, VonHeeder was the team's coach for about three years. She also put on a cheer camp in the past.

VonHeeder said she couldn't have had such a successful camp without the help of her high school squad - Christian Beech, Christian Zigler, Callie McDonald, Katy Powell, Dani Sorenson, and Paulina Laskowska, a senior and a foreign exchange student from Poland. VonHeeder's entire team were first-year cheerleaders this year. She said that without their help, “I'd been on the funny farm.”

The little cheerleaders-to-be were broke into three age groups for the first part of the camp, which began at 10 a.m. on that Saturday. “I was very excited,” said Christian “Beechy” Beech about teaching the youngest group a variety of moves and cheers. “They have a very short attention span, but they're very sweet,” said Beech, who got help from Christian “Ziggy” Zigler, whose 10 third- and fourth-graders caught on so quick, they were combined with another group.

The cheerleading trainers were also helped out by Nick Warren and Carson Lilja, who volunteered their muscles to toss Callie McDonald in the air for a cheerleading demonstration.

“We've never dropped her,” said Zigler, although another cheerleader admitted to dropping McDonald once. The boys demonstrated three or four stunts.

Once done, the high school cheerleaders broke the kids into three groups and they practiced some jumps, although most went only inches skyward.

The Plains High School Horsemen/Trotters mascot - aka senior Dustin Curry - was also on hand during most of the cheerleading camp.

VonHeeder said some of the kids learned their moves quickly while others, mostly the younger children, took a little longer. She believes a few of the older girls would be good candidates for next year's cheerleader squad. Each participant paid $20 for the camp and received a T-shirt.

In the morning, the students learned the basic cheers and stunts. After breaking for lunch, they started practicing in groups. At 2 p.m., VonHeeder lined them up to rehearse for the big show at 3 p.m. in front of their parents. About 50 friends and relatives showed up to watch the performance.

VonHeeder said the camp was very successful and despite having so many kids, she enjoyed the day with them.

She said she'd like to put another cheerleading camp on this fall and have them perform during a game at halftime.