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2, 4, 6, 8, these girls, guys are really great

By ERNEST HOOPER
Published September 22, 2006

Turn around like MC Hammer

Touch the ground like Salt 'n Pepa

Shake your booty like tutti fruity

Go Cowboys, Go Cowboys

That cheer, along with a lot of others, has been branded in my mind. Never again will I see an MC Hammer video or hear a Salt 'n Pepa song without thinking of cute 4-year-old and 5-year-old girls squeaking out the rhymes with the enthusiasm of a lottery winner.

My daughter is a mighty mite cheerleader for the Brandon Cowboys Youth Football program, and any thoughts I had of her being too young to twist and shout have melted away with each precocious move.

Never mind that she and her teammates are far too young to know MC Hammer once played to sold-out audiences in America's largest venues.

Never mind that my little Madelyn thinks Salt 'n Pepa, the pioneering first ladies of rap, are the parents of Paprika on one of her favorite kid shows, Blues Clues.

With matching ribbons in their hair and uniforms that look as good as anything you would find in a college stadium, you warm up to cheerleading.

With the Brandon area featuring 12 youth football programs in two different leagues, I'm sure plenty of parents would concur: When it's your daughter who gets everyone to stand up and holler, you want to stand up and shout out her name.

"Yea, Madelyn!"

She frowns.

"Dad, you're embarrassing me."

Now I just try to make eye contact and quietly smile at her. She rolls her eyes like a woman three times her age.

Of course, that would make her 12.

However, I'm convinced cheering is a worthy pursuit, and what won me over was the one time Madelyn didn't cheer.

The doctor had ordered her to stay home and recover from a cold. All things considered, that was good news because staying home meant we didn't have to scramble out of bed to get to the field by 7:30 a.m.

Madelyn, on the other hand, was crestfallen.

"But, daddy, they need me," she cried. "They need me to do the stunts."

A 4-year-old realizing it was about teamwork instead of pompoms? I couldn't have been happier.

Patriots, you think you're hot.

Cowboys, we know we're hot.

Patriots, you think you're hot.

So Ugh, child please!

My two favorite cheerleading coaches in the Cowboys program are Joey Vernon and Rob Ketcham, two of the three leaders of the midget cheerleaders. Nothing against the third coach, Natasha Brooks, but you have to admire guys who are willing to step into the female-dominated world of cheerleading without fear of being chastised.

For Vernon and Ketcham, the motivation was simple: their daughters needed coaches.

Vernon started four years ago when his daughters first started cheering. Ketcham joined last season to help his daughters. Now they're on the field Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

"I would be out here if I had boys," Vernon said.

Understand, though, that these aren't guys trying to figure out cheerleading by watching competitions on ESPN2. Like every cheerleading coach, they have taken certification courses, learned safety techniques and gained an understanding of what makes a good routine.

"The routine you see on Saturday has to be taught months in advance," Ketcham said. "And they keep changing as you go. If they master a certain stunt, you add something else."

If it sounds like football coaches building a playbook, it's because there are a lot of similarities. The cheerleaders have sleeveless tops while the football players have shoulder pads. They have white tennis shoes while the players have cleats, but the skill, strategy and pressure to perform are largely the same.

I mean, these guys worry about other teams stealing their new moves.

S

S-C

S-C-A-R-E-D

We've got you scared

Wooo

Shakin' in the knees.

Leslie Adams stands on the field wearing a shirt that says "I'm not BOSSY, I just have BETTER ideas." Using a tape measure, she marks the distance covered by the varsity squad as they line up in a complex formation.

So intricate is the staging that she spends several minutes meticulously placing each cheerleader in the perfect spot while her tiny tot daughter Ashley hangs around her leg. One cheerleader has to take a half-step to the right, another has to move up a few inches, and a third is too close to a teammate.

She compares the precision to that of a marching band. When the girls transition into a different formation - arms and legs perfectly synchronized, hand claps not missing a beat - no one cheerleader can cross in front of another.

And I thought they were just running around like people in a fire drill.

For eight years, she has been at Cowboys practices and games, first as a coach, now as the Cowboys' cheer coordinator.

Today's cheering is a far cry from what she did at Jupiter High School oh-so-many years ago. Back then, they would occasionally stand on a fellow cheerleader's shoulders because your mother told you to and call it a feat.

Today, the stunts are just that, calculated eye-popping acrobatics where girls spring board into the air confident that their teammates will catch them.

"It's all about the thrill, just like riding a roller coaster," Adams said. "How many humans get to fly?"

Safety is always a priority, but mistakes are made. Adams grimaces when she thinks about the time she had to take a girl to the emergency room.

But that's all part of the sport. Yes, sport.

"If you bleed, it's a sport," 13-year-old Ashley DeJesus said.

Adams laughs when asked about cheering being a legitimate sport because she knows it involves timing, strength, conditioning and athleticism. She also laughs because she's seen football players struggle to lift the girls.

And what keeps Adams going through the heavy lifting of uniform fittings, marathon Saturdays and pressure-packed competitions?

"They do," she says, pointing to the cheerleaders. "They do."

That's all I'm saying.

Ernest Hooper also writes a column for the Tampa & State edition. He can be reached at 813 226-3406 or hooper@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 21, 2006, 06:49:59]