GIVE ME A '€˜C'€™!

PALMER — As she watched a group of elementary school girls mimic the moves of her Colony High School cheerleading squad, Kristy Johnston broke into a smile.

“Some of the younger girls are just so cute,” she said.

The girls were in Colony High School’s gymnasium Monday as part of a clinic wherein the older girls taught their younger counterparts — from kindergartners to fifth-graders — the ins and outs of cheering. Over the course of six hours, broken down into chunks as small as five minutes but no longer than 30 minutes, the girls practiced tumbling, dance and motion and even managed to squeeze in snacks and arts and crafts.

Johnston, who is stepping down at the end of this year as coach of the cheerleading squad, said the clinic, which isn’t the first she’s ran, has a number of goals. It gives her girls a chance to interact with and give back to the community. They get to spread the word about cheerleading. And it’s also a fundraiser.

The Colony squad is heading to Florida in April, to compete in the Cheerleaders of America national competition. Their invitation to the competition comes on the heels of the teams’ fifth consecutive state championship. The team will be the only Alaska team there. The clinic was a way to raise funds for that trip.

But, to hear Johnston’s cheerleaders tell it, there’s a lot more to be gained than a trip to Florida.

Senior Megan Wilson said she enjoys working with the younger girls.

“It excites them and I like seeing them excited about it,” she said.

The clinics, Wilson said, are also a way to spread the word about cheerleading as a serious sport and what it takes to be a cheerleader.

Senior Brittany Nardini said she likes the idea of passing the sport on to the younger generation.

After graduation, “I probably won’t be cheerleading anymore for the rest of my life,” she said. “These little girls might become Colony cheerleaders.”

As for the younger girls, some of them undoubtedly plan to be cheerleaders when they reach their teens. But don’t make the mistake of asking 6-year-old Summer Chandler if she’s going to be a cheerleader when she grows up.

“I’m already a cheerleader,” she said.

She takes cheerleading instruction with a local group. And she does rather well at it — she placed third place in a recent competition. As for her favorite part of the clinic; Summer summed it up in one word — “dance.”

Johnston said that while she’s overseeing the clinic, her squad members run the show.

“I instruct them and I put them in charge,” she said. “They have to make up all the curriculum and everything and then show it to me.”

Which, she said, is just fine with the clinic participants.

“They look up to the high school girls, versus me being the adult in there hounding them all the time,” she said.

Johnston said that in addition to this clinic, the team has planned two — the next is on Jan. 23, and a third is planned for Feb. 11. The cheerleaders are also selling $10 tickets to raffle off a $1,500 gift certificate to a fishing and hunting supply website. Johnston said the raffle has proved popular but her girls have a tough row to hoe — to get to Florida they’ll need to raise $17,000.

But the clinics, she said, are very popular. Though there’s a number of reasons for why that might be, the $25 cost of admission can’t be discounted.

“We’re charging less than a typical baby-sitter for the entire day,” she said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.