Stealing the show
By Tom Murphy Jr.
Senior Reporter
Photo credit: Bob Knoska
Next time you attend an Oakland University basketball game, keep an eye out for senior Marissa Wintermantle.
She won’t be easy to miss, defying gravity, flying through the air.
She is a captain on the OU cheerleading team. When you see her ten feet in the air, don’t worry because she has been in that position for years.
“The first time I tried it I was in the seventh grade,” Wintermantle said. “I remember thinking ‘oh my God,’ I thought that it was really crazy. But now because I am so used to it, it doesn’t bother me. I think it’s fun.”
The OU cheerleading team, along with the OU dance team, Images, performs at every men’s and women’s home basketball game, providing entertainment and encouraging the crowd to become more involved in the game.
But neither team just shows up to the event and performs off the cuff. A lot of work goes in to making those performances happen. Both teams put many hours a week into perfecting their craft.
OU sophomore dancer Lindsay Yax said that Images practices twice a week for three hours. Wintermantle said that the cheerleading team practices three times a week for three hours at a time.
But neither team practices just for a good performance in front of basketball crowds. They both compete in national competitions. Images has often done very well at the National Dance Team Competition, consistently placing in the top ten.
“We put a lot of effort into competing for Nationals,” Yax said. “We have to because we go against a lot of really good teams.”
Last year the cheerleading team went to the Universal Cheerleaders Association National College Cheerleading Championships for the first time and placed a respectable 15th, just missing the finals, according to cheerleading coach Tara Palmer.
“For our first year going to nationals we did really well but the disappointment was pretty heavy,” Palmer said.
“This year we have more of a fire. Nobody wants to be out and about on the Saturday of the finals, we want to be competing so I am looking for a visit to the finals this time,” she said.
Besides competitions and basketball games, both teams perform at soccer, volleyball and hockey games. They also do a lot in the community. Sophomore dancer Nancy Hoppesch said that performing for the community can be very rewarding.
“We’ve done ‘Dancing in the Streets’ in downtown Rochester. We did a walk for cystic fibrosis and we also did a fashion show at Somerset Mall,” Hoppesch said.
Yax said that helping with the walk was good for the team.
“It was good because we got to perform for people who have been through that experience, it was really nice.”
For the cheerleading team, fundraising is an important part of the experience. Wintermantle said that the team holds car washes, bottle drives and in November they hold a ladies night out event. The fundraising helps the team pay for expenses not covered by university funding including traveling to the national competition.
“The girls work very hard at fundraising,” Palmer said. “It’s difficult, with the way the economy is nobody wants to give away money.”
For both teams the hard work and the amount of time they put in is rewarded with the chance to perform. It is what they love to do, even if at times it can be nerve-racking.
“I get nervous all the time,” Yax said. “Especially right before we are about to perform. My hands get sweaty and everything, but once the music hits, it all fades away. It’s an awesome experience.”
The girls are not the only ones making sacrifices for the good of the team. Coach Palmer puts in a lot of work as well, adjusting her life around doing the best she can to build the program.
She said that she was getting married during the preparations for Nationals and they had to send in their performance tape to the committee in order to be eligible for competition.
“So we practiced right up until the Wednesday before my wedding, I got married on Saturday, came home the next day, finished the tape and mailed on the way to the airport for the honeymoon,” Palmer said. “So you can imagine planning a wedding on top of a full time job on top of preparing for nationals, it was a little wild.”
But Palmer said that despite the time constraints and work load, she couldn’t imagine life without coaching the cheerleading team.
All the hard work and sacrifice is shown in the progress the cheerleading program has made. Before Palmer came on to coach in 2005, OU didn’t even have a collegiate style cheerleading program.
“Things have just exploded since my first year here,” Palmer said. “This year was by far the most competitive year we’ve had. We are finally being able to recruit girls from different area high schools which in my first and second year we were unable to do.”
She said that making it to the national competition wasn’t something she thought would happen until at least her fifth year as coach.
“I tell the girls all the time that we are two years ahead of schedule,” Palmer said. “It is great for me to watch the girls grow and watch the program grow and compete at Nationals with Division 1 A schools as if we were a Division 1 A school.”
Why no guys?
According to cheerleading coach Tara Palmer, there has been interest from the student body in turning the team co-ed. While she isn’t interested now, it may happen in the future.
“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it the right way to build the program,” she said.
“I would be willing to entertain it, but we played the card smart on the nationals mat as an all-girl program.”
“Get nationals under the wing, then wrap our arms around what a co-ed team is going to bring … that’s the way to go.”