*Sunjournal Newspaper

Team spirit
By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

The Final Destination competition in Baltimore will cost roughly $11,000 for each cheering squad.

The qualified teams, comprised of mostly girls, range in age from second grade to seniors in high school. They hone tumbling and stunting skills on the sixth floor of an old, riverside mill at 2 Cedar Street.

Many commute from far beyond the Twin Cities, making the round trip from South Paris, Monmouth, Winthrop, Brunswick, Augusta or Waterville for practice. Some cheerleaders show up five or six nights a week of their own volition, often juggling their all-star exploits with school-sanctioned cheering squads during winter.

"We had two girls this year who were cheering for their high school competition team, plus their school's basketball or hockey team and two all-star teams here," Tammy Klemanski said. "So they were juggling four teams, all with different routines."

If that sounds excessive, it's really no different than the demand on a basketball or softball player bouncing back and forth between her school's in-season team, a summer program and an AAU travel outfit.

The Klemanskis say early-season gatherings tend to be low-key and loaded with team building activities. Most winter practices are held on Sunday to avoid conflicts with the school cheering season.

"They don't need to be here (every day). That's their choice," Tammy said. "It's the caliber of the kids."

Those kids aren't the only ones burning the midnight oil to prepare for the world championship. When the gym doors are unlocked, the owners are usually in the store, after working eight hours at their full-time jobs.

Mike and Tammy Klemanski took over the gym three years ago when the previous owners decided to step away.

"We're lucky if we break even," said Mike. "The great part is hearing from a lot of parents what a difference it makes in their kids."

Team spirit and individual confidence are foundations of the cheering culture, and it's impossible for Maine Event not to brim with both when they consider the heady numbers they've accumulated since the 2003-04 season. Seven national titles this year bring the gym's grand total to 11. They've won 38 first-place trophies at 18 competitions in six different states.

Those trips to Virginia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and now Maryland are time-consuming and financially draining, but as is the case for any other top-notch high school athletes isolated in Maine, the exposure is priceless.

"Our main goal is to get these kids seen by people who can show them the best way to end up with a college scholarship," Mike Klemanski said.

*Baltimore Newspaper

Cheerleading championship lands in town

Members of the Maine Event senior team, from Lewiston, Maine, relax backstage before performing their routine Sunday.

BALTIMORE - The days of cheerleaders being restricted to waving pom-pons on the sideline of football games are long since passed. Today, the popularity of competitive cheerleading is sweeping the nation, just as its amateur championship swept Baltimore’s Inner Harbor over the weekend.

In the first-ever Nation’s Leading Cheerleading Companies Final Destination at 1st Mariner Arena, 261 teams from 27 states competed hoping to claim the top spot in the eight categories determined by age and level of competition. “I think it’s just so wonderful for people who have this image of cheerleaders as cute girls in short skirts to really see the level of excellence that these teams displayed,” said American Cheer and Dance Academy President Cathy Stamper.

The event, which Stamper said exceeded all expectations, featured competitors from ages 3 to 38.“It was our dream to bring together a true championship that would represent a large portion of the United States,” she said. “I think [Final Destination] takes competitive cheerleading to a whole new level [of exposure],” Spirit Unlimited CFO Tina Simijoski said. “It’s acknowledging all levels of competition.”

Each company has five qualifying events nationwide, and the highest-scoring teams receive a Final Destination bid. Two companies had all of their teams qualify. One was a local team from Millersville, Cheer Thunder.“It’s pretty exciting, since we’re one of two companies to have every team qualify and all the parents can come to the event,” said Mary Talbot. Talbot is the coach of the 12-14-year-old team and a competitor for the 17-and-up team.Her mother, Jodie Talbot, is the coach of the junior prep team and the coed open team. She agreed the weekend had been very exciting and said the fact that the event is so close to home only sweetens the deal.

The best feature about participating in this cheerleading competition, according to American Cheer and Dance Academy co-owner Mike Stamper, who is Cathy’s husband, is that those teams proven to be among the best now have a chance to see where they stack up nationally.“For years, cheerleaders didn’t have any avenue to show how good they actually are,” he said. Portions of the profits were given to St. Jude’s for children with cancer.