Humboldt Cheer Company
716 West Cedar Street, Suite A
Eureka, California 95501

Phone:
1-707-268-8500

Fax:
1-707-442-1304

Humboldt All-Stars began as a 'fantasy team.' In 1997 Teresa Creech, our fearless leader, was contemplating the lack of a seriously competitive cheerleading association in the Humboldt County Area. She had seen the ESPN teams compete and felt that this was something that the 'local' kids had a shot at, but there wasn't any type of program in existence. She began to investigate all the things that would need to come together and that would have to happen to put an All-Star program together. The first tryouts for Humboldt All-Stars were held in November of 1997. Thirty-eight young women vied for positions on the charter team. Of the original eighteen members, two will begin coaching this 2003/04 Season.

The first year of our existence was a learning experience for all of us. We made a few changes and had our first 'outing' as a team at our local Rhododendron Parade. Soon afterwards we found ourselves at the College of the Redwoods and Humboldt State University performing at halftimes. We went to our very first competition at Paramount's Great America in October of 1998. We went with high hopes and visions of big trophies. We were soon to realize that our team was very much in it's infancy as far as competition teams go. Once we saw what we were up against (we had never seen a 'Big' competition before - except on TV), we had a better idea exactly what we were up against. First off all of the other teams could do all the cool stunts you see on TV, but in person! Also all of the other teams could tumble. We had never seen that kind of tumbling in cheerleading before. We had thought that teams had people tumble because they couldn't stunt or cheer; not because it added to the routine. Our team only had a couple of people who could do cartwheels. As a team we had our first lesson that year: 'You can practice hard enough to win and still lose.' Which immediately led us to our new direction: 'Dream... and when you dream, dream big!'

By the end of our first 'educational' season, we had collected a couple of nice awards. But the trophies we brought home didn't compare with what we had learned not only about competitive cheerleading (since none of us had any idea what we were getting ourselves into at first), but more what we had learned about ourselves and the ties we had formed with our teammates. The families involved in our organization began to make our 'Road Trips' part of their family vacations. We went to amusement parks, beaches, got to be on ESPN for the East/West Shrine game and toured a few college campuses on our travels. Most families tailored their mini-vacations to the seasons: Fall - School shopping, late Fall - Christmas Shopping, Winter - Skiing. And always when we are traveling we look for a good ice-skating rink (we don't have those in our area). Life lesson learned: 'You can never underestimate your potential.'

In November of 1998 our all female team had an option presented to them: two young men who expressed a desire to learn about American Cheerleading. Mattheus Koplinski and Sampo Hakli were exchange students from Germany and Finland. Matt had played football and now wanted to try another American sport. Sampo had planned to play basketball but thought he would also give it a go with his friend as a cheer team member. As a coach I was presented with quite a dilemma, how will this affect my fledgling team and what will those boys' mothers think of them in a purple and teal cheer uniform (pants of course, not the fly-away skirts). When we chose the colors for the team we never envisioned that we would turn coed at any point. Males on a cheer team in our area are extremely rare. Most of the males that choose to try cheer end up being ridiculed and will quit the team rather than face the criticism that goes with the territory. Matt and Sampo chose to keep things really low key. They wanted to be the ones to tell their peers at school what they were doing; when they were ready that is. They finally had to come clean with their school friends when the friends kept asking why all the girls suddenly found Matt and Sampo so attractive. All of the sudden these two unknown exchange students had a bunch of cute girls talking to them and hanging out. Needless to say the guys loved being a part of the American Cheer team. Next lesson learned: 'Be careful when you pick your team colors.'

By the spring of 1999 our team was if not seasoned at least well on our way to educating ourselves at what it takes to place in 'Regional-land' competitions. We decided to give ourselves a run at the Northern California State Championships to be held in Stockton, California at the University of the Pacific campus. Our mini-vacation this time was that 12 of the 17 competing would be heading over to Mt Shasta to ski for a couple of days after we competed. Two families went on to visit relatives and one of our teammates went to see Yosemite. Our dear friends and charter member of our cheer 'family,' Juli and Carole Sund and Sylvinia Pelosso, were taken from us in the most horrible set of circumstances that one could imagine. Juli's cheer family, the community and of course her family were devastated. At first because of the 'unknown' factor. We didn't know for several weeks if our friends were simply lost in the woods, had an accident, or the unthinkable. We lived in limbo as many other members of the community did, and most especially the Sund and Carrington families did. We dealt with the ever present media asking questions and poking cameras in our faces and we dealt with our own fears of mortality not only for our children but for ourselves. As a team we bonded and went to counseling. We had enormous support from the mental health community in our area as well as the NOVA people who counseled many other victims of circumstances such as the Federal Building Employees in Oklahoma, and the Columbine High School students. This particular part of our history will be with us always, and has made us who we are. The trauma associated with this event was shared by many people completely unknown to us. The support of each other through this nightmare has been unparalleled. I thank God everyday that we had each other to help us through this time in our lives. Juli was a big part of our team. She wasn't just 'there.' Juli was one of those people who didn't just enter a room; she FILLED the room. We miss her still. Life's lesson learned: 'Sometimes bad things happen to good people.'

By the time that Matt and Sampo were scheduled to go home (along with many tears and protests of undying love and friendship by the team members) we had to decide if we wanted to pursue the competition arena as a coed team or not. The girls decided that they liked the idea of remaining coed. Now, you could have fooled me on that one! When adding a male to the mix of a primarily female team you can identify five distinct stages of development: Hormonal Overload, Honeymoon, Antagonism, Acceptance, Family. When the new guy arrives at the first practice all the girls go into 'Hormonal Overload.' What this means is that they literally show off for the first 30 or 40 minutes each trying to get the attention of the new guy (even if they already knew him!) The really funny part is that the guys are overwhelmed with the fact that there are so many girls in one place and they are more worried about messing something up to notice the girls are going bananas for attention. Next the 'Honeymoon' phase begins. The girls calm down and they all want to work with the new guy. This 'Honeymoon' phase can last as short as 60 seconds or as long as the guy stays on the team. After the honeymoon is over, there is the 'Antagonistic' phase. This consists mainly of the girls literally testing the guy to see if he is going to 'stick' with the team and can he hack the pressure of a bunch of girls turning on him like a pack of wild dogs when he didn't actually do anything wrong that he can put his finger on. The guys have asked me, 'What did I do to make them always be mad at me?' The answer, 'Actually nothing in particular, it is simply a test.' If the guy lasts through this phase they emerge into the 'Acceptance' phase. What happens here is that the girls have moved on to another 'It' for the time being and he is out of the spotlight for good or bad attention temporarily. 'Family' happens to those who can hack it. But let me warn you, being a male in a female dominated sport is hard work. Not only do you have to deal with a lot of stress on the team (in those in-between phases) but your family and friends may not completely understand what you are doing and why. I have seen no rhyme or reason for each of these stages. They all come with different lengths of phases, but they all seem to be present at some point in the life of a male cheer team member. Some guys only live the 'Antagonism' phase for a few minutes, others, well it lasts longer. Of course all of the guys on our team we love dearly!

After a somewhat cautious 1999-2000 competition season, we have emerged much stronger than originally conceived. When we first became a team, no one in our area understood what we were doing. The concept of a Cheer Team that didn't cheer for another sport confused the average person. Conversations went like this:

Q: 'So you are on a cheerleading team...'

A: 'Yes I'm on the Humboldt All-Stars.'

Q: 'So you cheer for baseball or what?' (All-Star baseball is big around here)

A: 'No we don't cheer for anyone. We compete'

Q: 'OK but what sports do you mainly cheer for?'

A: 'Mainly we compete, kind of like what you see on ESPN, but more locally.'

Q: 'So football then.'

A: 'No, we ONLY compete against other All-Star teams.'

Q: 'Is this like at tournaments and such?'

A: 'More like Regional and State Competitions.'

Q: 'Then like they do at the Basketball games.'

A: 'No just cheerleading there. We compete only against other cheer teams.'

Q: 'So, I still don't get it, what do you cheer for?'

A: 'Baseball.'

Life's Lesson learned: 'Laugh at your own mistakes and graciously ignore other people's mistakes.'

The summer of 2000 we had finally began to achieve some of the goals that we had worked for in our cheer community. One of our main goals was to promote a positive image of a strong cheerleading squad. Another was to promote safety in stunting for the cheer teams in our area. As a team we hosted several 'Stunt' clinics to train the youth and junior high cheerleaders in our extremely rural area how to stunt safely and learn through progressions. We worked hard to promote these goals throughout the summer. We volunteered to come to practices (once or twice) and help the youth cheerleaders with stunting. Many of our members became instructors for the various teams in their areas, thus reinforcing safe stunting ideals and helping to build strong cheer skills as well. Another focus for us was to educate the adults in charge of these budding athletes in the safety techniques for stunting. As part of our community service we taught three different nights of 'Learn to Coach Cheerleading without Maiming Your Husband or Children.' Seriously, we taught a course for fellow coaches, instructors, and interested adults on safe stunting techniques, terminology and basic coaching ideals. The part on not maiming your husband or children was an added bonus. Life's Lesson learned for the summer: 'If you don't have to work for it, you won't appreciate it!'

The 2000-2001 competition season came with a new direction for our squad. We were twenty members strong and six of them were male. Our team came from thirteen different schools and eight different cities in our area. Some of our team members had to drive over one and a half hours one way through twisting mountain roads just to practice. At this point nearly one third of our team could do a round-off-back-handspring; a far cry from the year before! We were looking good and feeling strong. We had strong stunting happening and a solid routine. We had tumbling; not as good as a lot of other teams, but presentable. And we had spirit. We headed out for Paramount's Great America with great anticipation. Our routine was not performed as well as we knew it, but only half of the guys competing were veterans. A couple of the others looked like they would pass out when they saw how many girls were there and what we were up against. We did OK but we really wanted to earn a National bid since this year we would be losing some of our seniors and it would be their last chance to compete with us at a national. We didn't quite get the 85% needed for an All-Star bid (a High School bid is 80%). We weren't too bummed since we had another chance later in the month at Santa Cruz. At the UCA Marine World Competition we looked pretty good and ended up earning our first bid to Nationals with UCA for the Show Cheer Team. Our Jazz team earned a National Bid as well. We so excited both the Cheer and the Dance team were heading home with our very first First Place Trophies. The only problem was that UCA Nationals are in Orlando, Florida. Moving our 'family' of over 40 people all the way to Florida was beyond comprehension for us at this point. We really were hoping to get a bid into the USA Nationals in Anaheim, California. At Santa Cruz (USA Competition) we were facing stiff competition from teams that we know get National bids every year (and have for several years). Also we had to perform minus one of our regular guys who had a family commitment he couldn't get out of, and biggest obstacle: extremely high winds would affect some of our coed stunts. We chose to make the last minute changes for safety and take out some of the higher level stunting we had been working on rather than take a chance in the wind. We earned a 82. So close and yet not quite there. We had all but decided to attend the West Coast Open Competition in Anaheim when we got word that there was another USA competition close to our home (only four and half hours drive! - a mere day trip). The Santa Rosa USA Regional was our last chance to make it to the Anaheim Nationals. We had to have the 85 to do it. We left home at 5:30 am for our day trip to Santa Rosa. We had already modified our routine (it seems like that is the standard - modified routine) to accommodate one of our guys who was taking a SAT test that morning. When we were just pulling into the parking lot, I got a call on the cell phone that one of the girls had come down with food poisoning on the way down and would not be able to even stand, much less compete. Again, we modified the routine. We were scheduled near the end of the day and had time so all was OK with us. We were ready. Everything started out bad once we hit the mat. Our music was so quiet only the closest stunt group in our opening formation could hear it. They had to start the music over. The team was a little shook up, I could tell. The re-start didn't help but they looked good once they threw the first tosses. We had three stunts not go up (as opposed to 'Falling Down'), so I figured we were way out of the 85% range. We did have 90% of the routine hit perfectly, but as a coach I was only looking for what was different, not what was right. We stayed for awards, as we always do (if nothing else to get our score sheets and try to do better next time). When they announced that we were one of three teams with a Superior Rating, I still couldn't completely grasp what that meant. We placed third in the competition, a mere one and two thirds point behind the first place team. We ARE going to ANAHEIM!!!! Life's lesson: 'You are never as good as your best performance, and never as bad as your worst!'

Today, our 'Soon to be Nationally Ranked' All-Star squad is working wide open raising the funds needed for our newest adventure and making the changes needed to make an impact when we get there. We are under no illusion that we will walk out of there champions our first time at Nationals, but we hope to be the best that we can be. We are honored to be considered to take the stage with the national champions that we will get to see in person. Of course the trip to Disneyland with 25 of your best friends isn't exactly a bad thing either!

April 2003

As I read over our history, I find myself reflecting on the many people that have come and gone in our cheer time-line. Many of those have moved on to other adventures, but for the most part, once we have our hooks into you, as an All-Star, we have you in one way or another forever. Angie Olivieri has told me if I don’t mention her eventually on this page she will never forgive me. Angie and Theresa Olivieri both worked with me back in the dark ages when I coached youth football. Angie was there helping to coach Humboldt All-Stars in the beginning years, but she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. She still has many ties here, so she returns often and often shows up at our competitions to support us.

Our team has progressed far beyond our original hopes. We have grown to have six cheer teams and two dance teams. We are constantly looking for a better location to house our practices. Hopefully something will come up in the near future. We have branched out to not only Regional competitions, but to National and International competitions. Other teams occasionally are worried when we are in their division (wow!). We have so many things to be thankful for, and our skill level has progressed far beyond my expectations.

So dear friends, it continues.

November 2004

Great and wonderful changes have come to pass (finally) for our teams. We finally have our own real home. Now we have a lot of the same toys as the teams we compete against. Nearly 7,000 square feet of cheerleading devoted space. We have a 42x42 spring floor with 2 inch impact matting on it. We have a TumbleTrak, Trampoline, Pit, mucho other gymnastic apparatus including several high-tech wedges and overhead spotting rigging for straight and twisting skills, Tanning room, Weight room, Choreography Center, Meeting rooms, Parent’s lounge, Pro-Shop, Storage galore, high-tech sound system, and wonder of wonder: A coach’s office! It feels like we moved somewhere else and are living a dream.

Our teams are incredible this year. From the Senior Coed Team all the way to the QTs, we have awesome talent making it happen for Humboldt. Our coaching staff continues to prove that the talent just never quits. Thanks go out to Kim K, Kim R, Teresa Chase and Lisa for all their hard work. Our Assistant coaches reads like a whos-who of Allstar Alumni and elite seniors: Ashley W, Hannah, Laura, Ashley K, Jeffery and Ali are working hard to help their teams be the best in the Pacific North West.

This year we head to unknown waters in Las Vegas, and to the land that cheerleading is not just a sport but a legacy: the deep south.... Our seniors will compete in one of the biggest International competitions in the world on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in March (with a side trip to New Orleans - dang we have to go to New Orleans for cheerleading...)

With the new gym, our outstanding coaching staff, and the incredible talented athletes that are growing with Humboldt, the sky is the limit.

May 2005

It has been a crazy year. Can I say that again? Wow. Way to go teams. Way to go coaches. And parents: we lived through it!

When I look back and see what I have written before, I wonder how I could have known we would be where we are. When we made plans for the 2004/05 season including competition in the deep south and in Las Vegas against all those powerhouse teams, I honestly thought we would be taking notes on the teams that were so amazing. What happened is that we gave the lesson instead. That's a first for us. Actually for our Senior Coed team, it was ONLY firsts this year. Our very first undefeated season. Incredible. And our other teams were not too shabby either. I see the little ones we have moving on up, and can only wonder what they will be like in two years, or when they make the Coed team. All this with our volunteer organization.

This year we got our Advisory Board off the ground, have spent nearly an entire year in a gym that has a flat floor, and have added more coaching staff that to accommodate our growing teams.

Where are our paths going to lead this season? Only time will tell.

November 2007

Wow, I haven’t updated this for a LONG time.  Well I have a lot to fill you in on don’t I? 

First we have this wonder facility that has become our ‘Cheer Home’ and as one of the Bialous girls said, “I spend more time here than I do in my own house!”  The gym is always busy with kids, coaches and parents.  Of course we still have all of our own teams on the floor and we teach tumbling to many students who are on other teams and also people who just want to learn how to tumble.  Now we also have special classes for school teams where they come in and work with us for one of the weekly practices. And our choreographers are working overtime pumping out routines for area teams. 

Our Junior team is growing like little dandelions with many familiar faces.  These young ladies, and gentleman, have literally grown up in front of us.  Sonya and Chandler started with the QTs and now they are amazing tumblers who I’m sure will torture me on the Coed team in the near future.  The Juniors work with coaches Melanie and Kim K and look like the will be a force to contend with.  Look out all you other Junior teams.

All-Girl team has some sassy music to go with some sassy girls.  Coaches Kim R and Teresa C have whipped these gals into shape and have helped refine a great routine into something much better.  I see future coed members on this team.  Look out Kim & Willard!

Coed team, wow they are so good it is just hard to explain.  This year’s routine is the best ever!  The music gets us all going and the stunts and crazy CheerOKie tumbling passes are going to make the other teams remember our name. 

The year is just beginning, we have new faces and old faces (that would be me) and we have a brand new season, our 10^th season in fact, and we are ready to Bring It On!!

Oh, and remember the conversation (see above) about what an All-Star Cheerleader was?  Well now days when we say we are Humboldt All-Stars, people know we are not your average Rah-Rah J and we don’t in fact cheer for baseball.