What’s the secret behind Elk Grove High School’s coed cheerleaders winning five consecutive Illinois High School Association state championships?
At a quick glance, Elk Grove’s cheerleaders seem no different from teenagers anywhere – talking incessantly, giggling, teasing or generally goofing around.
That’s until they get their game face on. Ask each one individually about their commitment to the Elk Grove coed squad prompts rapid-fire, identical responses.
“Quitting is not an option,” they exclaimed in unison.
“You can’t back down.”
“We always give 100 percent.”
“We leave everything on the floor.”
The collective buy-in says a lot about the mental cohesiveness of the team, as well as the strong bonds between them. They not only finish each other’s sentences, but they are proud that they have each other’s backs.
“We are literally a family that gets along,” said senior Stephanie Arciola, 18, of Elk Grove Village. “We are all best friends.”
That relationship and the mettle Elk Grove cheerleaders have developed over hours of grueling practice each week is what it takes to be state champions year after year, team members said.
Elk Grove is the only high school to win the coed division since the IHSA made cheerleading a sport and began mounting the state series in 2005.
The school’s transformation into a cheerleading powerhouse began shortly after Jeff Siegal took over as head coach. A cheer coach for 17 years, Siegal made a name for himself at Buffalo Grove High School, where his coed squad won Illinois Cheerleading Coaches Association state championships in 2000 and 2001 (the longtime precursor to the IHSA) and one national title with the AmeriCheer competition in Orlando.
Siegel left District 214 briefly in 2001 when he took a coaching job with Northwestern University’s Spirit Squad. He was wooed back to Buffalo Grove High School as an instructional assistant for special education and a boys volleyball coach, but the coed cheerleading team had dissolved.
He found a team in need of a coach at Elk Grove.
“Jeff is a huge part of it,” said Elk Grove senior Marisa Marques, 17. “He taught us to be mentally tough.”
Siegal insists there’s nothing in the water in Elk Grove, nor are his cheerleaders on a special diet to boost performance – though he encourages lots of PB&J sandwiches, grapes and oranges.
Siegal credits his assistant coaches – there are four – and the cheerleaders’ own dedication and determination. Most of the kids never did cheerleading before high school, but they are active participants in school life: Many are athletes on the football, track, water polo, boys gymnastics, girls soccer or baseball teams; others are active in arts or academic pursuits, like class board, National Honor Society, musical groups and peer counseling.
“I’ve got kids that are in the top 10 percent of their class,” Siegal said. “We build these kids to be mentally tough and they go out there and do what they love.”
Two things Siegal won’t divulge: his age, and the identity of the choreographer he hand-picked to develop the squad’s winning dance routines.
“No way am I giving out his name,” Siegal said. “I don’t want other people using him. You don’t want to give out too many secrets of the trade.”
Having a strong base of boys is a major tipping point in Elk Grove’s favor, says Laura Podolski, head coed cheerleading coach at Barrington High School, which finished fourth in the 2010 IHSA championships.
“It’s tough to get boys who have enough confidence to join cheerleading,” she said. “(Elk Grove is) able to do it because they keep winning state championships.”
Siegal said he generally doesn’t have trouble recruiting boys for his 20-member competitive squad, although he’ll occasionally ask the football coach for help.
Part of the toughness the kids develop is from taking what Siegal himself dishes out, said Podolski, who once trained with Siegal in an All-Star cheerleading program he ran in Arlington Heights.
“If you couldn’t hit something, Jeff would say, ‘Laura, you have to do this right now, because if you do not, there is a girl waiting in the wings who will take your spot,’” Podolski said. “That would push you to try even harder because you wanted that spot.”
Podolski now uses the same tactics with her students.
Senior Alex Marcado, 17, of Elk Grove Village, a football player since eighth grade who joined in his sophomore year at Elk Grove, gave up high school track and wrestling to pursue cheerleading.
“It challenged (me) more,” Marcado said. And he felt closer to his cheerleading teammates after practicing for three to four hours, seven days a week.
Still, it isn’t all work. One on Dallas trip, after a couple days of practice, Siegal treated the team to two days of sightseeing and visiting funny diners.
“As much as he can push you in the gym, he knows how to be a great friend,” Podolski said.
Siegal encourages squad outings and team dinners.
“You want to have some good times and stuff,” Siegal said. “One day I canceled practice and I took them to the pumpkin patch out in Barrington. They need to learn to be together and have fun. Winning state championships is a great feeling, but hopefully I am teaching them life skills.”
Among Elk Grove’s strengths on the mat is the ability to rebuild its program with each round of critiques, said IHSA coed division head judge Lance Emery.
Emery said the secret of doing well in any division is getting a team out on the mat early in the year, taking judges’ comments to heart, and adjusting the routine throughout the year.
“The entire package that they put out on the floor, every year, it’s entertaining,” Emery said. “It’s very difficult and the skills are performed very well.”
Elk Grove revamped and tightened its routine after placing third in a January invitational meet in Lake Zurich. A single wrong hand placement by one cheerleader cost the team second place.
“It was an eye opener,” Siegal said. “In basketball, if your foot goes a quarter of a centimeter over the line, that’s it. You really have to know what you are doing out there.”
Siegal himself is among the 100 or so IHSA-certified cheerleading judges. While he doesn’t judge sectional meets or the state competition, Siegal critiques invitational events, so he knows what judges look for in a performance.
Judging in cheerleading is similar to gymnastics and diving. Difficulty of technique and performance jointly make up 40 percent of a team’s score. The remaining 60 percent is formations, transitions, voice projection and synchronicity. Teams are rated on how they involve the crowd, the overall appeal and how entertaining the performance is.
Emery said coed cheerleading is emerging in Illinois.
“Our entire coed division was fantastic from top to bottom this year,” Emery said.
There were about 30 coed squads at the IHSA’s first state tournament in 2005. Today, roughly 75 teams are registered. With this year’s state competition, the bar has been raised higher than ever, officials said.
“Elk Grove definitely does contribute to that,” Podolski said. “When they take a step, everyone takes one with them.”
And other coed squads are knocking at the door: Palatine, Downers Grove South, Barrington, Streamwood, Lake Park, Libertyville and downstate O’Fallon have consistently contended strongly since 2005 and aren’t letting up.
Elk Grove will lose seven of its senior athletes – two boys and five girls – at graduation. Last year, five male athletes graduated.
“It’s going to definitely be a rebuilding year,” Siegal said. “We’ve got some great kids in our program and they’ll step it up and we’ll go along like we always have. We work with the best athletes we can find.”
Cheer: Coach keeping choreographer’s identity a secret
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