LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Let’s hear it for Lake County, which, as it turns out, is one of the most cheerful places in the nation.
We know that because Danita Shook – a third-generation cheerleader from an area that is to cheerleading what North Carolina is to college basketball – discovered it.
As a matter of fact, Asheville, North Carolina is the area where Shook came from. Indeed it is as much a spawning grounds for cheerleading as it is college hoops.
Shook founded Lake County’s first competitive cheerleading program 20 months ago.
Already, the Lake County Diamonds All-Star Cheerleading team is establishing winning ways.
In just one example, the senior level 2 team ranked in the top 20 percent of all routines performed on the first day of the Hit Cheer and Dance National Championships held in Santa Cruz, bringing home the first-place banner from that event.
And already Shook's program has grown to between 40 and 50 members with new girls every week. Boys are welcome to join did the club as well.
“She holds five tumbling classes a week with 20 people in each class, so that’s about 100,” said Roslyn Griffin, one of the mothers in the Diamonds All-Stars program.
Speaking of Shook, Griffin added, “She’s incredible; that’s why the world should know about her.”
The 14-member team that won the national championship included co-captains Carly Gambill and Linda Ralosky and, in alphabetical order, Kaitlin Alire, Riley Brothers, Makaili Brown, Miah Bullard, Ruby Griffin, Megan Franco, Madeline Hoskins, Jiana Jaehn, Adriana Landa, Pailey Shook, Shaianne Sims and Mia Vandagriff. Each member of the winning team will receive a championship jacket.
“We were super-impressed that our senior girls won a national championship in their first year. That never ever happens,” said Shook. “We’ll have a lot to live up to next year.”
As important, there was an enthusiastic reception for the program in Lake County.
“It’s been great. It goes all over the county,” said Brianna Alfonso, the mother of a 10-year-old girl participant who also assists with the program.
“We have never been a part of a program like this. I wish it had been here earlier because every one of my (four) daughters could have benefited from his program,” said Griffin.
It was high praise for Shook’s program from a woman who has experience in administering youth activities such as gymnastics.
One of Griffin's daughters is registered is a Diamonds All-Star cheerleader. Her other daughters are too old to start the program at 15, 17 and 20. But all four have been involved in scholastic sports such as volleyball.
“Her confidence and her whole attitude has changed since she joined the All Star cheerleaders,” Gina Sims said of her 11-year-old daughter Shaiaine (pronounced Cheyenne).
“She could barely do a cartwheel when we started in April and now she’s doing cartwheels flop-overs and handsprings,” Sims said. “She is totally confident and helps other girls. There is just more commitment. She’s dedicated to it.”
Shook undertook the creation of the Lake County program as well as its directorship, choreographing and coaching after learning there was no cheerleading and tumbling program for girls and boys here.
She is assisted by Alfonso, who, as a teenager in Lake County, was a cheerleader before an auto accident broke her back.
Although Alfonso does not participate in the physical part of cheerleading and tumbling, she has proven to be an asset in helping Shook organize her program in Hidden Valley Lake.
Said Shook: “My daughter had been a cheerleader for basketball and football in North Carolina and competing with the Mountain League All Stars and there wasn’t even anything comparable here.”
It’s even hard to find gymnastics in the area, which Shook said left her to debate whether to drive her daughter to Santa Rosa – or to open a program in Lake County.
She chose the latter, with the very first practice taking place on Oct. 13, 2013. The Diamonds All-Stars team began to compete against other clubs in 2014.
Shook brings to her coaching a passion for cheerleading that began in her childhood.
“I cheered from the time I was a little kid all the way through high school and in high school I won the North Carolina state cheerleading championship,” said Shook.
For certain there were no families here who have made a tradition of cheerleading. Cheerleading is four generations deep in Shook’s family.
“It’s always been in our family,” she said. “My grandmother was a cheerleader.”
A combination of gymnastics tumbling, dance, acrobatics, and traditional cheerleading skills such as jumps and arm motions, Shook’s program has caught on fast.
Two of the girls on her squad are Clear Lake High School cheerleaders, she said, and there is a lot of youth from Hidden Valley Lake and Middletown who participate in the program.
Additionally, Middletown High School’s married junior varsity basketball coaches Jon and Roxi Hoogendoorn have two daughters in the program.
Levels the group competed in this year were tiny, youth levels 1 and 2 , and senior level 2. Ages run from 2 to 18, she said.
“Danita has made sure it’s all over Lake County,” said Griffin.
Griffin pointed out of the children who participate, “Everybody competes.”
That means that even children who are awkward at first remain with the club.
“Danita will not tell you if you’re not good enough,” said Griffin. “She keeps you and she teaches you how to cheer. Everybody learns.”
Some of the members will remain cheerleaders all the way through high school. Some don’t.
But Shook’s program is not patterned after the style of cheerleader teams who entertain at college and high school games when there’s a slack moment or a timeout.
The cheerleaders in her program are competitive in their own right against other teams.
“We’re going to get into more competition next year and we’re planning on bringing more national titles. So it’s really important for people to get behind it,” said Griffin, sounding an appeal for funding support.
“Cheering costs money, you know,” she added.
Shook encourages anyone who is interested in becoming part of her cheerleader teams or tumbling classes to access her program on Facebook or at her Web site, http://nobodysbiz.wix.com/lcdc .
Email John Lindblom at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
