Tuesday, February 28, 2006

International Eating Disorder Referral Organization


Yesterday a student of mine was checked into 30 day patient care for anorexia. There's been lots of talk about both anorexia and bulimia at our school this year. So, I'd like to pass along the following information and links:

International Eating Disorder Referral Organization

Ten Things Every Dad Should Know about eating disorders

  1. Our body size is a given, like our height or hair color. Yet, by middle school, 30-50 percent of American girls say they feel too fat and 20-40 percent are dieting; many beginning before age 10. By high school, 40-60 percent of girls feel overweight and try to lose weight.
  2. Young girls say that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer, nuclear war, or losing their parents.
  3. Today, the average fashion model weighs 23 percent less than the average woman.
  4. The average age for onset of eating disorders is during adolescence. While self-esteem for both girls and boys is strong as children and drops for both in adolescence, the drop is much steeper for girls, beginning at around age of 12.
  5. In a survey of working-class 5th to 12th grade suburban girls, 69 percent reported that magazine pictures influence their idea of the perfect body shape; 47 percent reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.
  6. Before puberty there is no difference in depression rates between boys and girls. By age 15, girls are twice as likely to be depressed and 10 times as likely to develop an eating disorder than their male peers. Girls are more likely to attempt suicide than boys are, but boys are more likely to succeed.
  7. Clinique Laboratories, Inc. surveyed 500 moms of teen daughters and found their number one New Year’s Resolutions was "lose weight/eat less". Yet 22% of these same mothers list the fear of their daughter developing an eating disorder among their top concerns. Only 16 percent of the 500 teens in the same survey worried about developing an eating disorder.
  8. Anecdotal evidence suggests that comments by male family members trigger dieting, and teasing is associated with weight-control attempts in adolescence.
  9. According to data presented to the National Institutes of Health, 33-40 percent of adult women are trying to lose weight at any given time –fueled by a cultural perception of a feminine "ideal" that is much too thin for good health.
  10. Girls with active and hardworking dads are more ambitious, more successful in school, attend college more frequently, and are more likely to attain careers of their own. They are less dependent, more self-protective, and less likely to date or marry abusive partners.

Sources: Dads and Daughters, 1999. Michael Levine, Prevention of Eating Problems with Elementary Children, USA Today, July 98, Special K report, Business Wire, 1998, Jo Sullivan-Lyons, The Psychologist, American Academy of Advertising, Pediatrics, March 99, American Psychological Assn. congressional briefing.

To begin your search for help and referrals CLICK HERE

Kenny, who was our mascot back in 2001, and the mascot at my Alma Mater, Concordia for a year after that, is now working on a Master's in Communications in London. He recently ended an email to me in a peculiar way.

Later man,
Kenny

PS: I've been wanting to tell you I think too much of your social interaction is with teenage girls. Maybe not too much, but I can really tell you're around them A LOT. I guess my conclusion is that it's funny. You're funny. Not too funny, but funny nevertheless.
What did that MEAN? You think too much of your social interaction is with teenage girls? I don't get it.

Is it that I must act/think/have their kind of sense of humor or something psycho like that? What can I say? Occupational hazzard. If too many of them have wore off on me and I'm now some kid of mutant freak emotionally/socially I guess thats just the price I've had to pay.

Girls need appropriate relationships with men modeled for them. They need dad-figures. Some of them more than others. By no means am I so important or going to save the world or even save any of them.
"Studies show that the risk of juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, sexual abuse, early pregnancy and dropping out of high school is six times higher for children whose biological fathers are not part of their lives."
I'm just a cog in God's machine. He's used them to prepare me to be able to withstand being the real dad to three of them and hopefully He's using me to make some small difference in their lives in the meantime.

Believe me, I hate melodrama and gossip and shopping and shoes as much as the next red-blooded, overweight, middle class, Midwestern, American heterosexual guy. Hell, give me a beer and a cigar and a big leather chair and dead animal heads on my walls. But, if spending so much time with them makes me some kind of a pseudo-adolecent or a neo-metrosexual or something, I guess that's the price I have to pay.

Click here if you're a decent dad who wants to make a difference in hid daughter's life:

Men Against Violence and Sexism: 10 things any dad can do

Thursday, February 23, 2006

dangit!

This is how it feels to lose by only a point in the last seconds of the game.
I've said it all season and I want to say it here for the record, our boy's win-loss record does not reflect how good a team they are. Ah, but we're young. With only one Senior and a slew of Juniors and Sophomores, just wait till next year!
Good luck Charter Oak-Ute boys.

Yes, that's our Football Quarterback in the stands at the last basketball game wearing a BV Cheerleaders' T-Shirt. Thanks for your support, B.G.!

The end




It may be cheesey, but I always think of this song at the end of a season. I REALLY appreciate and am incredibly proud of this year's basketball squad, so I hope you'll indulge me and read these lyrics and remember this year whenever you hear it from now on...

Artist: Green Day Lyrics

Song: Time Of Your Life

MP3 Downloads

Click here to send Green Day polyphonic ringtone to your cell phone.

Another turning point;
a fork stuck in the road.

Time grabs you by the wrist;
directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test
and don't ask why.

It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind.

Hang it on a shelf
In good health and good time.

Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial.

For what it's worth,
it was worth all the while.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

(music break)

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Dare to share



Above are a couple of pictures of one of the t-shirts I designed for Cheer out in LA.
2Timothy1:7 says "God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." That was our squad theme one year. I thought it was cool because cheerleaders are about school spirit and the best way to empower young women has to be with the Holy Spirit.

I guess I've been thinking about that alot lately. One former cheerleader shared with me that they were worried about a friend's faith. One jr hi cheerleader has really opened up to me about her problems lately. And at least a couple of jr hi cheerleaders and a few former jr hi cheerleaders are attending a "Dare 2 Share" event in Lincoln with their church this weekend. Kyle Ahart, who performed as mascot one night this season, he called and asked if I could help chaparone since he knew that I'm the youth counselor at my church.

It's all just reminded me of how important faith is on people's lives and what an important role it can play for coaches and athletes. Coach John Wooden even thinks of it as some of the mortar that holds all the bricks together in his pyramid of success.

I'm a rare Christian, I guess. Politically liberal, I actually believe in and respect the separation of church and state in public school. So I never want to FORCE my beliefs on any of my students or athletes. But there's no law that says that I can't pray for my kids. I guess thinking about these kids going to Dare2Share and thinking about all the crap they go through in their life, I feel like God's challenging me to do a better job of that. I'm going to make it one of my comittments this Lent- to try to pray more regularly for my cheerleaders and former cheerleaders.

Meanwhile, if any of you ever have any prayer requests or want or need to talk about God or your faith- as long as students initiate it, rather than the adult- I would love to be here for you to help disciple you or just to listen and let you ask questions or bounce ideas off of me. Dare 2 Share could be kinda what they call a "mountain-top experience," I'd love it if you kids who go would let me "follow-up" for you, so that what you get from this weekend lasts and makes a difference in your lives. But I can only do that if you want it. Jesus doesn't force Himself on anybody and I'm certainly not going to force Him on you.

I guess my friends Rick and Julie Staley (Alissa's parents) in Charter Oak sponsor a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) huddle at their house. I know there's a really strong FCA program at Denison. It seems like Mary Ann Lapke, our school nurse and her husband tried to get one started a few years ago at BV.

Some of the kids going to Lincoln this weekend are really "unchurched." It's the Methodist church that's sponsoring the trip. Kyle even told me once that he's interested in becoming a pastor. I happen to be Lutheran, the Staleys and Lapkes are Catholic. It doesn't matter what denomination you are, it's about knowing God more personally and learning about the love and sacrifice Jesus made for you. That's what makes you stronger, gives you a spirit of power and love!

Here are some websites if you're interested in any of these things.

http://www.dare2share.org/lincoln

http://www.fca.org

http://stjlyf.blogspot.com/ -My youth group's website

http://www.lalhs.org/
-LA Lutheran High

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

We will blow you away!


Above are a couple of pictures for Ang. She wanted the fun group one on top on the blog so she can right-click it and save it at home. I just added the other one for the heck of it. This kid is cruel. She plays with my mind.

She is an awesome cheerleader- phenomenal amounts of energy, LOUD, a powerful leader- amazing at crowd encouragement... Terrific flier, decent base, very athletic, truckloads of enthusiasm, very positive, enormous amounts of school spirit.

Here's the mind games part- one week she misses basketball so much she could cry, so she won't come back to cheer. The next week cheer rocks, she may want to cheer in college, she wants to go to a cheer camp even if it's on her own and not with the squad...the next week she's so glad that cheer is over, she'd rather be a fan in the stands, plenty of other people are planning on going out for cheer next year.

AAAAUUUUUGGHGHGHGHGHHH!!!!!!

I don't want to put her on a pedestal, nor do I want the rest of the squad to feel unappreciated. The other 4 of our 5 cheerleaders are amazing too. I was REALLY blessed this season, and I suppose we'll not only survive, but beeven manage to be really good without her if we have to. But I don't want to have to! It's like if a cheer squad is a drag racer, all the other cheerleaders are high octane, but she's an injection of nitro.

Be that as it may, we can all use a break. End of season blues. It happens every year. Almost everybody gets sick of cheer. I don't blame them. One bummer about it is that now the whole rest of the school year seems to go by really fast. Of course, kids love that.

Anyway, Angie, if your reading this, and I doubt you are because I know how much you hate to read (that doesn't mean you're not smart, just ADHD) I REALLY hope you'll come back out and cheer or at least mascot next year. You're incredable and we love you. But if you don't, I'll try really hard not to respect your decision and not make you feel guilty. I do want to thank you for coming out this year and I hope that you had fun. You were incredible.

Be good

Dance Night

From: Woodbine's Cheer Coach
To: Coach Mallory

Coach M,

I am so sorry I haven\'t got to you sooner -- live has been very crazy for me the last while.

You said some of your girls are interested in competition -- THAT is GREAT!

I have lots of suggestions for you and would like to meet up with you sometime to talk. I would also like to invite you and your girls to our Cheer and Dance Night on March 11 (I think this maybe your drill team night, so this may not work for you). Iowa Western\'s Cheer and Dance squads are going to be here to perform with us and it is going to be a great night. Harlan\'s Cheerleaders are going to be here too and they just started competing this year (their coach would have some great ideas for you as well).

If you want to attend our cheer night please let me know, with a list of your girls/guys you want to attend and I will let them in free.
___________________________________________________________________
From: Coach Mallory
To: Woodbine's Cheer Coach

Coach Blum

Yeah, it turns out that that is the same night as our dance night. 3 of our 5 girls are on Drill so that makes it impossible for us to come to yours and our Drill coach doesn't want us to perform a routine at theirs. Bummer. Not sure what she's afraid of, there's no way we could show them up, especially on such short notice.

I was excited to finally have girls interested in working up a routine and maybe even competing. I also felt like I finally had a group that was up to the challenge, abilities wise too. We'll just have to see. At LA Lutheran I could at least get squads to learn actual floor cheers and short 8-count dances to do with stunts at halftimes and pep rallies. Since I've been at BV, girls are too intimidated pr too lazy to bother learning floor cheers. I guess I've let it go because my paradigm has always been that the sideline chant is more important anyway.

Of course now I have all kinds of girls talking like they don't want to come back out next year so I may have to just start all over again. With Track, our tryouts won't be untill the last week of school. Maybe I just have to start it at the jr high level and hope it filter up. (Since I have them 7th hour, we can keep working through track season, hoping to be ready for a better next year.)

Well anyhow, now we have each other's email addresses. I don't mean to invite us along if you'de rather not, but if you have any camps or clinics going on this summer and would be open to it, I'd love it if our squad could tag along. The squads have always gotten along so well and our schools are so close... let me know if that's a possibility. I know that a lot of times they won't offer private clinics for fewer than 12 girls and that 12-14 is usually a lot cheaper than 6-8.

Meanwhile if you get any free time and like to surf the web, our (my) squad website is:
http://cheercoach.blogspot.com

Thanks for getting back to me. I'm sorry it didn't work out. Maybe another year.

Enjoy whatever off season you get.

Thanks again Coach B,
Coach M

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Nearly the end...

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
~Herm Albright



I got to re-take pictures of Cassie & Kayla (above) but everybody else had AAU Volleyball practice. Ces't la Vie' Hopefully we can get the rest before we leave for the game tomorrow night.
I think I did a lot better. Like the treatment of the team pic above the quote? I thought by desaturating the background it reminds me of the 1970's Saturday Night Live cast photos. Maybe I'll be confident enough to take team pics for X-Country now. Maybe I'll start charging and make a few bucks on this photography thing. Interested in hiring me? Visit http://mal-com.blogspot.com

Anyway, we may be done for the year tomorrow. I'd like to have had tryouts right away and gotten them over with. Of course I wish we could afford to pay for everyone to go to an NCA camp this summer too. We'll see what happens with Dance Night, I'm not picking up that everyone is committed enough. Track, play, AAU VB, jobs, friends etc. It's just the time of year to be done with cheer for a while. It's good to get a break from it.

Friday, February 17, 2006

Three Things

Three things


Three things in life that, once gone, never come back -
1. Time
2. Words
3. Opportunity


Three things in life that may never be lost -
1. Peace
2. Hope
3. Honesty


Three things in life that are most valuable -
1. Love
2. Self-confidence
3. Friends

Three things in life that are never certain -
1. Dreams
2. Success
3. Fortune


Three things that make a person -
1. Hard work
2. Sincerity
3. Commitment

Three things in life that can destroy a person -
1 Alcohol
2. Pride
3. Anger


Three things that are truly constant -
1. Father
2. Son
3. Holy Ghost

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Correction- We don't have a game this Monday. It will be Wed 2/22 in Woodbine against West Monona. I guess we had a"BYE" for the first round on Mon.

Please plan on practice that Tues 2/21. Pictures could be Tomorrow (weather permitting), Mon, Tue, Wed whatever will work best for all 5 of you.

Check out updates on the website. http://www.cheercoach.blogspot.com/
You can download a copy of that FilmLoop thing on the right side if you'd like to use it as a screensaver on your PC at home!

Click here for the Boy's tournament brackets http://www.iahsaa.org/06_1A_District.pdf

Ta Daa!!!

Vicki & Kristen have fun when the picture-taking is done. It's so late in the season, it's kind of a last hurrah.

Word on Poms- Moe has a pair and is going to have her mom send them in to school, so if we're a green light on dance night, we should have 5 pairs!!!

As Monday may be the last game, I just want to thank the basketball squad all for trying out and for the enthusiasm, committment, talent, and positive attitudes & cooperation you've all brought. You give cheerleading a good name and you've restored it's reputation at BV, besides raising spirit here. I really appreciate each and all of you. I hope you had fun, I feel really lucky to have gotten to work with you.

Been a long time since I've just written about how things are going. Too busy I guess.

Chronilogical order-

Rena quit last week. No official reason given. She was having a hard time smiling/cheering/being upbeat at a game. I told her to shake it or fake it for the rest of the game. She walked off. I struggled with whether to cut her or bench her or let it go, but the next day she turned in her uniform & poms. We're dissapointed because she was such a good base. I'm dissapointed because I care about her and she's great at teaching chants. Yet, we're relieved in a way because it seems like she's got some kind of chip on her shoulder. The other girls have made several efforts to include her and to reach out to her or offer to be there for her.

One Jr Hi girl was rumored to be trying to make herself bulemic. Yikes. She won't talk with me about it but she's been talking with our guidence counsellor. Another Jr Hi had pretty serious concerns she shared with me about someone from her early childhood, but she's talking through that with other adults too.

Last night I tried to take team pictures, buddy pictures, and individuals for the Varsity girls. I was disapointed with how they turned out. Not enough light so without a flash, they're blurry and with a flash they're too harsh. AS you can see from the above examples of Cassie. Maybe we can try again either tomorrow if it doesn't snow too bad or Mon before the guys' tournament game.

WVLA

"See Coach? I AM smiling!" Kayla gets campy for the camera

"Talk to the hand!" Cassie has had enough of embarassing pictures. Now she knows why celebraties hate the paparazzi.

"What is WRONG with you? Get away from my you PSYCHO!" Angie tries to get Vivki to laugh during a quarter while the other 3 are busy with Drill Squad.

Wall Lake- Lake View- Auburn

Kristen shows us how to fly!

Yo yo yo- Ang and Kayla are down with their fly selves.

Cheer tickles Cassie

Friday, February 10, 2006

Spend 17 minutes a day on kindness.

Spend 17 minutes a day on kindness.

Medical authority Allan Luks recently published some surprising discoveries about the “healing power of doing good.”

Luks shows that there’s substantial medical evidence that acting kindly produces health benefits remarkably similar to those we enjoy from exercise programs. People who regularly help others develop stronger immune systems, improved cardiovascular circulation, a heightened sense of well-being, and even live longer.

Two hours a week, 17 minutes a day — of kind behavior seem to produce the most significant results.

~ Sourse: ‘Guerrilla Kindness” ©1993 Gavin Whitsett

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

I did not know this, did you

I know that Basketball season is just winding down and this is a football trivia item, but DANG, it's kinda interesting!...

The football huddle originated at Gallaudet University -- the world's only accredited four-year liberal arts college for the deaf -- in the 19th century when the football team found that opposing teams were reading their signed messages and intercepting plays.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Track Concessions & Nxt Yr's Tryouts

Okay, I am sending this information out way ahead of time so that no one is suprised and so that I can have your input.

First- Track Concessions, then Tryouts for next year

Home Track Meets:

Thu April 6- BV Girls Invitational
Thu April 20- BV JrHi
Tue May 2- BV Conference
Tue May 9- BV Boy's Invitational
(may also be one other JrHi meet, that they're confused about on the schedule)

This is the only fundraising we do. Everyone who cheered this year during either Football or Basketball is required to help work at least one meet. We share this with Drill and this year 4 of our cheerleaders are also on Drill, so that cuts the number of kids involved. Some of you run track- solution: work the JrHi meet or the boy's meet. Not track kids work the girl's meet and the co-ed meet.

Seventh & Eighth grade cheerleaders are not REQUIRED to work track, but since they potentially may benefit from the funds raised, I suggest that Eighth graders volunteer to work one meet if they can.

Now, the for everybody

Barring rain-outs, the last track meet is May 9, barring snow days, the last day of school is May 18, (Prom is May 6).

I'm trying to schedule cheer tryouts. I usually take 2 days of "tryout-practices" and one actual tryout day. I'm looking at the week of May 1st, May 8th, May 15,

Or... going right after basketball season is done since while Track practices started for some kids today, the first meet isn't until March 31, so I could set tryouts already the wk of Feb 27(if basketball doesn't make it all the way to regionals), the week of Mar 6 or Mar 13 (Gnimocemoh week).

I have already asked Coaches Petersen and Heese for their opinions & input. I'd love to hear yours too. I also don't know if it will be better to have mascot tryouts at the same time or a week after or wait until fall. I like to let the cheerleaders judge mascot tryouts, but maybe it would be better to have adults, just like for cheer tryouts.

I don't want to interfere with track, but I don't want to have to have tryouts in the summer or next fall either. If any of you have any comments, concerns or preferences please let me know what you think.

Most of the current basketball cheerleaders lean on May rather than March. I don't blame them, everybody needs a break, besides that- I hate having tryouts just before parent/teacher conferences because as you all know, some parents go balistic if their kid doesn't make it on or make it back on.

Since we're on the subject- please remember, and maybe try to explain to your parents if they were mad after last time- that State rules allow 8 during football (although our van only allows 7) and 6 during basketball. I crunch numbers to get a "Big Average" from three teacher reccomendations, your Grade Point Average (turned into a % 4=100, 3=80, etc.) as well as all of the judge's evealuations, which as you know, score you on like a dozen things just like the squad evals I fill out for each game. Candidates must score at least 60% in order to even be considered. The same will go for Mascot tryouts. Here's an example:

Name Tch Tch Tch Ave. GPA Coach Jdg Jdg Jdg Jdg Jdg Ave. BIG AVE.
LastName, FirstNm 89 89 100 92.67 91.5 68 65 91 96 96 73 86.47 90.212121

Please let me know what you think or if you are already aware of family or work conflicts with any of the possible tryout weeks.

Thanks,
Coach

Real Beauty

Campaign for REAL Beauty
I think that this is an awesome idea. Dove beauty products has established a girls' self esteem fund. They have this website that challenges visitors about what our concept of true beauty is. It has stuff about body image and avoiding eating disorders and lots of other awesome pro-women stuff. Check it out.

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Freshman Flight

Vicki & Kristen fly high in a simultaneous tuck jump at Manning. Look at the hieght they've got! Dang! You go girls!

Do like the Army shoot it shoot it, do like the Navy- SINK IT!

What's so funny? I don't even know, I couldn't see since my camera was trained on the squad- Lola the mascot is cutting up just after a time out or a quarter-break. Then again- teenage girls get an attack of the giggles? That NEVER happens, right?

Animal Experimentation

Lola jams with the Manning Pep-Band. Shake your bootie Lola!

"Now that you've got the groove, this time let's REALLY move!" Lola helps the cheerleaders get the fans up on their feet.

Rena poses with her pal. This is the fifth kid to mascot for us this season. I won't name her because she wishes to remain anonymous, but I've wanted her to mascot for a long time, I even BEGGED her to tryout for mascot when her grades, luke-warm teacher reccomendations and tryout judges' scores kept her from making it back on as a straight cheerleader. She passed on mascot because she's also on Drill squad and thought that being sweaty and gross from the costume wouldn't mix well with performing with the Drill Squad. And there's this little thing with her mom blaming me entirely for her not making it back onto cheer, hating me, and therefore prohibiting her from having anything to do with Cheer or mascot.

That's really unfortunate because as you can see she did an AWESOME job, very animated, exaggerated, creative, cute, very funny, good with kids. Of the 15 mascots I've seen over the years, 3 or 4 could probably do it in college. She was definitely one of them and that she knows som much about cheerleading and gymnastics is a huge plus. I know it's not my place to hope for either of these things, but frankly, I hope she doesn't make it back on to Drill next year and I hope her mom's anger subsides so that she can either somehow forgive me, better yet see that I'm not to blame and it was an objective process, not something personal, and that she'll let her kid make her own decisions about involvement in school activities.

Dog Fight


I like Manning. I don't know why. It could be that they've got such a spacious gym. Not only is there a ton of room for photograpers between the court and the wall or stands, but their weight room is is basically a balcony over the gym, which allows for some great "arial" shots. Or it could be their mascot. Although, take a look at that picture and tell me it doesn't look like their dog is standing in a puddle of potty. That aside- just a friendly tease, remember, I like Manning, their cheerleaders were great. Way loud and usually clear, in sync, sharp, slow-even tempo so that fans can chant along- which they do- very responsive, excited, supportive. And they have a wicked twist-elevator into a prep and they include a quick recover from their cradle catch back into a prep. I asked if they attend camp or have a private clinc and they said 'no.' That says to me that they work really hard and must have an excellent coach. Once in a while, some of their moves were a little too sexy for my taste- but I have that prude, protective, Dad thing going for me, so who can say.


But I still say their dog looks like he had an accident.

Friday, February 03, 2006

February MADDNESS

Click 0n these links to see the Iowa High School Basketball Tourney pairings:

Girls' Class 1A Tournament brackets

Boys' Class 1A Tournament brackets