UCA Camp at West Harrison; Jun 20-21

91 girls, 6 area schools- and it only promises to get bigger next year. The central location may draw kids from both Omaha/Council Bluffs and Sioux City. Last year Iowa Western hosted a cheer camp, this year it held a Drill camp instead. June 21 was the same day as Morningside College's cheer clinic... West Harrison may just be onto something. Denison, Benson, Maple Valley, Lawton Bronson, and Boyer Valley made this camp a lot of fun.

Sam, Christine, and Kassi work on learning a new floor cheer Friday.

We had instructor two instructors from Iowa State, one from UNI and one from Iowa Western.

Don't be afraid of heights. West Harrison girls give Kassi a lift into a full-extension.

Denison girls put Sam up in a double thigh stand as part of the floor routine that the Monarchs and Bulldogs did together. Long live the "Mon-Dogs!"

See Coach's Facebook page for more UCA Camp pictures.

Here's the story I submitted to the Missouri valley Times, the Mapleton PRESS, the Dunlap Reporter, the Denison Bulletin-Review, and Harrison County Ambition- We'll see if any of them run it and how soon and with which pictures-

Loud and Proud;
Area Cheerleaders
Work to Get Ready for Seasons Ahead

Muscles strained, nerves may have too. Sweat poured from the hard work and repetitive motion. At times the shouting was deafening. But some of them hadn’t had so much fun all summer.

91 girls representing six high schools from around western Iowa and Omaha attended the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) camp at West Harrison High School in Mondamin June 20 and 21. Cheerleaders from Boyer Valley, Denison, Maple Valley-Anthon Oto (MVAO) and West Harrison were among those at the camp. Some were bussed, others drove, some even spent the night in Missouri Valley.

Instructors from Iowa State University and Northern Iowa University put the girls through a grueling but fun regiment of cheering, dancing, stunt building and tumbling.

West Harrison Coach Gina Felton decided to organize the camp after seeing a need in the region that wasn’t being filled.

MVAO Coach, Laura Holst hoped the camp would provide her squads skills they will need for the state cheerleading competition this fall. The Rams sent 18 girls to the camp; basketball and football cheerleaders, both Varsity and JV.

Boyer Valley Coach Ted Mallory was impressed with the superior level of instruction, especially for the reasonable cost.

“$60 per cheerleader for a two-day camp is great when many three day camps can cost as much as two to three hundred dollars,” said Mallory.

Felton hopes the camp will become an annual event that more schools from the newly formed Western Valley Conference will consider attending in the future.