My old school may be in danger

Yikes! How bad is it? Are the Townends in trouble? Is LHS in trouble? All we hear on the national news is about the Montecito fired. Jenn Perlich's post on Facebook is the first I'd heard that Sylmar was dealing with this.

What do you guys know? Do they have it contained? Have many homes been lost? Has the school been closed this week?

Friends and former students- please check in and let us know you're okay

LHS Alumni, and EVERYONE, please pray for the thousands of people who've been evacuated and those losing their homes. And please pray for the safety of LA Lutheran MS/HS!!

Fast-moving Sayre fire forces Sylmar residents from homes
- Los Angeles Times 8:54am

Source: www.latimes.com

An explosive brush fire driven by 60-mile-per-hour gusts ripped through the northern San Fernando Valley today, burning homes before leaping both the 210 and 5 Freeways...

More than 2,500 acres had burned by 5 a.m. Saturday morning, with more than 1,000 structures threatened by uncontrolled flames and more than 10,000 residents were under mandatory evacuation.

Old School

Here's the LA Lutheran 1997 Squad at a junior high basketball game. Loud and Proud!

Come join our new group on Facebook

For all cheerleaders, mascots, and cheer-alumni from LA Lutheran HS and Boyer Valley. Talk to each other, keep in touch, share pictures and memories. All I ask is that you keep it "school-appropriate." I've see what your friends write on your profile walls!

A little more 'Old School'

This is my friend Christina. I stole her picture at a Laker's game from her MySpace. I'm really proud of her. She cheered for me in junior high and then for both my wife and me on Varsity at LA Lutheran. Now she's 25 and SHE's the LA Lutheran Cheer Coach! She left some comments on our tag board over on the right side menu there a few days ago. That was her in that photo of the full-extension. So if you ever wondered, that;s her.

Oh yeah, (embarrassing story time) she's also the one who cried to me one practice when I was working on pitch and volume with them- "but Mr. Mallory, I can't make myself sound like that, I'm a princess!" By Senior year, she had as deep and loud a voice as any cheerleader I've known. Loud and PROUD!

Love you C!

Old School

LA Lutheran Fight Song
Oh, we will fight for the blue and white team
Oh, we will fight for Luth'ran High

May her colors ne'er be faded,
May her glory never die.
L-H-S!

Loy-al to our dear school team
Raiser her banner to the sk.

Oh, we will strive to win her fame,
In honor of her name,
Hur-rah for Lutheran HIGH!

LALHS Alma Mater
Oh, Luth'ran High, we sing thy name, our own high school
Thy faith be ever more they fame, and love be thy rule.
Full grounded on the Savior's love, upholding truths eternal.

Strong may thy counsels in our lives direct our ways.
Beneath thy banner blue and white, in hallowed halls,
Oh campus fair and field so bright, we strive one and all.

Now may thy Godly lessons taught, and friendships true and loyal,
Fore'er enshrined withing our hearts,
Oh Lutheran HIGH!

More old school

Here's Heather (AKA "Joey") one of my goddaughters as the lion mascot at a LA Lutheran Junior High game- another one of those beatup old yearbook prints that I had to scan- as you can tell, because that's Jeraldin (AKS "Jake") to her left with the big 'ol puddle of developer covering her face. Had to be like 1998 if they were Eighth graders.

Christina Rose, Jenn, "Red," and Iris made this and gave it to me after my first year at Boyer Valley (2001-02) They messed with scrap-booking scissors for the one below, so I messed with PhotoSHop for funky colors on the one above.

OLD School

I had kids going through my old photos and that made me nostalgic for my LA Lutheran squads. Teachers and coaches are not supposed to have favorites, but I have to admit that over the 7 years I was out there, there are a few kids who really stand out to me. There are even more than just these who I really care about and think of as goddaughters, but here are just a few:
I don't remember if this was taken at LHS or at BAptist High (who's field we used) or at Malibu HIgh (that was just one game) anyway- that's Christina on top. She replaced me as coach and is still coaching there now and they've only gotten better. Like my Lion's hat? That's BLUE, not purple, by the way.
Christina is in this one again, but front-right is Heather, who is finishing up at Cal State Northridge in photography. She really is one of my goddaughters. She really taught me alot about coaching (that's a good thing, not a challenging thing).
I just got an email from "Jake" (Jeraldin) the other day, she manages life guards and is trying to finish up at UC Sand Diego. THis picture is from 8th grade.
The Baseball Coach/ English Literature teacher's Daughter Katie scans the chant list. Groovy effects huh? Just took a beat up old B/W and scanned it and colored it and did some other fiddling in PhotoShop.
And Amanda, that's her getting makeup applied to be the JrHi mascot, "Lucy the Lion." Major auto racing fan, this one.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Kenneth Kahl Jr of Buck Grove. Ken was Boyer Valley's first bulldog mascot, "Cujo" back in 2001. Kenny recently completed his Masters' degree in Communications from Middlesex University in London! Not only that, he got the highes score in his class (or was that the highest score possible? Whatever, point is, he is now officially smarter than me)

Congratulations Ken-man!

Above: Kenny, under a bridge in London, next to some graffiti of a monkey trying to ignite a bomb- probably to blow up the bridge.
At Right: Here's Ken with some chick named "Lisa." (I swiped this picture from his FaceBook page). In addition to being "Cujo" for the Boyer Valley Bulldogs, he was also "Spike" for the Concordia University Bulldogs in Seward, NE (that also happens to be Coach Mallory's Alma Mater) But after about a year of that, he decided that he hated cheerleaders ( I think it was just THAT squad that year) and he went cold-turkey on the mascot thing.

Hey, here's an idea- if you're an Alumn of BV Cheer or LA Lutheran Cheer too, Heck, if you're an alum of Concordia, Seward Cheer (even if it wasn't the year Kenny or I were on) Why don't you send me an update as to what you're doing now, where you are, and maybe a picture and your favorite cheer or mascotting mamory and I'll post them here. If nothing else, send me your email address and snail-mail address so I can keep in touch. If you want I can be your sourse for if you're trying to get back in touch with someone else you cheered with. Send me your stories (mostly at:ted.mallory@gmail.com) or malloryt@boyer-valley.k12.ia.us

Are you out there BVHS & BVMS Cheerleaders?:
Courtney Spreng
Lacey Summerfield
Christina Rose
Candace Twait
Kenny Kahl- (See above)
Jennifer Bonsall
Audrey Lave
Sadie McDonald
Iris Guyanillo
Leah Baldwin
Alicia Nelson
Randi Stephens
Traci Mefferd
Ashley Bolysen
Heidi Shaben
Felicia Westerberg
Nicole McClure
Stephanie Cogdill
Jena Greenwood
David Anderson
Todd Cogdill
Maureen Clemon
Rosemary Wacheldorf

Are YOU out there LAL Jr/Sr HS Cheerleaders?
Jamie Snyder
Xela Tarnelli
Amy Corilla
Lindsay Hore
Tiffany Ballenger
Leal Moret
Stacie Johnson
Tia Lear
Talisha Sampson
Christina Hernandez- (Now the Cheerleading Coach at LALHS)
Nyasha Bralock
Suzanne Bostrom
Melissa Leake
Jill Johnson
Julie Favazzo
Christy Taylor
Jamie Merrill
Jeraldine Kuerbiss
Amanda Parker
Treva White
Katie Sullivan
Tiffany Blackford
Kim Johnson
Heidi Christine
Heather Hager
Nicole Wilson
Nia Soto
Christel Wertz
Win Sun Winnie Yoon
Amy Meyer
Nicole Stabile
Kristen Snyder
Courtney Takahashi
Jennifer Brumm
Gina Lamont
Erika Perez

Are You out there CTC squadmates?:
Erin Shamblin
Chris Boehnke
Tasha Siminson
Pete Morkert
Tonya Hammond
Jamie Speegle
Jim King
Amy Kohtz

LALHS JrHi Cheer was Loud and... PROUD!

The FULL X

Here's that 99 squad from LA Lutheran putting Christina up in a full extension. We didn't QUITE get there with Boyer Valley's Basketball squad this year, but I really thought we could've.

The biggest squad

Here's the 1998-99 Football Varsity squad at Malibu High (yes the real Mailbu- doesn't look like PCA on "Zoe 101" from Teen Nick does it?) This is a rare picture with me in it, all that means is I can't find and official team picture from this year either. Let's see if I can remember everybody... left to right. Kristen, an excellent runner and actress. She had awesome jumps. I regret not getting closer to her but her older sister was one of my yearbook editors and we got really close. Then there's Jerry (aka "Jake), Amy, "Joey," Nicole, Christina, Cortney (she and Kristen were best friends, I think they called themselves "Heckle and Jeckle." Major hyperactivity when those two got together) she had awesome jumps too, and Win Sun "Winnie" Yoon- she was fresh of the boat from Korea and totally new to cheerleading, but she did great at had tons of fun.

more 'old school'

I'm really bummin' because I don't have pictures of all of my squads. I had to take this one out of an old yearbook. This is 1996-97 JrHi Basketball. I also feel bad that Christy is so crooked and that it's such a dark picture that Nyasha pretty much disapears. You can see how good Jerry is at compensating and balancing- at least better than Christy. Treva is the base on the right- very soft spoken, whisper like, but she could kick and jump like anything.

I guess I'm saddest about the mascot, Amanda. She and Nyasha were part of a prayer group after winter camp (Hume Lake) in the Siera Nevada mountains one year. There were 5 kids so we called it "Party of 5" after the TV show on WB at the time and our core Bible verse was Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." which was part of a song that the camp band played during chapels.

I guess like Christina, Jerry, and Heather, Amanda was important to me and I prayed for her the whole time she was at LALHS but she hasn't kept in touch and the last I heard she may have been having some hard times.

Old School

Here's the '99-2000 Football Varsity Squad. We had a private clinic administered by Cheerleaders of America (COA) and Qualified for their National competition, Amy (the girl on the right on her knees) qualified for their national all-star squad. This was such an awesome squad. We did full-extentions and basket tosses, we did floor cheers (something Boyer Valley squads seem to be afraid of) and they worked up half time routines that included 8-cound dances- remember LALHS didn't have a Drill squad. Counter-clockwise there's Coach Christina in the front (she won Homecoming Queen that year), on her left is Katie Sullivan (Irish as they come and an awesome writer), goddaughter "Joey" again, Jen (who had to deal with her mom fighting cancer, Gina (I think she went on to become student body president, Cassie reminds me a lot of her), and back to Amy. Most of these girls were also on State Champion Softball teams.

Last LA jr hi

Here's my last junior high squad at LALHS. 98-99 Basketball. Notice my goddaughter Heather decided she wanted to try being mascot. We didn't have a big lion head or a $600 costume like Boyer Valley, so we did the best we could with just face makeup. Wasn't she adorable? I think that high school girls had named out lion "Lucy," but Heather decided on "Joey." I don't know why, but as far as I know that's still her nickname. Notice how cheer shells can be jazzed up just with turtlenecks underneath?

More "Old School"

If I remember right, 1996-97 was when we added football, so we cheered for two seasons, not just for basketball. Notice this stunt, "pony-sits." They're in the next picture too. They're cool, they're not "gay," anyone at Boyer Valley who thinks they are has a dirty mind, so get over it.

The girl in the middle with the poms is Jerry. She was awesome. Eventually in high school, she wanted to try basketball and volleyball and got bored with cheer, which was hard for me because she was such an outstanding cheerleader. Perfect jumps, sharp, accurate technique, rich, medium-low pitched voice... She's a Senior in pre-med at UC San Diego and spread way too thin with jobs including life guard & pool manager. I prayed for her a lot all through 7-12. (We had what they called "Shepherding Teams," kind of like "Jammers" at Boyer Valley) Consequently, I'd have adopted that kid if I could've.
And 1997-98: Notice the tiny lion doll on the poms, I'm not sure who's idea that was, but it shows you how "girly" this group was. This was our football field with the softball diamond behind them. Nice mountains, huh? Angeles National Forest up there, brush fires, mud slides, on rare occasion even a trace of snow. Beautiful green in Spring and pretty draped in fog.

Anyway, the girl on the bottom right is Heather, my goddaughter. She's a Photography major at Cal State, Northridge (CSUN). She went on to cheer all through high school for me and took drawing and should've but didn't end up being yearbook editor. She was a hardcore 'A' student and a major hard worker/leader when it came to student council, even though Jerry and Jill (just behind and to Heather's left) were the two who always ran for the big offices. Heather really taught me a lot and I'll always appreciate her for that and I couldn't be more proud of her.

Old School

Here are some of my earliest squads, from waa-aaay back:

Above is the 1995-96 LA Lutheran Jr High basketball squad. They were a ton of fun. In 1993-94 my wife had to coach both junior high and varsity. We thought that was nuts. Our principal agreed, but who could he find to take over junior high cheer? My records showed that I had cheered one season in college, so he dumped it on me. But that's okay, my wife and her squad helped and taught me and my squad.

They decided to call me "Pappa Bear." Amy, the girl with the curly hair on the top left wrote on the back of this picture:

"Mr. Mallory, you're a great coach and there's something about you that makes me try harder on cheerleading. Stay that way and thanks for being kind and always there, Amy" Amy played a pregnant teen on an episode of E.R. I don't know where she is now, but I hope she's a successful actress.Here's the next year, 1995-96. Amy and Leal were back as eighth graders. Notice the partner stunt. It's a simple "back-stand," and no it doesn't look "gay."

Somehow I talked Nyasha into coming out, even though she LOVED playing basketball. She's the tall base in the middle. We were a small enough school that she could cheer at the boys' game and play in the girls' game. She wrote: "Thanx for being a good coach to me. Even when it was easy for me to slack-off, you helped me keep it up. This was the first time I cheered for a school and you made it really fun, Nyasha"

Last I heard she was finishing up at NYU, or was it Columbia? Anyway I think she had been pre-law or pre-med and had great grades. She's been all-state in high school basketball but switched to track & field in college and was thinking about becoming a teacher.

The tiny flier on the far left is Christina. She was quiet as a mouse. She cheered for me in junior high and then cheered for both my wife and them for me again on Varsity. Now she took our place as the varsity coach at Lutheran High. I couldn't be more proud of her. Her squads are bigger and perform more stunts and dances than ours ever did. I don't think LALHS has a Drill Squad, so really their Cheer program does double duty.

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