Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas Cheerleaders and Cheer-Parents! (In the event that we don't see you in school tomorrow, due to the weather)Kaitlyn Bonsall works on her Drawing Final in Coach's class.

If this were a movie...

I don't have a good enough lens to get a great zoom shot from across the gym- they always end up looking grainy or blurry, but I always wish I could get a straight shot and I like the reflection on the floor. So, I monkeyed around in Photoshop and these are what I came up with. I think they could look like album covers or movie posters.

More Woodbine

I was trying to capture the kinds of moments during cheer that never get caught, and trying to get a fun, tight composition. I don't know, I'm not as talented as some photographers, so I instead I spruced it up in Photoshop. Purple power.
Rootin' tootin' cow girls!
Welcome aboard Freshman, Makayla- pretty good job for a first game, you're pretty outgoing- just what a cheer squad needs. Great leadership, Kens- with two rookies and Sasha gone you really did a great job of teaching and leading.

Wodbine

I got into an experimental photography mode this game. These first two shots are of the two veterans, Kensie & Kaitlyn, both of whom could probably be models if they wanted to. Very photogenic. Above in Sepia, below in black and white.

This game was literally a "nail biter." We lost it 53-52 rather than 53-49 because of a last second 3 point shot, but it was close the entire game. Ironically Kensie isn't biting her nails in this picture, because she does it more than everybody else.
This one has kind of a retro feel, like it's a 40 year old Polaroid and the colors have faded.
Traditional style- showing them having tons of fun (which they did, especially during the girl's game, which we won by at least 30)

Big Debut

ENOUGH of this stupid picture taking, Mr. Mallory!

I thought they did a great job for their first game, especially with Kensie sick as a dog and Kelsey never having done this before. Hopefully when Cammey comes back from her family vacation, she'll be able to join us. Christine recently told me that her boss wants her to cheer again, so who knows, maybe she'll be able to join us once in a while too.

MS Cheer 2008-09

Tiffany, Renea, Holly, Kayli, Katie, Lara, and Lexi take a break between games.
Renea & Tiffany take to the air, showing off their super-human powers of levitation!

Getting the crowd going at half time.

No kidding, I've said it before and varsity veteran, Christine backs me up on this- no offense intended to former junior high cheerleaders, but this is gotta be the best middle school cheer squad I've seen in years, maybe ever! Loads of thanks to both Christine and Kassi for all the times you've helped with 7th hour practice. Especially this past couple of weeks with my family issues, your work with these girls has been immeasurable and invaluable. I SO hope that every one of the girls in this bunch gets bit by the cheer bug and come to love it enough that they all want to cheer in high school too, because they're fantastic. You make Boyer Valley proud, ladies!

An apology to Basketball fans, players, and coaches

It's been a rough start, but I swear, we're gonna be okay

I am really sorry that we missed the Dec. 1 Home JV game against Woodbine. In past years we've only performed at home Varsity G/B, not 9 or J/V so I was surprised by it. At the time Sasha and Kelsey were both sick, MecKensie was at the hospital in Sioux City for her Aunt, and as you may know, my brother-in-law was found dead that morning so I don't know that we could've cheered anyway.

For the Friday, Dec. 5 Varsity home game 4 of the 5 girls were gone with the Drill team and I had to be at my brother-in-law's viewing, and I couldn't see having MecKensie cheer alone.

Just so you don't feel like you need to talk to me about it tomorrow, they won't be there again tonight (Tues Dec. 9). I haven't had a chance to tell the cheerleaders yet that we need to be at all home games, even if they're JV. We still haven't had a full practice yet, I have a MS game this afternoon, we just yesterday confirmed that Cammey Hast will be able to be on squad and we haven't gotten a uniform for her yet. And to be honest with you, I'm still feeling pretty shredded, both emotionally and physically.

This is who I have this season:
Sasha Meggers
MecKensie Jensen
Kaitlyn Bonsall
Kelsey Muff
Cammey Hast

As I said, Cammey didn't know if she had permission from her parents until yesterday. Kaitlyn, Kelsey and Cammey had told me that they could only come out for cheer if they only cheered at home games. I discussed it with Sasha and MecKensie and thought that (only for this year) maybe we should just cheer at home games, as opposed to only having 2 away cheerleaders. Chaise Fraiser had planned on cheering, but last week she told me that her parents weren't going to allow her to.

I've been hearing it from students and I feel badly, but I'm telling you- I bend over backwards trying to recruit. I'd love to have 20 candidates and hold tryouts to select the best 6 or 8. There's just too many girls that are too committed to playing Volleyball and Basketball.

I've been doing this for 15 years and it's important to me. I care about this sport, I care about school spirit at BV, and I care about these girls like they're my own kids. Please be patient with me. I'm confident that we'll finally manage to dig in and do a great job. I really think that these glitches have been an anomaly.

Thank you for your understanding,

Way to go Drillies!

I had several requests to post these pictures on Facebook, but my home computer seems to be down with a virus again and of course Facebook is blocked at school (rightfully so, in my opinion). So here they are. If you're on Drill, or a Drill parent, feel free to click on the picture to see it full sized, and then "right-click" on it in order to save a copy on your own computer.


Congratulations to the Boyer Valley Drill Squad won first place in the "pom" category, second place in "hip hop" and third in the "show"

So let's see here... Rachael and Natalie were awesome cheerleaders in junior high and I wish they'd come back, but like VB & BB too much... Cammey and Kelsey are gonna cheer this basketball season... so is Kaitlyn, who cheered last year... Sasha, of course, my rock, has been cheering since 7th grade... and Kristen cheered a couple of years ago... Victoria's sister was an incredible cheerleader years ago, but of course, she's a total VB/BB jock... and Megan has thought about coming out a few times but ends up sticking with VB or BB. And all the rest of you are more than welcome to give cheer a try one of these days, you know! BV is very proud of all of you. Great job again this year!

4-year SENIORS!!!

Cheer Schedule

Here is our schedule with all the singe-gender and Freshman/JV games taken out. When in doubt, check the school's website for the complete schedule.

Expect practices to run at least 3:30-4:30, (possibly 5, especially when we stunt- which we can & will do with 4 people!). After Dec. 4, plan on practicing every Monday and Thursday unless you receive other notice from me, but we will see how we're doing and as always we'll be flexible depending on Drill Squad, jobs, families, medical issues etc.

Please choose a home game to bring hospitality treats for. Pep Rallies are on Fridays of home games, although maybe we should have a couple for Saturday home games because we have so few this year. I know that Mrs. Klein will have StuCo do something for Gnimocemoh this year. With 3 of the 4 of you on Drill, I'm sure you can keep us informed about when JoEtt wants to have Drill perform at a pep rally.

Dec. 5 Whiting G/B V Home 6:00pm- PEP RALLY
Dec. 9 Odebolt-Arthur G/B V Away 6:00pm
Dec. 12 West Harrison G/B V Away 6:00pm
Dec. 13 AHST G/B V Home 6:15pm
Dec. 16 Woodbine G/B V Home 6:30pm
Dec. 19 Ar-We-Va G/B V Home 6:30pm - PEP RALLY
Jan. 9 Lo-Ma G/B V Away 6:00pm
Jan. 12 Southern Cal G/B V Away 6:00pm
Jan. 13 COU G/B V Home 6:00pm
Jan. 16 Woodbine G/B V Away 6:00pm
Jan. 17 Lawton-Bronson G/B V Away 6:00pm
Jan. 20 West Monona G/B V Away 6:00pm
Jan. 22 Ar-We-Va G/B V Away 6:00pm
Jan. 23 IKM-Manning G/B V Home 6:00pm- PEP RALLY

Jan. 26 Western Valley Conference G Tourn. TBA 6:00pm
Jan. 27 Western Valley Conference G Tourn. TBA 6:00pm
Jan. 29 Western Valley Conference G Tourn. TBA 6:00pm
Jan. 31 Western Valley Conference G Tourn. TBA 6:00pm

Feb. 2 Western Valley Conference B Tourn. TBA 6:00pm
Feb. 3 Western Valley Conference B Tourn. TBA 6:00pm
Feb. 6 Western Valley Conference B Tourn. TBA 6:00pm
Feb. 7 Western Valley Conference B Tourn. TBA 6:00pm
________________________________________________
Boyer Valley Community Schools
Challenging all students to meet their full potential
http://www.boyer-valley.k12.ia.us

My Secret Identity

I may not be writing a weekly column for the Mapleton PRESS anymore, but I have tried to clean-up and organize six years of columns and made them easier to find on my main blog. Why not peruse through the humor, history and humus. It's full of "Sex, Politics, and Religion- not necessarily in that order." Or at least, liberal politics, the my misadventures parenting three little girls, and the joys of living in small town Iowa and good old fashioned Midwestern, down to earth common sense Lutheranism.

At least take a look at a couple of columns and give it a chance.

BEST OF TED

• Arizona Statehood Day (Feb 14)
• Book Reports
• Christmas interviews with Santa
• Economic Crisis
• Embarassed by Steve King
• Fourth of July
• History Buffs, read this
• I ♥ Iowa
• Kids say the darnedest things
• Meaningful Quotations
• Support our Vets
• Talking about Religion
• Ted's Kitchen
• Thanksgiving Treats
• The snow blower lesson
• The time I locked my keys in the car
• The war in Iraq
• Yes, I coach Cheerleading

10 things every parent should know about eating disorders

I don’t know anything harder than not snacking between meals. I love food. Sometimes I wonder if I am to food the way that an alcoholic is to beer.

My own perennial battle of the bulge has gotten me thinking about how high school students cope with body image and the pressure to be thin.

As many readers know, I teach at Boyer Valley high school in Dunlap and I’ve also coached cheerleading for more than 10 years. In all that time, there may have been girls who struggled with eating disorders, but I was unaware of it. This year several kids have joked, threatened, talked about as if it were a viable option, and even bragged about either starving themselves (anorexia) or making themselves throw-up (bulimia).

Fortunately, it’s often not genuine. Either it’s a plea for attention, a typically teenage penchant for melodrama, or a sad but not serious way to whine about their weight. When girls really do succumb to these disorders, there are hospitalization programs and counseling.

But as a father of three young girls, I became very concerned. What will it be like for them when they get to junior high and high school? So I did a little research and want to share ten things every dad should know about eating disorders. These are just as important for moms and grandparents too.

1. Did you realize that our body size is pretty much a given, just like our height or hair color? In spite of that, by junior high 30-50% of American girls say they feel too fat and 20-40% are already dieting before they’re even 10 years old. By high school, 40-60% of girls feel overweight and try to lose.

2. As someone who grew up under a fear that the Soviet Union would bomb us into nuclear winter, this one surprised me; many girls say that they are more afraid of becoming fat than they are of cancer, nuclear war, or even losing their parents.

3. The fashion models weigh 23% less than the average woman.

4. Most people who develop eating disorders, start 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 around age of 12.

5. In a survey of working-class 5th to 12th grade suburban girls, nearly 70% percent reported that magazine pictures influence their idea of the perfect body; 47% reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.

6. Before puberty there’s 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 boys. Girls are more likely to attempt suicide than boys are, although 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% of the 500 teens in the same survey worried about developing an eating disorder.

8. Anecdotal evidence suggests that comments from male family members trigger dieting, and teasing is associated with weight-control attempts in adolescence. I can’t imagine making fun of my girls for being fat or calling them names, but there are parents that do just that. Maybe they do it because they’re worried about them and hope to motivate them to eat less, but what it does is hurt them deeply.

9. According to data presented to the National Institutes of Health, 33-40% of adult women are trying to lose weight at any given time –fueled by a cultural perception of a feminine "ideal" that is actually much too thin for good health.

10. And finally, we dads are important. Statistics show that girls with dads who spend time with them and really try to be part of their lives are more ambitious, more successful in school, attend college more frequently, and are more likely to attain careers of their own. They also are less dependent, more self-protective, and less likely to date or marry abusive partners.

You can find out more from the International Eating Disorder Referral Organization. www.EDReferral.com

Building Confidence

(originally written for my column in the Charter Oak-Ute NEWSpaper in 2005)

“Confidence is the inner knowledge that when you are yourself and others are free to be themselves, everything works out for the best.” ~Brian D. Brio, Beyond Success; 15 secrets to Effective Leadership and Life Based on Legendary Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.

One of the biggest struggles in coaching cheerleading is helping build confidence. It’s one thing to yell and kick along with five other people during practice, but doing it in front of several hundred people on a Friday night is quite another. Doing it in front of a couple hundred of your peers and classmates at a pep rally is even more nerve-wracking.

People have asked me how I can speak in public. Simple; I know that I’m going to make mistakes that people may laugh out eventually in life, so I may as well be prepared to laugh at myself. If I can do that, that I don’t have to be afraid of making a fool of myself. Now I’m not charming or funny enough to be very good at deliberately making people laugh, but I can manage to get in front of a big group of people and talk to them about just about whatever, without panicking.

Retired UCLA Coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is one tool that I’ve tried to use to help kids learn about teamwork and important character traits like work-ethic and confidence. Another one is Norman Vincent Peale’s classic The Power of Positive Thinking. A few years ago an author named Mary Lou Carney wrote an adaptation of Peale’s book for Teens. In The Power of Positive Thinking for Teens, she lays out ten simple steps for building your confidence:

1. See success- it’s an age-old coaching technique, you imagine, “visualize,” you picture yourself doing well. Starting with the end in mind, that’s all it is.

2. Nix negativity- sometimes this is the most difficult step. It means not letting yourself talk yourself out of being able to do whatever it is that you have to do. Force yourself to not be doubtful.

3. Don’t build obstacles- you’ve heard the old saying, “you’re your own worst enemy?” It can be true, so be on your guard against self-sabotage. Don’t look for excuses to fail, don’t make things harder than they have to be.

4. Be yourself- That’s all you can be, don’t try to pretend to be something else, lay it all out there and if they like you, great, if they don’t, oh well, their loss, don’t take it too personally. This is what my opening quote is about. Just know that when you are yourself and allow be themselves, everything will work out for the best.

5. Know your strengths- Many coaches have you list your assents and then focus on what your good at, not what you’re not good at. A lot of times that will compensate for your weaknesses. It’s also helpful just to list and review your strengths in order to remind yourself that you’re at least good for SOMETHING.

6. Know yourself- this is not the same as #5. This one could be written as, “know your limits.” If you know what your values are and, yes, what your weaknesses are, you can look for ways to maintain a balance, delegate out responsibilities, or ask for support.

7. Use the antidote (Philippians 4:13)- Memorize and recite this verse at least ten times a day. “I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me.

8. Aim high- If you shoot for nothing, you’ll hit it every time. If you shoot for the moon- even if you miss, you’ll reach the stars.

9. Put yourself in God’s hands- We don’t know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future. Sometimes all you can do is to do your best and let God do the rest, also known as “let go and let God.”

10. Be unbeatable