Not just for pep anymore

Jim Carnett

Orange Coast College has long ben one of the nation’s leading

community colleges in transferring students to universities.

Last year, OCC ranked first in Southern California and third in the

state in the number of students it sent to four-year institutions.

With 24 intercollegiate sports, and nearly 500 athletes, OCC, for

decades, has ranked near the top of the list when it comes to securing

four-year scholarships for athletes.

In recent years, the college ha fashioned a reputation for sending

forth athletes of a slightly different sort to universities: members of

its nationally-acclaimed cheerleading and dance squads.

On OCC’s campus, cheer and dance are considered an intercollegiate

sport.

In the five years that Mike Reynolds and Dan Sapp have coached the

teams, the Pirates have won seven national titles.

OCC has finished first in dance four times and first in cheerleading

three times.

The Pirates have also logged two second-place dance finishes and a

second place in cheer.

The University of Kentucky annually has the top cheer and dance teams

in America at the Division I level. Other top universities include the

University of Alabama, the University of Tennessee, the University of

Central Florida and the University of Hawaii.

Top schools on the West Coast include the University of Washington

and...Orange Coast College. It’s a short list and, yes, OCC is right up

there with the big boys...and girls.

“We’ve established a national reputation,” said Reynolds who, with his

business partner, co-coach and friend Dan Sapp, has been involved in

collegiate cheer and dance for nearly two decades. “We compete in the

Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) Cheerleading and Dance Team

National Championships each January at Walt Disney World/MGM Resorts in

Orlando, Florida We’ve won our share of titles in the competition and all

the big four-year schools know who we are. They watch us perform and they

recruit our athletes.”

This year, three former OCC cheer squad members are performing at the

University of Hawaii. Three others are at Hawaii Pacific University.

Other former OCC students are at Delta State University, in Cleveland,

Mass., and at the University of Kentucky. Orange Coast alums have also

been Laker Girls, Charger Girls and Clipper Girls.

“Our grads are out there...everywhere,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds and Sapp grew up in Texas, a state where football and

cheerleading are a way of life; more accurately, an obsession.

Reynolds hails from Athens, the “Black Eyed Pea Capital of the World,”

situated 75 miles east of Dallas. Sapp is from Irving, between Dallas and

Fort Worth, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

“In Texas, once a kid pops out of the womb, it’s either football or

cheerleading,” Reynolds said with a laugh.

Reynolds and Sapp were cheerleaders at Trinity Valley Community

College in Athens, formerly known as Henderson County Junior College.

“Trinity was five-time national champ in the years we were there,”

Reynolds said. “It became the first community college to compete in the

national championships.”

Now OCC’s teams, coached by the Texas duo, dominate the community

college scene.

Reynolds ended up earning a B.A. degree in marketing from East Texas

State University. Following graduation, he and Sapp packed a car and

headed west for California.

Sapp completed his degree in psychology from Long Beach State

University.

“We’d always wanted to come to California,” Reynolds said. “That was

our dream. We arrived 14 years ago.”

Reynolds was a cheerleader and stunt team member for the Los Angeles

Rams. He traveled with the Rams to play in Japan and cheered at the

American Bowl in London.

Sapp was also on the Rams’ stunt team and was a member of the Long

Beach State dance team. He danced professionally with Paula Abdul and

performed in music videos and at the 1992 Academy Awards.

After his cheerleading career was over, Reynolds worked as a loan

officer for a mortgage. But cheer, dance and coaching were in his blood.

Six years ago, Reynolds and Sapp opened Orange County’s first

cheerleading and dance school, Pace All-Stars, located in Huntington

Beach. Business has boomed.

“Cheer and dance have become a national craze. We were the first

school in Orange County. Now, there are about 30 of them,” Reynolds said.

Pace sponsors 11 teams, with competitors ranging in age from five to

23.

“We were invited five years ago to come to OCC and help build the

program,” Reynolds said. “Many of our Pace dancers and cheerleaders were

looking for a place in Southern California to go to college and compete.

USC and UCLA didn’t have the types of programs they were looking for. We

were able to establish a very competitive program here at Coast.”

In their first year at the helm, 1995-96, OCC won the national

championship at Disney World in the community college cheerleading

division, and finished second in the open space division.

Orange Coast’s cheer and dance programs now attract students from well

outside the boundaries of Orange County.

“I probably get three of four letters a week from kids throughout the

country expressing interest in our program,” Reynolds said. “We’re seen

somewhat regularly on ESPN, because the sports network re-runs footage

from the Universal Cheerleaders Association National Championships. Many

kids are introduced to us via television.

“We’re also included on the UCA web site and we’re listed in the UCA

national rankings. Our reputation is out there and everyone interested in

cheer and dance knows who we are,” Reynolds continued.

Reynolds’ squad this year features 16 female dancers and 18

cheerleaders. The cheerleading squad is divided equally, with nine males

and nine females.

“All of our dancers have had extensive experience before coming to

Coast,” Reynolds said. “They danced in high school or were members of

various dance teams or schools.

Most of the female cheerleaders are former gymnasts and many are

dancers as well. The guys are former football players, wrestlers or water

polo players.

“The girls must be athletic and the guys strong,” Reynolds said.

Orange Coast runs a year-round program.

“Our cheerleaders and dancers aren’t a ‘rah-rah’ group, they’re

athletes and they train hard all year long. Probably as many as

two-thirds of them teach for professional cheer and dance companies here

in Southern California,” Reynolds said.

OCC’s cheer and dance squads have earned a reputation for being

innovative and creative.

“We’re known for doing wild pyramids...tricks that most other college

and university groups won’t try,” Reynolds said. “Not many community

college can do what we do. We take one or two pyramids to Orlando each

year for the nationals.”

Last year, the team took a pyramid titled, “Peek-a-Boo.”

“It had never been attempted before,” Reynolds said. “We dreamed it up

and brought it to the competition. It’s a surprise pyramid, in which the

students create a pyramid in front of the audience, then a girl flies

from behind and is caught by the guys in front. It’s a blind toss and is

breathtaking. She appears to fly in from nowhere.”

OCC’s squad nailed the routine in the national competition.

The team that ended up winning the Division I title, the University of

Kentucky, was on hand to watch the performance.

“The Kentucky coach came to me afterward to offer his congratulations.

He said they had thought up the same trick, and wanted to use it, but

were afraid to try it at nationals. That made us feel pretty good.”

Reynolds admits there’s an element of risk in cheer stunts.

“Our girls fly in every routine,” Reynolds said. “We have nine girls

and nine guys on the squad and each girl has a partner. We throw our

girls at least 25 feet in the air and to do that, the girls must have

complete confidence in their partners. They do.

“The first responsibility of every guy in every stunt is to catch the

girl and our guys always do,” Reynolds continued. “We’ve had a few guys

get a foot in the face or an elbow to the head, but our girls never hit

the floor.”

Reynolds said OCC’s cheerleading and dance programs are strongly

supported by the college.

“It’s a rarity, believe me, that a school is as supportive of its

cheerleading and dance programs as this school is,” Reynolds said. “We

have a great relationship with all the coaches and our kids feel

respected by the administration, by their teachers and by their fellow

athletes and peers. Everyone on campus gets excited when we bring home a

national championship.

“Three years ago, when we captured our second-straight cheer

championship and picked up our first dance title in Orlando, college

president, Margaret Gratton, drove to LAX late at night to personally

welcome us off the plane,” Reynolds continued. “Our students were

shocked. That meant a lot to them.”

Reynolds says the cheerleaders and dancers have a good relationship

with OCC’s athletes.

“Our kids like being on campus and have a great rapport with the

athletes, particularly football players,” Reynolds said. “Many of our

kids stop by football practice a couple of times a week just to watch.

They talk with players when practice is over. The players give us support

when we’re on the sidelines during the games.”

After they graduate, OCC’s cheerleaders and dancers their Orange Coast

College roots.

“I had a fantastic experience at Coast,” said Joslin de Diego, an

Ocean View High grad who was a cheerleader at OCC during the 1996-97 and

1997-98 seasons. She’s now in her second year as a member of the

University of Hawaii cheer squad. She is joined on the U of H team by

former OCC cheerleaders Jamey Gossett and Curtis Johnson.

“The University of Hawaii loves our kids,” Reynolds said. “They’ve

pretty much given us a standing invitation. They’ll give a scholarship to

any OCC cheerleader or dancer who wants to go there. They know that we

produce good athletes and good students.”

Joslin lives in Waikiki and is attending Hawaii on a full scholarship.

“They’re paying my tuition, fees and books, which, for an out-of-state

student, is a substantial amount of money,” she said. “I pay my living

expenses.”

Joslin began taking gymnastics at the age of six.

“I’ve basically been in gymnastics and cheerleading ever since,” she

said. “It’s paying my way through school and I’m having lots of fun. OCC

provided me with a wonderful opportunity. I had a great time there--the

trips to the national championships were something I’ll never forget--and

it was because of Coast that I landed the Hawaii scholarship.”

Cheerleading and sports are “big time” in the islands.

“Last year, the University of Hawaii football team was 0-11, be we

were still celebrities in Honolulu,” Joslin said. “We appear all over

town at special events, parades, grand openings and Pop Warner clinics

and we sign posters for kids. The community loves us. This year Hawaii’s

football is doing well. We’re 4-2, so the stands at Aloha Stadium are

nearly full. We had a huge crowd when we hosted USC.”

Not just an enthusiastic cheerleader, Joslin is also an excellent

student, majoring in history, with a Spanish minor.

“When I graduate from Hawaii next year, I plan to return to the

mainland and earn my master’s and Ph.D. from UCLA,” she said. “My goal is

to someday be a college professor. I can’t say enough about my Orange

Coast College experience. The school was so supportive, I loved it there.

If Orange Coast was a four-year school, I’d have gladly remained. I

really didn’t want to leave.”

Tricia Salvo, who was a cheerleader at Deer Valley High in Glendale,

Ariz., was drawn to OCC for cheerleading. She competed in 195-96 and

1996-97 and was a member of OCC’s first national championship outfit.

Salvo has been a cheerleader for three years at Hawaii Pacific

University. HPU is an independent, private school in Honolulu, with an

enrollment of 7,300 undergraduates.

Because cheerleading is not an NCAA-sanctioned sport, cheerleaders are

not limited to four years of university eligibility, though OCC allows

its cheerleaders and dancers to compete only for two years.

OCC’s cheerleaders and dancers must also be full-time students,

enrolled in at least 12 units each semester and they must maintain

academic eligibility like all other campus athletes.

Salvo is joined on Hawaii Pacific’s team by OCC graduates Erick

Sandoval and Josh Delgado.

“I have fond memories of my time at Coast,” she said. “It was an

exhilarating experience. We won two national championships while I was

there and I was a member of the first team that really got things going.

Mike (Reynolds) and Dan (Sapp) were a big influence in my life.

“Coast is a huge school with much to offer,” Salvo continued. “I tell

my friends here in Hawaii that I attended Orange Coast College on the

mainland, a community college with 25,000 students and they can’t believe

it. It’s because of Coast and its cheer program that I’ve been able to

continue my education at a private university. I’m grateful for what OCC

has done for me.”

Salvo is majoring in computer science. When she graduates, she’ll

return to California to seek a job in the Bay Area.

A lot of OCC’s students are recruited by four-year schools at the

national championships in Orlando. OCC’s team will return to Disney World

next Jan. 6-9 for the 2000 competition.

“The four-year coaches watch our performance,” Reynolds said. “They’ll

see an athlete they like and will make contact and inquire as to their

plans after OCC. Just like football and basketball coaches, these cheer

and dance coaches are out to recruit the best talent they can find. Our

students end up with scholarships and paid educations.”

Joslin de Diego agrees.

“That’s the way I was recruited,” he said. “U of H coaches spotted me

in Orlando and talked to me. They told me they wanted me to come to

Hawaii after finishing my studies at Coast. I’d been planning to go to

UCLA, but frankly, UCLA doesn’t have a very good cheer program.

“Hawaii sounded good and though I’d never before visited the islands,

I decided to go, sight unseen,” Joslin continued. “It took me a while to

adjust to island life, but I’m happy with my decision.”

Lots of parents, Reynolds said, see cheerleading and dance as a

stepping stone for their youngsters.

“I have parents with junior high kids at Pace who tell me all the time

that they’re going to have their kids stick with our program, then attend

OCC and transfer to a university,” Reynolds said. “They’re already

planning ahead for scholarships and college degrees, even though the kids

are just 11 or 12 years old.”

Just like the father of a 12-year-old Pop Warner quarterback, who’s

thinking about a college scholarship for his son, parents of cheerleaders

are also in it for the long haul.

And OCC’s highly successful cheer and dance program provides an

excellent launching pad, literally!

National championships are a byproduct of the program, with a

university degree awaiting those Orange Coast College students who choose

to accept a four-year scholarship.

Not a bad deal.