CHEERING SWAUDS DESCEND ON CAPE

If you listen closely as you drive past the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, you might hear the voices of over 700 cheerleaders from Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois and Arkansas shouting "GO, Tigers, GO!" in unison.

Today is the third day of a National Cheerleaders Association camp held on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. Cheerleaders, who are learning dances, techniques, cheers and stunts, are divided into two large groups which practice in the Show-Me Center and the Student Recreation Center.

Christy Bray, a 15-year-old cheerleader from Pattonville, said that stunts were her favorite part of the camp. "Stunts are when we all gather together and support a girl on top of our arms so she can stand on top or we build some shape out of ourselves," she explained.

This is Bray's second year at the camp.

"We all had so much fun last year, and the squads get really close and learn to work better together," said Bray.

Jeff Bowles, a college cheerleader from the University of Kansas at Lawrence, said learning the value of teamwork and interpersonal skills was one of the two basic goals of the camp. "I played a lot of sports in high school but cheerleading is by far the hardest," Bowles said. "If we can teach the squads to work together, they'll have something really valuable to take home with them."

Bowles and other college cheerleaders from around the country instruct the camp, teaching not only cheering techniques, but how to keep a positive attitude.

"Sometimes when you wake up in the morning, you almost have to force a smile. But then, once everybody starts smiling, it helps everybody feel better about what they're doing," said Bowles.

While the camp is aimed at teaching cheerleaders new techniques and skills, first-year cheerleading coaches like Karen Altenthal glean much from the cheerleaders and other coaches.

Altenthal, the new cheerleading sponsor at Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau, said that attending camp advisors' meetings and watching other coaches has changed her impression of coaching a cheerleading squad.

"I've figured out, by coming here, that being a sponsor does not just mean that I come and watch the girls cheer. There are so many techniques that I have to learn," said Altenthal.

Pam Steighorst, a camp instructor for 16 of its 20 years, said that every aspect of the camp has changed over the years.

"We started out with only about 400 girls, and we had them practicing out on the terraces and in the lawns in the heat," said Steighorst. "We had girls that were passing out from heat exhaustion."

The four-day camp, which ends Saturday, is one of the largest in the country and instructs about 1,300 girls, said Jowan Crites, the university's director of admissions. This week's camp, the second phase of the annual camp, is the largest of the two groups of girls.