Cheerleading in Vietnam

- As my great friend, Christy Papania Jones, said, "It was only a matter of time."

A high school here in the city, Ngo Quyen High School, is starting up a cheerleading squad, and the P.E. teacher there in charge of it just happens to be an old student of mine. So, I got "recruited," shall we say to come in and teach them some stunts. I haven't taught cheer since December of 2006 - four and a half years, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until today. It was definitely interesting trying to explain things in a foreign language, but I had a blast, and the team learned so much! They have a competition coming up in December, and I'm going to choreograph a routine for them - just like in the olden days. Watch out, Vietnam, because Michael Strahan, six-time national champion coach and choreographer, is on the cheer scene here now!

Enjoy some photos below of today's event.

Here I am teaching the proper technique to load in for a prep.

Here they are doing a hanging drill to teach the flyer not to put weight in her feet.

Practicing a dismount.

Teaching the flyer what NOT to do in the air.

And, at last, an extension!