Cheerleaders forced to adjust as county prepares for election season

While the Catonsville Stars cheerleaders took first place at a Jan. 21 competition in York, Pa., coach Jaclyn Lilly still saw room for improvement.

"I think we did a great job," Lilly said, noting the team also won the sportsmanship award and a free bid to a national competition in Virginia Beach, Va., in March. "There were a few things, if we had time to clean them up, we would be able to hit better."

Getting that time, so far, has been a challenge for the program.

Eleven days before the competition, up-tempo pop songs filled the auditorium of the Bloomsbury Community Center as 23 girls on the 18-and-under practiced their routines.

At various times, five girls were flung 10 feet into the air where they twisted or flipped before landing safely in the arms of three or four of their teammates.

Finding a facility that can accommodate such high-flying action is not easy, , which makes the center invaluable to program.

The group has called the center on Bloomsbury Avenue home during its fall and winter seasons since the building opened as a community center in 2001, Lilly said.

"We need the high ceilings and the space for our mats because of safety," Lilly said, noting the girls' heads are often more than 15 feet above the floor.

The lower gym's ceiling at the center appears to be about the same height as the community center's auditorium where the girls practiced. But a layer of netting covering the ceiling hangs so low that only girls on the 14-and-under and 10-and-under teams can practice there.

"The 18 and under (team) is too tall to stunt in the lower gym," Lilly said.

But in the winter of an election year, the oldest members of the squad lose practice time at the facility.

That's because the Baltimore County Board of Elections needs it to train more than 2,700 judges from all over the county for the upcoming elections.

Election director Katie Brown said the board has held training sessions at the Bloomsbury Avenue facility since about 2005, when it moved into the third floor at the center.

With the sessions going on, instead of the three cheer squads practicing every Tuesday and Thursday as in non-election years, only the two younger teams will keep that schedule.

The 18-and-under team must shift its practices to Wednesdays and Thursdays, Lilly said.

Last week, the 23-member squad lost the extra practice they typically schedule for the week prior to a competition.

Despite the fact that the Stars won, Lilly said the team generally needs the extra work.

"The impact is that when we have competitions, we need to use the auditorium three nights a week because the routine isn't ready or the stunt isn't being performed safely," Lilly said.

"It's an inconvenience to me, the parents and the girls," Lilly said.

For insurance reasons, Lilly, 31, must attend every practice. With the 18-and-under team's practices moving to Wednesday, Lilly must spend another night away from her home and family. While Lilly's 8-year-old daughter is in the program, she has to leave her 4-year-old son and a 21-month-old daughter home.

Three-year Stars veteran, Nicole Kohlhepp, a senior at Catonsville High School, said having a third practice each week would be nice, but not critical.

"That extra practice would be great, but since we can't have it, it's not like the end of the world," said Kohlhepp, one of the girls who serve as a base for those who are flung into the air. "We'll just have to work harder at the two practices we do have."

Ashlynne Shover, 18, one of the flyers , agreed it's never good to lose practice time, but the girls still have allotted time before the competition to work out any kinks in the routine.

"It could affect some people, but it might not affect other people," Shover said. "We get practice before we actually compete, which helps us, too."

Brown said she has worked with the Baltimore County Department of Parks and Recreation so the Election Board's needs affect programs as little as possible.

But, she noted, the state mandates that judges' training happen prior to each election.

"I didn't want to disrupt the activities any more than I needed to, but this is very important," Brown said. "It was hard for us to find other facilities."

Lilly said that the Board of Elections showed no regard for her program.

"We're not given an option. We are just told they are using it, and my program has to switch days or not practice," Lilly said. "We had to change our practice date to accommodate them when they're not a rec program.

"We don't feel that our program should be impacted at all," she said, adding the 18-and-under cheerleading team is the only program that uses the auditorium.

To get access to the auditorium, Lilly said she attends an allocation meeting to ensure that programs don't have conflicting schedules.

"If everyone else has to go to this allocation meeting and ask for space, why don't they?" Lilly asked.

Lilly said many of her cheerleaders who work or play other sports let their bosses or coaches know about their cheer schedule before the season started in December. Now they are forced to adjust.

Kohlhepp, for example, works 20 hours a week at a grocery store and may have to miss some Wednesday practices.

"(Having practice on Wednesdays) messes not only my schedule up, but it messes up everybody else's schedule up," Kohlhepp said.

Shover balances cheering with a job at a grocery store and school at the Community College of Baltimore County.

Despite her hectic schedule, Shover said the adjustment due to the elections hasn't affected her much.

"I just have to work around it," Shover said, noting she occasionally trades shifts with co-workers. "(Work is) pretty flexible with me."

As for the effect that the schedule shuffling could have on the team, Shover is confident that they can continue to overcome it.

"We all just work as a team and get through whatever we have to," she said.

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