The Allen County-Scottsville High School cheer team will have a new
coach for the upcoming season. Veteran educator Diane Towe has been selected to
lead the cheer program at the high school.
“If you would have told me 10 years ago that I would be coaching cheer I
would have laughed you out of the room,” Towe explained. “However, my daughter
Cora started cheering about 11 years ago. I have gone with her to practice and
competitions for 11 years and I’ve grown to love this sport.”
Towe was a two-sport athlete at Allen County-Scottsville High School.
She played basketball under coach David Young and softball for coach Wayne Hanes.
Following graduation in 1994, Towe attended Eastern Kentucky University where
she earned a degree in Elementary Education. Upon graduation from EKU, Towe
returned home. She is currently the physical education educator at the Allen
County Primary Center.
As her daughter has developed her talents through cheer programs, Towe has
learned the sport. Last year, Towe assisted former coach Amy Sloan. The new
coach feels that her years of being involved as a parent and her experience as
an assistant coach is something that will help her step into the head coaching
role
“Being a parent gives me a perspective of where the parents are coming
from,’ Towe said. “So when I make decisions, I will do so as far as what is
best for the team and what is best for the parents.”
Looking at cheerleading today, Towe notes that the sport itself has
changed since her days in high school. In addition to the time-honored
tradition of cheerleaders leading students and fans from the sidelines,
cheerleaders today also compete in various competitions at the region, state,
and national levels. Towe enters the head coaching role with a desire to build
a program that will focus on the total scope of what cheerleading offers.
“I would like to see our numbers increase and the participation increase
from the students and spectators,” Towe noted. “I would like to see more girls
participate.”
On the floor, Towe says her cheerleaders---currently a young but
experienced team---will have a new focus this year and a change in competition routines
from last year.
“We are looking at doing a two-and-a-half-minute routine rather than the
game day cheer we did last year,” Towe explained. “I also wat our girls to
focus more on tumbling skills. We will have zero seniors right now but we only
have one cheerleader that has not cheered before. We will be young but will
have cheerleaders who have a lot of insight into cheerleading.”
Towe is hopeful to soon offer a second round of cheerleading tryouts to
perhaps build numbers---numbers that will help AC-S adopt to changes coming
from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA)
“KHSAA took over competitive cheer several years ago and they are making
some changes,” Towe explained. “. Recently they combined regions. We no longer
have regional competitions but sectionals. They also did away with sizes (classification
base on squad sizes). For example, last year we had 12 girls that was competing
against a large co-ed team. It’s hard for 12 to compete against 20.”
Towe is also looking forward to working alongside the high school Pep
Club to promote additional activities to engage students and fans for ball
games in the upcoming season.