Only someone listening very closely might hear a German accent
among the scramble of the Live Oak High School cheerleaders’
”
ready … OKs!
”
Only someone listening very closely might hear a German accent among the scramble of the Live Oak High School cheerleaders’ “ready … OKs!”
The girls lunge with one arm on their hips and one toward the ceiling at Motions Cheer Gym in San Jose; it’s where they work on back handsprings, standing toe touches and the launching of the most petite cheerleaders high into the air to twirl and spin until they land in their teammates’ arms.
It’s this team and these practices that Tanja Hagelganz, 17, had only dreamt about back in Bochum, Nordrhein Westfalen in West Germany.
Tanja, pronounced “Tanya,” said she’s “the kind of girl who wants to have big adventures,” like leaving her home 5,000 miles away and living in California for a year, attending Live Oak.
With a little creativity, talent and wherewithal she made one of her dreams come true – becoming an American cheerleader.
“It’s amazing, that’s the first word I can say about it,” Tanja said.
Just like the movies
Tanja stepped onto a real-life set of the 2000 movie “Bring It On” – minus the stereotypical cattiness – by way of some savvy computer know-how and a little help from her dad who runs a photography business. She said that once she knew Morgan Hill was going to be her home, she looked up the two high schools in town and found cheer adviser Darcy Foster’s e-mail address.
Foster was surprised to find in her in-box an e-mail sent from Germany. Tanja wrote to introduce herself and included a link to her home video – “It’s one of my biggest dreams to be member of an American cheerleader team,” she wrote in the first e-mail.
Tanja read online that the tryouts were in the spring before she would land in the U.S. But she wanted so badly to be on the team.
“I’m not here, so how can I show them? How can I try out?” Tanja said about how she and her dad came up with the idea to send a video of Tanja doing cheer stunts and routines.
“I don’t know how much about Live Oak or even how she knew about our cheer team, but she was excited to be considered. When we saw the video, we talked about it and talked with the principal,” Foster said.
It wasn’t just her dream of being an American cheerleader that got her into a Live Oak cheer uniform, but some raw talent. She’s quick-thinking and all-smiles with a lot of spunk, a foolproof addition to any cheer squad. Foster said that after they watched her video they knew she had the skills to keep up with their squad of two dozen varsity cheerleaders many of whom have been on teams since childhood. But Tanja’s an old pro, this year marks her sixth of jumps, kicks and dancing.
Foster said she explained to Tanja that if she can pay for her uniform – something all Live Oak cheerleaders must do – they would love to have her and e-mailed: “Consider yourself on the team.”
Tanja was beyond thrilled.
“I think it’s a really great experience to come to the USA and do the sport where it actually was founded,” Tanja said.
Foster and Tanja exchanged dozens of e-mails as her arrival in mid-August approached, along with sending her measurements so her uniform would be ready just in time for football season. This year Live Oak introduced the first competition team, different from the JV and varsity squads that cheer at games – the girls incorporate more stunts, don’t shake pom-poms and dance in longer routines. Tanja made that team with ease.
“Everyone’s really nice and it’s just so much fun and everyone has so much energy that you’re just motivated to do your best and go on the stage and smile,” Tanja said.
She’s the first foreign exchange student on any Live Oak cheer team in recent memory, Foster said.
“You can tell she’s enjoyed every minute of it,” cheer adviser Tracie Shumate said after practice last month. Shumate is one of three cheer advisers along with Foster and Barb Bonfiglio.
“She’s been a pleasure having on the team,” said Kayla Lemos, a sophomore and Live Oak’s team captain. “She picked up everything really fast, she just got right into it.”
Saturday, the competition team placed second at the Aloha International Spirit Championships at the San Jose Convention Center. While Tanja’s English is near-perfectly precise, the only real difference among the girls and Tanja is her accent. She chats in between practice run-throughs, hairspraying and applying bright red lipstick.
In a way that only cheerleaders or twins might do well, two advisers said at the same time, “We’ve loved having her here.”
Studying, stories and prom
Her best California friends, Lysette Abarca, 16, and Jessica Waller, 18, spend every weekend together – going to drive-in movies in San Jose, eating with their boyfriends in Morgan Hill and most recently outlining their shopping excursions for shoes, jewelry and the perfect dress for senior prom.
Tanja, who carries a 4.0 GPA at Live Oak, said schooling in Germany is much more rigorous with less focus on socializing and extracurricular activities. Activities like cheerleading aren’t affiliated with her school, and are more like a club team, and the same goes with other sports and boy-girl dances.
Tanja has been trying to convince her friends and their prom dates to eat at a German restaurant before the big dance in May as a way to introduce them to a part of her culture.
“The food will look fancier to you,” Tanja said. “It’s so yummy … potatoes, sauerkraut …”
The mention of sauerkraut is met with crinkled noses and uncertain frowns, “Ew! Noooo!”
“It’s good … you don’t have to if you don’t like,” Tanja cracked.
The girls are shoulder to shoulder with books in hand, each wearing jeans and a hoodie or sweatshirt. They talked more about prom and “The Hangover” before scurrying to class at the sound of the bell.
“I get to cheer on the football field … we don’t get to do that in Germany,” she said. “And wear my uniform to school. I’ve always wanted to do that. It’s great.
“When you come here and you meet like over a 100 new people you just learn social skills just by coming and talking to all of them and getting to know them.”
Jessica and Lysette are excited to visit Tanja in Germany, maybe as early as next winter break.
“Oh my gosh, it’s going to be so cold there,” Jessica said.
Tanja even wants to stay an extra four weeks once school is out all in the name of independence. No, she isn’t simply trying to avoid the inevitable good-bye hugs and tears or stretch out her time away from home. She wants to ride out her cheerleading experience just a bit longer to march with her squad in the annual 4th of July parade downtown.
She said her plan once she does go back is to study psychology and journalism at a university – she’s even started some of her own information gathering in reference to her future.
“Now I’m not sure anymore (about California) because I’ve heard so much about the politics. And I’ve already lived here a year and I think it would be nice to get to know another place,” she said.
Maybe she’ll change her mind – but if Tanja doesn’t, Live Oak will always be the setting of her American dream.
