LEADING THE CHEERS
Posted By Luke Edwards
Posted 2 years ago
Xtreme Rebel cheerleading coach, Trista Smitten, doesn't waste time.
Three years ago, at the age of 15, Trista became the youngest cheerleading coach to win a national title. Last year, at 18 years of age she became the youngest coach to win a world title when she coached her senior team to a level three (cheerleading is separated into five levels of competition) world championship in Baltimore.
Trista's mother, and fellow Xtreme cheerleading coach, Tami Smitten, isn't surprised at her success though. "To live in our house, you pretty much have to coach something," she said. "Trista has the natural leadership ability, she's always been able to take control of the situation."
Trista got into cheerleading through her older sister, Candice, who cheers in Florida. She's been in cheerleading for nine years now. Trista was originally with the Midland Superstar cheerleaders, but after two years with that club, she wanted to go in a new direction. After Trista and Tami kicked around the idea of creating their own club for a while, albeit with some trepidation, they eventually decided to go ahead with the plan.
"We had some girls come up and say 'if you guys had your own club we'd cheer for you,' so we did it," said Tami.
Tami and Trista let the girls have their input on nearly everything, letting them choose the name of the club, as well as the colours.
Since then the Xtreme brand has expanded outside of Midland, with Xtreme teams now in Orillia and Newmarket.
Trista has gone on to coach multiple national championship teams, and has took her senior team all the way to the World's Best competition. They participated in the competition last year in Baltimore, and once again came away as the top team.
Because of all the success her senior team has had, this year Trista decided to move them up to level four. There are five levels of cheerleading, with each succeeding level being more competitive. After dominating at level three, the senior team came into this year and held their own at level four.
The seniors opened up the season with wins at the Breath of Life competition as well as the open nationals at California.
In March, the girls travelled to Kitchener to take part in the provincials and walked away with a second place finish. In April, the girls won a Midland-hosted Simcoe County competition before going off and placing an impressive fourth at the nationals in Mississauga.
They also qualified for the World's Best tournament again, but because it was held on the same weekend as the nationals, the girls didn't attend this year.
And to top it off, Trista was approached by the CFL's Toronto Argonauts, who gave her team praise for the high talent level. She was asked if her team would be interested in performing at a halftime show next year. While the details still have to be ironed out, the fact that the Argos would approach Trista shows the level at which she has her athletes performing.
In her time as a coach, Trista has at times found it hard to keep her cheerleaders grounded. It's especially hard, of course, considering the amount of success her team has had in such a short period of time.
Part of the reason she moved the seniors up to level four was to make sure they didn't get complacent and start cutting corners.
"I moved them up to keep them level-headed," she said. "It's sometimes hard to get them to come out to every practice."
Trista insists that competitive cheerleading is nothing like the stereotypes. Like any other sport, cheerleading takes a lot of athleticism and teamwork.
Coaching cheerleading isn't any easier. One of the most time-consuming parts of Trista's job is the choreography. "That's the art of it all, coming up with the routine," she said.
Each year she comes up with a routine, and tries to keep the foundation of that routine throughout the entire year. However, the feedback and comments she gets from judges has her continually tweaking and refining the routine.
While she admits it's a little cliche, Trista says that the highlight of her job is watching her cheerleaders improve. "It's a highlight seeing the kids develop."
Funny thing is, she's still a kid too.
THREE CHEERS
Trista Smitten
Trista Smitten got into cheerleading after watching her older sister, Candice, cheer in Florida. She's been in cheerleading for nine years now.
The 19 year-old, with the help of her mom, Tami, started the Xtreme Cheerleading club seven years ago.
At 15, she coached her team to a Canadian national championship, and last year coached her team to a championship at the World's Best tournament in Balitmore. She was the youngest coach ever to accomplish both feats.
Trista is also involved with the Huronia Gymnastics club.
