Davis, who coaches the Grant rally team, sees the year so far as a great success. Consisting of 19 members, nine of whom are returning letter winners, the squad hopes to participate in fi ve competitions, including the OSAA State Championship in February.

Davis says this year’s team is full of “quick learners with lots of talent.” It includes three freshmen, an all-time high for a Grant rally squad. Their talent is being nurtured through hard work; although the team’s fi rst competition is Dec. 1, its members began training with a choreographer in October.

Junior and returning member Morgan Battaglia describes a typical practice, saying, “they are all about our competition routine and gaining skills towards that.” Cross training is also a signifi cant aspect of practice. The team runs on the track or completes stair exercises, as well as stretching, jumps and kicks.

In addition to training, practices also involve many dangerous moves such as lifting people into the air, which Battaglia describes as one of the “most physical and dangerous aspects of cheerleading.” Davis says these moves require “lots of trust in each other. [Practices] can be emotional.”

On Sept. 25, tumbling practice became more emotional than usual. Junior Trà Ford, a two-year member of Grant’s rally team, and the only male cheerleader in the PIL, fractured his tibia in an attempt to complete a stunt called the “round-off back handspring tuck.” “I’ve never done [the handspring] before, and I landed wrong,” says Ford of the accident.

Ford has since returned to action. He says that being the lone male on the squad is “diffi cult, but lots of fun.” Referring to his female teammates, he says, “They’re like my sisters.”

Battaglia adds, “The team dynamics are pretty strong.” She goes on to say that this year’s team is “diverse,” which she believes brings the team “a lot of strength as well as a variety of skills.” In addition to practicing for competition, the team has kept busy cheering for other school sports. “We try to cheer for all sports, with an emphasis on football and both mens’ and womens’ basketball,” says Davis.

With the time, commitment, and effort required of the team members, comes the extensive responsibilities of the coach. Davis logs in hours of organizing, teaching and training, spanning the year as opposed to a single season. However, though Davis puts in the yearlong time Above, Tra' Ford leads a cheer on the Grant steeps. Photo by Doug Winn and effort, she currently receives less pay than seasonal coaches. Head football and basketball coaches in the Portland district receive 18 percent of their base pay, while rally coaches receive only eight.

Last November, Davis wrote a letter to PAT, the Portland Association of Teachers, addressing what she, along with other staff, view as a crucial inequality in the pay scale. Davis wrote that “with the changing of times comes a need to create equity in compensation for cheer coaches.”

As the 2007-08 union representative for Grant High School, English teacher James Zartler helped Davis “make her case” to PAT. Zartler comments that Davis’s pay “hasn’t been changed in a long time.” Zartler went on to say that PAT is currently going through contract negotiations, hopefully resulting in a pay change for rally coaches throughout the Portland district.

This disparity in percent of base pay among high school coaches is not unique to the Portland district: in the Gresham- Barlow district, head football coaches receive 15 percent of base pay while rally coaches receive 8 percent.

The ongoing contract negotiation “is a step in the right direction,” Davis says, “but the issue still needs to be looked at for equity for all sports.”

The 2008-09 school year marks Davis’s sixth year as a rally coach, and she is looking forward to what the rest of the season has in store.