Cheering Champs Follow Their Leader

After leaving Canoga Park High School, her alma mater and the place where she led cheerleading squads to national victories for 13 years, Carolyn Purkey was not one to sit idle.

The Agoura Hills resident was hired as a substitute at Oak Park High School and took on the cheerleading program there part time.

At the same time, she began recruiting former students to form an all-star squad, wanting to give them the opportunities they told her were lost after she left Canoga Park.

“I had some of these kids for two and three years,” she said. “I felt a loyalty to them, a commitment to these athletes. I felt like I deserted them.”

The 1975 Canoga Park graduate resigned as the school’s coach last summer, citing a lack of support from the administration. The program, which her students said just wasn’t the same without her, disintegrated before the winter break.

Canoga Park school officials could not be reached for comment.

Purkey’s new squad, the Elite Co-ed All Stars, is made up of students from the Las Virgenes area, the West Valley, and even Lancaster and Los Angeles. Most of the 20 boys and girls on the squad are former Canoga cheerleaders.

The squad, which has been practicing at Monarch’s Gymnastics in Agoura Hills since November, quickly made a name for itself in cheerleading circles, especially in the growing all-star/club division.

Since forming, it has been named national champions at the United Spirit Assn. competition and Southern California regional champions in the Universal Cheerleader Assn.

The squad will compete again today for the UCA West Coast Championship at UC Irvine.

Although the troupe does not compete nationally against high schools, it does enter contests against dozens of similar squads, formed for the sole purpose of competing. Many on the squad said that “Perk” won their loyalty with her dedication to them and to the sport.

“She’s tough, but she’d do anything for us,” said Joanna Kleftogiannis, 16, a Canoga High junior. “No coach would spend as much time with us as she does, and she wouldn’t do that unless she believed in us.”