She attends nearly every sports game, rooting for her Blue Jays. Perky senior Shanavia Thomas is the backbone of the Southfield High varsity cheerleading team.
This high-profile role is no surprise because she comes from a very “cheerful” family.
Thomas’s parents, Wayne and Janice Thomas, were both cheerleaders in their younger days. Wayne cheered for the Milan Tigers Youth Organization, which originated in northwest Detroit. He says, “I began cheering to get girls, but it was also a very fun thing to do.”
Wife Janice Thomas shook it for the Detroit Cubs.
Shanavia’s older sister, Jazzmin Thomas, was head cheerleader during her years at Southfield. After Jazzmin graduated in 2008, younger sister Shanavia took over the role as the head cheerleader, but she only cheers on two occasions: day and night.
“If I’m not cheering, I’m probably thinking about it. Even in my sleep. That’s where a lot of my new moves come from,” Shanavia says.
Both of the Thomas sisters were competitive toward each other, forming a sibling rivalry. “When we used to cheer for (Police Athletic League), I was moved up to a higher team because coaches said I had high cheer abilities,” says Shanavia. “My sister and I ended up on the same team, and we both strived for the spotlight.”
Now, with big sis in the stands as a spectator, the spotlight is on little sis Shanavia. Every cheer to every dance performance has her name written on it. Shanavia choreographs every dance performance by herself before teaching it to her team mates. Team mate Jacenya Harmon has nothing but great things to say about her cheer captain. “Shanavia is a very skilled dancer,” says Harmon. “Her choreography is sometimes challenging, but always on point. I’m glad our team is under her direction, and I’m happy she shares her moves with me,” the senior says.
Junior Thomas Kolleh, who has attended a majority of the home basketball games this season, says Shanavia Thomas stands out from her squad, and not just because she’s the smallest one, the one who gets tossed in the air during stunts: “She’s the most energetic and entertaining; we need more cheerleaders like her.”
Kolleh says Shanavia makes cheerleading look easy, but the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says it ain’t so. According to its 26th annual report on cheerleading injuries,there were 1,116 catastrophic injuries from cheerleading in high school and college sports in the 2007-2008 school year.
The study further reveals that high school cheerleading was associated with 152 fatalities, 379 minor boo-boos and 374 serious injuries, making cheerleading a rather dangerous sport, to the surprise of many.
The Thomas cheerleading legacy, which has been injury free, is soon to end. After high school, Shanavia says she plans to hang up her pom-poms and quit shaking what her mama gave her, to pursue a career in dance. She plans to major in business and minor in dance, as in give me a “D-A-N-C-E.”
Her dream is to open a dance studio in an urban city – do we hear Detroit? – to inspire other girls to pursure their dreams of becoming dancers. Until then, the beat goes on