TicketsJune 28, 2011
By Shawn Sell
GoBEARCATS.com
Competitive athletes and coaches alike want to go out on top. After years of fighting and training, no matter the sport or activity, going out as a champion is the ultimate way to end a competitive career. Lisa Spears is no different and so after the UC Dance Team captured its second World Championship earlier this spring, she decided it was time to retire as the program's head coach, going out as a winner.
To understand Spears' devotion to the UC Dance Team, you have to go back to the early 1990's when she was a four-year team member as a student. Later, she returned to the program for a one-year stint as an assistant coach, before taking over the reigns of the program for the 1998-99 academic year. Back then, when the Bearcats traveled to the annual National Championships held each January in Florida, they would come home with a ranking just inside the top-10, some years higher and some years lower. Things began to change in 2004 when a new category was introduced at the Championships, one which would ultimately put the UC program on the national map for good.
"In 2004, they opened up the hip-hop category and that was the first time that we hired a professional choreographer to do our routines and that really opened up some doors for us," Spears recalls. "We won those first three back-to-back which brought so many kids to our program."
As if winning the inaugural hip-hop championship wasn't enough, the Bearcat program ripped off titles in each of the first three years after the category was introduced. The team added a fourth crown in 2009, along with another prestigious honor that Spears couldn't be more proud of.
"I am most proud of being selected as the first-ever Team USA," she says. "That was a pretty awesome moment."
At the first-ever ICU World Championship, competing against dance teams from around the world, the Bearcats tasted glory, not only for themselves, but also for their country by winning gold medals in all three categories to earn status as World Champions. Despite finishing runner-up in both jazz and hip-hop at the 2011 collegiate championships, UC was once again selected as Team USA and didn't disappoint, grabbing its second World Title. Through all the championships and accolades, Spears says dancers from across the country started making the decision to attend UC to have the opportunity at a coveted spot on the Bearcat roster.
"We don't recruit, so pretty much once you make a name for yourself, kids will come," she says. "Now, we have girls that come here just to be on the dance team, that's why they come to UC. We have two girls that came here from the state of Washington and they are literally from across the United States."
With the program on solid ground, thanks to the National and World Championships, Spears admits that she began thinking earlier this season that this may be the time to step away as head coach. After 14 years of involvement, Spears was ready to pursue other life goals and continue her day job as office manager/paralegal for the law firm Eagen and Wykoff. While she says she will miss the "family aspect" the most, the timing couldn't have been better to retire as a champion.
"I wanted to go out with a bang and we did," Spears says. "We went out winning both of the world titles and it was an awesome way to end. When we went out like that, we got selected Team USA and then won, it was kind of that confirming moment that I made the right decision. It feels great to go out on top. You can't ask for much more than going out representing your country and winning two gold medals; it's pretty amazing."