If you were looking for a perfect candidate to herald as Athlete of the Week, Eden Concoff might be the ideal nominee. Concoff, a senior at Malibu High, is largely responsible for bringing back to the MHS athletic fields that motivating element vital to any real high school sporting event—the cheering squad.
When she was in seventh grade, Concoff asked her math teacher, Melisa Andino, what sports she had played in high school. Andino told her she was a cheerleader—a concept of sporting participation that Concoff had never considered. One year later, Concoff approached Andino about starting a Malibu High cheering squad.
“She knew nothing about cheerleading, but thought the Malibu High teams should have one,” Andino said. “We auditioned some girls and that first year, we cheered city sports since the middle school has no sports teams. By Eden’s ninth grade, we started a varsity cheer team and it brought a whole new dynamic to the school’s sports teams.”
Andino was skeptical of the squad’s success at first. She only wanted to help organize a team if they “did it right.” Would they have administrative support? Would they look good? Be prepared?
Concoff, who had been dancing since age two, approached building a squad with the same determination that guided her schoolwork. She found girls ready to dedicate serious after-school hours. She was thrilled when Andino brought on board a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Makenzie Swicegood, to choreograph routines.
“I had been dancing for 14 years, but cheering is entirely different,” Concoff said. “Dancing is an art form. Cheering is a sport. And one you have to be very precise with or it can be dangerous.”
The squad’s hard work paid off. They won first place in the Sharp International cheer competition two years in a row. They won first place in the (Small Varsity) West Coast Championship. Concoff herself is a three-time All-American cheerleader and was twice recognized by the Universal Cheerleading Association as an outstanding team leader with their Pin It Forward leadership award.
This is all the more remarkable because Concoff was diagnosed, at age seven, with severe idiopathic scoliosis, a disorder that has inexorably pulled her spine to a 49-degree curvature.
For the first several years after the diagnosis, she wore a brace 24 hours a day, which Concoff likened to a plastic corset that aimed to keep her spine as straight as possible. Her doctors advised against any type of rigorous exercise, like dance or cheerleading, a recommendation that Concoff promptly ignored.
“The biggest problem Eden has now is dealing with the pain,” said Concoff’s mother, Reva Feldman, who is the assistant city manager for the City of Malibu. “It’s gotten to the point that there are some things she just physically can’t do. But she wanted to do something for the school, and she just doesn’t stop.”
Andino said she is amazed at Concoff’s determination to push through the physical challenges.
“Sometimes, I have to pull up her skirt on one side because there is asymmetry,” Andino said. “But Eden is just fearless. Because she is so tiny, she’s a great “flyer” (she performs most of the team’s aerial stunts). The truth is, the Malibu High cheering squad would not exist without Eden.”
Concoff’s intense concentration has served her well in other capacities. She was elected sophomore and junior class president. She has worked on the Malibu City Youth Commission since 2007, where she served as chair and vice chair. This past summer she was selected to be a delegate by the Junior State of America and spent 3 weeks at their Stanford University leadership program.
She has been passionately active in statewide education issues through the California Association of Student Councils. With them, she drafted and presented potential legislation to the State Board of Education and the state Senate Advisory Committee on Legislation.
“One was a draft I did for a Student’s Bill of Rights,” Concoff said. “I also drafted a proposal for eliminating the teacher tenure system. I think they listened to us.”
Concoff has applied to several universities to study educational foundations next year. And she wants to be a college cheerleader so much so that she is delaying, against doctors’ recommendations, surgery that will prevent her from participating in any athletic endeavors for a full year.
“I don’t let this thing define me,” Concoff said. “What I am is a cheerleader.”
