2025 DDCA Awards Banquet

The second annual DDCA Awards Banquet honors nominees and recipients of the Assistant Coaches of the Year, Coaches of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award recipients, and other honors within the dance team community.

As we embrace a second week into the Dance/Drill postseason recovery period, members of the DDCA community came together once again for an evening of celebration and recognition.  On Saturday, April 5, the Second Annual DDCA Awards Banquet was held at Antonia Ballroom in Canby, Oregon.  The Awards Banquet is a newer addition to the many shifting DDCA traditions, and although working out its kinks and fine tuning, the well-intended ceremony is navigating its way into our seasonal events and processes. The banquet was an appropriate and joyous gathering of many members of our dance team community. Attendees included personalities that have not only been with the DDCA family for dozens of years, but also many newer faces that have just begun their legacies within the Dance Team and DDCA family. 

After the popular opinion to keep the OSAA State Championships focused on our young dancers, the DDCA let go of rewarding coach and leadership accomplishments during the championship event.  The nominations and certain winners are still announced at the State Championships through an abbreviated process, but DDCA Awards Banquet allows for a more focused and appropriate ceremony for the awards. 

The process of recognizing DDCA members and finalizing award winners is layered, with several people behind the scenes working hard to collect nominations and facilitate the gathering of various honorees as smoothly as possible on short timeline.  Karalee Kyllo, head coach at West Linn, was the lead organizer for the event, with unaffiliated and neutral members of the DDCA membership tasked with tallying the votes and organizing the awards. Baylee White, head coach at Mountainside, stepped up to be master of ceremonies, taking on the tough job of reading the long biographies of the various winners, and moving the event along. 

Recognized at the banquet were Assistant Coaches of the Year, Coaches of the Year, other coaching successes within and beyond DDCA, and the new Lifetime Achievement Award inductees. 

Earlier in the season, "Of the Year" nominees were announced through social media and at the OSAA State Championships, accompanied by enthusiasm and cheers from each of their teams and communities.  Nominees for 1A-4A, 5A, and 6A classifications were as follows:

The final nominees for Assistant Coach of the Year included the following amazing coaches:  1A-4A coaches Chloe Seets (Marshfield), Piper Besst (Pendleton), and Danielle Upton (Valley Catholic); 5A coaches James Healey (Canby) and Wes Wachob (Parkrose); and 6A coaches Criss Haneberg (Cleveland), Hailey Coulter (Sherwood), and Emily Salter Cook (Sprague).

The final nominees for Coach of the Year included the following outstanding coaches: 1A-4A coaches Ashleigh Romero (Grant Union), Debbie Kishpaugh (Pendleton), and Ally Britton (Scappoose); 5A coaches Ryan Sanford (Milwaukie) and Danielle Schneider (Parkrose); and 6A coaches Elle Marlett (Reynolds) and Ally Carney (Tualatin) 

An amazing list of names, loved by their communities and dance team families.  These coaches have proved year after year that they show up for their teams through good and bad times with positivity, perseverance, and dedication.  Each of these nominees have established and successful programs, mutual respect for each other and the hard work it takes to lead a team from one season to the next, and have established themselves in many areas of the dance team community.

All nominees are deserving of recognition above and beyond what they have already received. Recipients of the DDCA Assistant Coach of the Year awards were Piper Besst (1A-4A), James Healey (5A), and Emily Slater Cook (6A).  Recipients of the DDCA Coach of the Year Awards were Debbie Kishpaugh (1A-5A), Danielle Schneider (5A), and Elle Marlett (6A).  As we know, a "coach of the year," whether recognized with plaque or not, is really determined by the young and fabulous dancers on our teams, the love and trust they show us through all the ups and downs, and the reciprocal love we can’t help but return to them year after year. 

Lifetime inductees were another highlight of the evening. Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award is a profound honor, bestowed upon a select few influential figures within Oregon's dance team community. It recognizes those whose dedication, years of service, and unwavering involvement have left a lasting legacy. Their journey, marked by both triumphs and challenges, reflects a deep commitment to mentorship, artistry, and a passionate love for dance.

As some of the faces in our community come and go, a few of these faces have been around for decades. Annie Ellet, Dave McCall, Vernita Reyna, and Laurel McAfee were indirectly proof of this during their impassioned words honoring some of the newest Lifetime Achievement inductees.  These well-established dance team voices guided the banquet audience through a memory lane of the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s in their remarks honoring three of the newest DDCA Lifetime Achievement Inductees: Sueanne Williams, Coralie Rose, and Lynne McEachern.   Also inducted into this powerhouse list of lifetime achievement inductees was Karalee Kyllo, honored through lovely words articulated by her assistant coach Julie Leftridge.   This blend of newer dance team faces paving their way among the lifetime faces who set the groundwork, was an example of the simple beauty that dance team provides for not only our young dancers, but those of us who choose to become part of the "dance team for life" crowd. Congrats to Karalee, Sueanne, Coralie, and Lynne, whose influence has impacted generations of dancers and colleagues throughout the years.

Mentioned during the ceremony were recipients of the Oregon Athletic Coaches Association (OACA) Coach of the Year for Dance & Drill: Megan Hoffman, Valley Catholic (1A-3A); Debbie Kishpaugh, Pendleton (4A), Megan Lofton, Lebanon (5A), and Trisha Herndon, Sherwood (6A). Also recognized were National Dance Coaches Association (NDCA) High School Coach of the year nominees, James Healey (Canby) and Trisha Herndon (Sherwood).

Danielle Schneider, the current DDCA Board Chair, dance team judge, and head coach at Parkrose, was honored with a DDCA Service Award for her endless contributions to the DDCA Membership and community. Her honor was officially announced at the OSAA State Championship, but didn't go unnoticed at the Awards Banquet as well. Also receiving the DDCA Service Award honor was Kristen Alarcon, announced at the State Championships, for her dedication to streamlining the tabulation process at dance team competitions and her service on the Judges Affiliation Leadership Team (JALT).

The DDCA Community, imperfect and impassioned as it is, needs to allow some space to take a breath and recognize all layers of our collective dance team journey. Perhaps the Awards Banquet is a step towards that, but every year we start anew and navigate our way through a new season of coaching dynamics with new teams. We wipe away the raindrops that hit the floor at the state championships, trying to keep our dancers safe and successful, we wipe away the tears of pain as our young dancers discover that life can be hard, and we celebrate the tears of joy when our young dancers become overwhelmed with the highs of their dance team successes.

As coaches and leaders we are sometimes forced to overlook and set aside that we are also in this journey of highs, lows, successes, failures, raindrops, tears of pain, and tears of joy. We are all individually and uniquely imperfect and impassioned. We can take time to appreciate that, with or without an awards banquet. Whether it is recognized with a plaque for the wall that represents a year of experiences that were noticed, or perhaps more importantly, maybe it is recognized through a simple smile or a hug from someone who knows what you are going through, year after year. Within the competitive rises and falls, between the moments if highs and lows, we are allowed to help each other make the journey worth it. Wherever it begins and wherever it resolves for you, "dance team for life" applies to not only actions, but also memories. Make space for the memories that warm your heart and move you forward.