Loveland, Ohio – Being a competitive cheer coach is hard work. Being an occupational therapist for special needs children is tough. Fighting cancer takes toughness.Doing all three at the same time?Seemingly impossible, yet at Loveland High School, it’s exactly what Varsity Cheerleading Coach Emily Christman has been doing for the past year.
Loveland High School Varisty Cheer Coach Emily Christman(Photo Provided)
Emily is a Xavier University grad where she cheered for the Muskies basketball team while working on her Master’s degree for Occupational Therapy.She made her way to Loveland in 2015 filling in for a cheerleading coach on maternity leave, parlaying into full time coaching status by 2017.Everything was moving along as planned until October of 2019 when Christman’s life would be forever changed.
A trip to the doctor and multiple scans and tests would reveal that Emily Christman had cancer in the breast and lymph nodes.“The entire month of October was just a whirlwind…and by November I was starting chemo.”Christman would require treatments every three weeks, receiving six of them in total.
“I feel very fortunate because I didn’t really have some of the heavy hitting side effects that some people can get.” As if the pandemic wasn’t enough to deal with, fast-forward to March of 2020 when Emily would need a double mastectomy.The next few months would see more radiation treatments through the month of May, and even now Emily still has to go in for a treatment once every three weeks, which will last until January.
This story is re-published with the permission of the Loveland High School Athletic Department where it was first published.
Never allowing herself to get down about it all she is quick to point out that even these current treatments are not nearly as taxing as they might seem.“Again, all things considered, it really was probably the best of the worst situation.”
While one might think a cancer diagnosis would slow someone down, it seemed to have the opposite effect on Emily as she was just recently married in August, so for those of you keeping track, that would be two full time jobs, fighting off cancer, and planning/getting married all happening simultaneously.
Her diagnosis hasn’t slowed down the ability to get the best out of Loveland Tigers competitive cheer squad either: 2018 saw the team place 3rd in the Eastern Cincinnati Conference (ECC), and 2019 had them climb up to 2nd place.“There’s only one spot left to climb and we definitely have the girls to do it…it’s just an awesome group that we have.”
Emily could not have had a better attitude when I spoke with her about everything she’s been through and she is truly a success story and someone Loveland Athletic Director Brian Conatser is happy to have.As for the secret behind making the oftentimes chaotic schedule work and the long car rides between jobs?Emily kept it simple, “that’s what podcasts and E-books are for.”
Congrats to Jessie Gibbins who was the top HS girl finisher in the 37th Annual Newtown 5k Run with a time of 19:57
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland Tiger fans gather around as August 1st marked the first official day of Loveland High School Fall sports! With scrimmages, practices and pre-season tournaments in full swing, the Tigers have been really working hard to get prepared for the first competition of the 2019-2020 season and Loveland Magazine plans on being there every step of the way! Each week we will be releasing a summary informing our readers about what has been going in the world of Loveland High School sports. There is nothing more important than the future of our community and our children so by releasing the Loveland Sports 411 each week we believe this will get the community and the children the recognition they deserve!
Last Thursday Loveland High School welcomed Tiger fans to the 2019-2020 Meet the Team Night. The scene was set in the Loveland High School gym where the marching band kicked off the night with a performance followed by the Tiger Cheerleaders putting on quite the show! The following teams and coaches were introduced on Thursday night to their friends, families and die-hard Tiger fans, Girls Volleyball coached by Brain Baugh, Girls Soccer coached by Todd Kelly, Boys Soccer coached by Mike Dunlap, Girls Tennis coached by Dara Hudson, Girls Golf coached by Barb Orsinelli, Boys Golf coached by David Allan, Cheer Team coached by Emily Christman, Boys and Girls Cross Country coached by Steve Nester and Football coached by Andy Cruse.
Fall Sports 2019 Meet the Team Video with music by the marching band:
Introducing the LHS Cheer Teams led by Head Coach Emily Christman!
This week several Loveland High School teams participated in competitions where many of the Tiger athletes already started making a name for themselves!
Introducing the Girls Volleyball Team, led by Head Coach Brian Baugh! Go Tigers!Follow Loveland Girls Volleyball at https://twitter.com/lovelandtigersv
The Girls Volleyball team competed in a scrimmage against former state champions, Ursuline, on Friday night. The Tigers made a strong showing on Friday that got many fans on twitter excited for the season!
The Girls Volleyball Teams have a couple of games this week, one that will take place on August 13th at 9:30 PM against Lakota East at LHS and another that will take place on August 17th at Fairfield High school at Noon.
Introducing the Girls Soccer Teams, led by Head Coach Todd Kelly!Introducing the Boys Soccer teams, led by Head Coach Mike Dunlap!
The Boys and Girls Soccer Team participated in some hard-fought scrimmage battles this week in preparation for their first games of the season. The Girls Soccer Team faced Lakota East on Wednesday at LHS while the Boys Soccer Team faced Indian Hill on Tuesday at Indian Hill High School and Elder on Thursday at Elder High School. The Girls Soccer Team will be back in action this week for a scrimmage at LHS against Seton on Monday at 7 PM and then again on Tuesday at Seton High School at 7 PM. The Boys Soccer Team will be kicking there way to Carrol High School for a scrimmage Tuesday at 7 PM.
Introducing the Girls Tennis teams, led by Head Coach Dara Hudson!
The Girls Tennis team has been working hard in practice preparing for their first matches, which will be on Monday, August 12th at Beavercreek at 4 PM and Wednesday, August 14th at Wyoming at 4 PM.
Introducing the Boys Golf team, led by Head Coach David Allan!
The Girls and Boys Golf Teams had several successful swings at the ECC Preseason Tournament this week. The ECC Preseason Tournament for the Boys Golf Team was held on August 7th at Glenview Golf Course, where the Tigers finished at the top making them the official ECC Preseason Tournament Champions. The Tigers won with 302 strokes nearly eight strokes ahead of Anderson. Loveland’s very own Tyler Vallee was the top medalist with 70 strokes for the Tigers. The ECC Preview for the Girls Golf Team was held on August 8th at Walden Ponds Golf Course. The Tigers rallied together and finished 5th with 392 strokes. Allison Rountree was the top lady Tiger finisher, placing 9th overall with 83 strokes.
Both Loveland High School and many proud parents took photos from the preseason tournament. Check them out on Instagram and Twitter.
The Girls Golf Team will be back in action at Turpin on the Terrace Park CC on August 12th at 3 PM and then again on August 13th against Anderson at Reeves at 3:25 PM. The Boys Golf Team will compete on August 15th at Hickory Woods Golf Course against Anderson at 4 PM.
Introducing the Boys Cross-Country program, led by Head Coach Steve Nester!Congrats to Jessie Gibbins who was the top HS girl finisher in the 37th Annual Newtown 5k Run with a time of 19:57
Although the Boys and Girls Cross Country teams haven’t competed in any ECC meets yet, as they will first compete at Moeller on August 23rd for the Primetime Invitational, both teams got a little preseason competition on Saturday at the 37th Annual Newtown 5k Run. Photos of the big run were captured by many of the runner’s families and friends on Saturday! Check them out on Twitter, and here on Twitter.
Introducing the Football Teams, led by Head Coach Andy Cruse!
The Loveland Tigers Football Team has been putting in a lot of preseason hard work with their new head coach, Andy Cruse! The Tigers put their preseason hard work to use this week as they participated in a scrimmage Friday at home against New Richmond in preparation for their first official game, which takes place on August 30th at Sycamore at 7 PM. The team will travel to scrimmage Fairmont High school Friday, August 16th at 7 PM and then Loveland High School will host a jamboree against Northwest High School Friday, August 23rd at 7 PM for their last pre-season game.
….and that’s the weekly Loveland Sports 411 with Cassie Mattia.
Loveland, Ohio – 
