UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, May 2,1994
7
Former KU cheerleader chosen to cheer on Chiefs
By Frank McCleary Kansan staff writer
Lovena Stamatiou-Tuley rests after doing chin-ups at the Total Fitness Athletic Center, 2108 W. 27th St. Stamatiou-Tuley graduated from KU in December 1993 and has been named as Kansas City Chiefs cheerleader for next season.
Tom Leininger / KANSAN
Take performances in two Olympic ceremonies, two years as a KU cheerleader and mix it with KU Medical School's physical therapy program.
But don't forget a position as a cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs football team.
That's Lovena Stamatiou-Tuley. But that's not all. She's also a body builder.
Statium-Tuley, a December 1993 KU graduate with a degree in exercise science, said she spends about two hours a day, seven days a week, perfecting body building, her latest hobby. She said she started about a year-and-half ago after being encouraged by her fiance, Marty.
"I got started when I was a cheerleader," she said. "I like size, and I like strength."
She grew up in Gladstone, Mo., with her Greek-immigrant father, her mother and brother.
Physical activity started at an early age for Stamatium-Tuley, 24.
"we were always tumbling around the living room," she said. "I had so much energy that my parents put me in a gymnasium class at age four."
She tumbled into dancing when she was 13. She joined a dance troupe in Kansas City, Mo., that was invited to perform in the opening ceremonies for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
In 1992, Stamatiou-Tuley again was selected to perform in the Olympics. She was one of 25 women selected from around the United States to perform gymnastics and dancing routines in the closing ceremonies for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.
"That was probably one of the highlights of my life," she said.
Stamatίου-Tuley started cheerleading at the University of Kansas in 1989, her sophomore year. She said she had never been a cheerleader before she performed on the varsity squad at football and men's basketball games during the 1989-90 and 1990-91 seasons.
She said she had never seen a football game before cheerleading.
When she was growing up, her family watched individual sports such as gymnastics, track and swimming.
"We never watched team sports," she said.
stamatiou-Tuley said the excitement of the crowds was what made cheerleading fun for her.
"There's something to being in front of a crowd," she said. "You really draw energy from that."
Stamatiou-Tuley is proud of her most recent achievement: She was recently accepted into the physical therapy program at the KU School of Medicine.
Cheerleading and physical therapy have similarities, she said.
"They both require motivation," she said.
Although the physical therapy classes will be demanding, Stamatiu-Tuley said, she will have an outlet for her energy. She will be a cheerleader for the Kansas City Chiefs
football team beginning their
"That will be my stress relief," she
said.
football team beginning next season.
Stamatiu-Tuley's life, however, is filled with more than cheerleading, weightlifting and physical therapy. She has a husband who she met at a health club about five years ago. They were married in February 1993.
Amy Cole, Lawrence resident, is one of the many friends Stamatiu-Tuley has met at health clubs.
Cole described Stamation-Tuley as dedicated, talented and interested in people's well-being.
"She knows what she wants to do and how to accomplish it," she said.
Statamiou-Tuley, who said she does not like to look more than one or two years down the road, also sees herself being active well into the future.
"I want to be one of those grandmothers who is not just in the yard but who is tumbling around with my grandchildren," she said.
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