The letter below was sent to the IHSA by Guilford High School Cheerleading Coach Shelli McGinley and published with her consent:
"I wanted to take a few minutes of your time to express my ultimate gratitude to an IHSA Official.
I don't often find myself writing letters of this nature, however, I was compelled to do so after experiencing the grace, knowledge and willingness of (Sycamore resident) Jane Tallitsch (pictured right).
Five years ago, I was approached by our Athletic Director and asked to coach cheerleading at Guilford High School in Rockford. I took my job seriously and within three years we were making a name for ourselves. During my fourth year, the kids and I made school history by qualifying for the IHSA State Championships! What an honor to even step on the same mats as teams like Lockport, Sandburg, Providence and Conant. We had only watched teams of this caliber on IHSA.TV or YouTube. This was a great and magical memory for us and I can remember thinking the IHSA was run so well and organized that I was overwhelmed with pride to have even been there. Nothing could top that!
That is, until 2013, when I decided to take the plunge and host an IHSA Competitive Cheerleading Competition at our school. I was nervous and honestly had NO CLUE as to how to host an invitational. I was given a list of cheer officials and was told to hire my judges first. A friend said Jane Tallitsch was a great and fair judge. I contacted Jane and honestly....The rest was History.
Jane went over and beyond any job description a judge would have. She answered endless questions, emailed me several IHSA forms and documents that I would need and took her own time to walk me through the process of hosting an invitational step-by-step. She was continuously answering my many emails and calming my increasingly growing nerves. She also took her time to contact my school's Athletic Director who is new as well, and needed some guidance.
In the end, our event ran extremely smooth and we received several emails from coaches saying how well our invitational went. This, of course, is all due to Jane Tallitsch. We couldn't have done it without her and she is a shining example of what I have always believed the IHSA stands for. There really aren't enough ways I can express to you what an exemplary job Jane did except to say I am so grateful there are people like Jane in this world and I had the awesome opportunity of working with her!"