Dec 14, 2007
Cheerleaders repeat as national champs
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Deborah Sfondrini, the head coach of the Ridgefield American Youth Football 10-year-old cheerleading squad, was trying to think of a good way to break the news to her girls that they were probably not going to win a second consecutive national championship.
Not from a lack of trying, however. Instead, when the Ridgefield contingent showed up at the American Youth Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Fla., last week, they expected to be competing in Division 10, the level for 10-year-olds and under.
“But there weren’t enough teams in each division,” Sfondrini said. “So they decided to combine Division 10 with Division 11. Now we were going to battle against 11-year-olds. And because they go by the school year, someone in the 11-year-old division could turn 12 by the end of the year. Each year of child development at this stage is huge.
“A majority of our squad are eight and nine year-olds,” she added. “We have 27 kids and only about 10 of them are 10-year-olds.”
So when Sfondrini was told by officials at a pre-tournament meeting that her team was being bumped up a division, the news was unsettling to say the least.
“I would say so,” she said. “I study film of all the teams, not just our division, so I know what they can do in Division 11. When I heard we would be competing against those teams, it was a little unnerving.”
But Sfondrini didn’t let her girls know. At least not until after the competition.
“I didn’t want to let them know and get nervous, so I never told them we were competing against older kids,” she said. “I let them go out and compete as they normally would, and then about a half-hour before the awards presentation when we would find out how we did, I explained to them what happened.
“I wanted to prepare them. They were used to finishing first. They won the grand championship last year. So I wanted them to know that let’s say we place third, or maybe not place at all, they should still be happy and not feel disappointed considering who we were up against.”
The kids’ reaction?
“I couldn’t believe how well they handled it,” Sfondrini said. “A lot better than I did.”
Maybe that was just the confidence of a champion showing, because shortly after Sfondrini broke the news, the official results were announced and Ridgefield had finished first in Division 11. They were national champions again.
“I was floored,” Sfondrini admitted. “Here I was trying to get them ready for the worst and we ended up taking first place.
“The amazing thing is 13 of these girls had never even been through the Mighty Mite program. They had never been cheerleaders before. They started in August. That’s the amazing thing. Usually cheerleaders go through the Mighty Mite program and then when they’re age appropriate they move up to Junior Peewee.
“And we had only 10 girls from last year’s team. The rest were all new.”
That didn’t stop them, however, from dominating the field at all the big meets they were in, starting with the local competition in October.
“We won first place in our division,” Sfondrini said. “Then we went to states at the New Haven field house and took first place in our division there, too. Fifty-two squads showed up and we had the highest score of the day.
“Then we went to Regionals Thanksgiving weekend in Massachusetts and we placed first in our division to qualify for the nationals in Florida.”
Even if they didn’t know at the time that they would be competing against older cheerleaders. As it turns out, it didn’t matter.
“They hit their routine perfect. They nailed it,” said Sfondrini. “There’s not one thing they could’ve done better. They were flawless. Absolutely flawless.”
Although the final point totals were not announced, Ridgefield easily beat out the runner-up team from Massachusetts, while a team from New Hampshire finished a distant third.
“Usually in cheerleading competition you win by a point or a point and a half, sometimes by only a half a point,” Sfondrini said. “But we were told we won by a pretty big margin.
“And from what I understand, there has never been an AYF back-to-back national champion in cheerleading. I have not been able to confirm that and I’m still trying to research it, but from what I’ve been told no one has ever done it.”
Sfondrini says this year’s national title was a collective effort from all 27 cheerleaders.
“They all contributed. The team couldn’t function if someone dropped out. Everyone had a purpose and place on this team.”
Sfondrini also credited her coaching staff, which included parents Kerry Molyneaux, Sue Backman and Melinda Marks, as well as Giana Bistany and student coaches Dana Bistany, Allie Risbridger and Elizabeth Sfondrini, her daughter who used to be on the squad.
“Even my husband John helps coach,” Deborah Sfondrini added.
This is her third year with the Ridgefield cheerleaders.
“When my daughter was a cheerleader they needed a coach and I agreed to do it,” Sfondrini said. “Then I fell in love with it. I called the president and said give me a young team. I wanted to train them from the beginning and take them all the way up through the program.”
It also helped that Sfondrini was a cheerleader herself when she attended high school in Michigan.
“But it wasn’t like it is today,” she said. “It was a whole lot different. We wore saddle shoes.”
“My real background is in dancing. I was a dance instructor for many years and traveled globally. I opened my first dance studio when I was 15.”
Years later, Sfondrini is still teaching and her students have now won consecutive national titles.
Of course, next year they’ll be shooting for a three-peat when they move up to Division 11, where they’ll actually belong.
“Who knows? They could put us in Division 12 if there are not enough teams,” Sfondrini said. “But at least we’ll be prepared that it could happen. We weren’t this year. Now we know there’s a possibility.”
Then again, she might still not tell her kids. After all, why mess with success.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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