- Oyster Bay-East Norwich Schools
- 1-17-20 Observer Newsletter
- Cheer to compete at Nationals
The Observer District Newsletter (2019-20 Archived Editions
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They're off to Disney for Cheerleading Nationals!
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Continued from cover
Coach Bressingham, who cheers for Nassau Community College and will be competing in Nationals with her college team, said the goal in competing in regionals was to give the team confidence. “Now the goal is to go to finals at Nationals, while keeping in mind the ultimate goal of having fun and staying safe,” she said.
Setting goals is how Coach Bressingham transformed the squad of just four students four years ago into a strong, formidable team of contenders. Thanks to the efforts of Captain Adrianna Ceglia, now a senior and the most experienced member of the squad, the initial goal of recruiting students brought the number up to 14 cheerleaders. Most of them were 7th and 8th graders with little to no experience stunting or tumbling. So, a new goal was set. She took them to an outside gym to work on their skills. As the squad became a more solid, consistent team, Coach Bressingham advanced them to the next level: competing. She brought in Assistant Coach Lilly Bassias, a neighbor of hers who she cheered with in high school and on an all-star high school team. “I was her base and she was my flyer,” Coach Bressingham said. “As neighbors, we would make up routines for the kids we used to babysit for.” That combination of chemistry and skill propelled Oyster Bay High School’s squad into what it is today, a tightknit family of 15 cheerleaders who share a strong passion and drive to succeed.
“I am so proud of the hard work they have put into cheerleading,” Coach Bressingham said. Describing the team’s strengths, she said, “They are very clean with the stunts they are doing at their level; every athlete is versatile, they can go from basing to flying and to back-spotting; they are also a team made up of varsity and junior varsity athletes all doing varsity-level skills; and they have a lot of heart and trust for one another; they are constantly cheering each other on.”
The team is unique in that of the 15 cheerleaders, there is one male, senior Elias Gomez, and one female, junior Bianca McEvoy, who is legally blind. Both are captains of the team, along with Adrianna, sophomore Kelsey Oliveros and junior captain Alex Nicole Flores, an eighth grader.
“Being the only male is kind of stressful because I have to prove myself to the school,” said Elias, who has been on the team for two years. “A lot of people don’t take cheerleading as a real sport, but it is very athletic…Our coaches are great; they are always trying to do the best for the team.”
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The Oyster Bay High School Varsity Cheerleading Team with Assistant Coach Lilly Bassias, left, and Coach Chelsea Bressingham, right.
The Cheerleading Team at regionals with their bid to go to Nationals.
Cheer Gets Bid to Nationals Video
Bianca, who taught herself tumbling skills before she joined cheer four years ago, said, “I would watch videos, even though I couldn’t see, I could hear the sounds the cheerleaders’ hands and feet would make when they hit the floor. When I knew I was doing something right, it was because it sounded the right way,” she explained. “The sounds were at timed intervals, so I knew my round off back hand spring looked right when all the sounds I heard in the video were in the same order.”
As the team prepares for Nationals, Adriana said, “Seeing that we started with four people, it means a lot that, as a family, we could do this together and that we became something that nobody thought we could become. Win, lose; We made it. Hopefully everybody has a good time and sees what it’s like, and we can do it again next year.”
With the excitement of competing comes the responsibility of fundraising for expenses associated with traveling to Disney. The team has been hosting bake sales, candygrams, youth cheer clinics and are selling sponsorship T-shirts. Any business interested in advertising on the T-shirts can contact Coach Bressingham at OysterBaycheer@gmail.com.