BERNARDSTON — When local public events came to an abrupt halt with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the Recreation Department’s cheerleading team was just two weeks shy of the U.S. Finals.
Now, the championship is on the horizon again, and the group of 17 children is holding a spaghetti dinner at the Bernardston Veterans Club to offset the cost to compete.
The meal, set for Friday, March 18, from 5 to 8 p.m., includes spaghetti, bread, salad and dessert. Tickets cost $10 per person and attendees have the option to dine in or take a meal to go.
Coach Jennifer Stennes, assisted by fellow coaches Tara Stone and Ella Laprade, guides the team, which consists of girls in preschool through sixth grade. The children participate in practices three times a week and in competitions, although competing had stalled altogether up until last fall.
“We teach the girls about sisterhood, girl power, trust and family,” Stennes said. “These girls show a lot of love for each other.”
Last fall, the teammates won first place for their performance at the Franklin County Fair in Greenfield — their first event in two years. They also took first in their division at the JAMfest cheerleading competition at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, qualifying them for the U.S. Finals to be held April 9 at the Worcester DCU Center. The finals entail a $2,000 entry fee for the team, Stennes said, a cost she hopes to offset with the dinner fundraiser.
The Worcester venue hosts the best qualifying teams from Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Stennes said there are 12 other U.S. Finals locations across the country, and videos of the first-place teams at each location will be judged in a virtual competition — a model that was in place even before the pandemic — to determine grand winners for each division.
The U.S. Finals mark multiple milestones for the Recreation Department’s team.
“This is the first year we’ve been 12 and under,” Stennes said, referencing the division for recreation departments her team is competing in. In previous years, they’ve competed in the 10 and under division. “If the same girls stay on the team, next year we’d have to go to 14 and under.
“This is the biggest team I’ve taken to competition,” she added. By comparison, nine girls competed in 2019.
Stennes started the team in 2003.
“I was a former Pioneer cheerleader and I thought it would be fun to start a squad,” she recalled.
As older girls moved on, the team fizzled out, but was ultimately revived in 2016. Stennes said the team has been competing since 2018.
“There’s a lot more girls who are into it, which helps,” Stennes said.
Reflecting on what inspired her to join the team, sixth-grader Jayden Bird said, “I used to watch shows about cheerleading and it got me really excited.”
“What got me interested in cheer was being able to be on a team with a bunch of girls and build better relationships with my teammates,” said fifth-grader Liana Gauvin.
Before the pandemic, Stennes said the team cheered for the Bernardston Recreation Department’s basketball team and Pioneer Valley Regional School’s varsity and junior varsity teams. This year, however, they are just focusing on competing.
“I get to challenge myself to try something new,” fifth-grader Sophie Wood said of this year’s routine.
“I like that I get to do somersaults,” commented preschooler Charlotte Facey.
Stennes said she, Stone and Laprade have spent a lot of time choreographing the girls’ routine.
“We’ve set the bar pretty high this year,” she said. “There’s a lot more stunts and a lot more pyramid mounts than ever before. … With having a lot more girls, we were able to put on harder stunts, harder mounts. Our tumbling has actually increased.”
The cheerleaders also spoke to their team spirit and how cheer has brought them closer as friends.
“Before I did cheer, Addie and I didn’t know each other, and now we’re best friends,” said sixth-grader Emerson Pratt, referring to fourth-grader Addie Chapin.
In the same mindset, Stennes advises her pupils that an important lesson of cheerleading is, “Be there for each other no matter where we are — in school, at cheer or out and about.”