Rocky Point Cheerleaders Return Home As National Champions

The Rocky Point cheerleaders, seven-time regional champs, took it all the way to the top this year, winning first place in the UCA (Universal Cheerleading Association) at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

At a press conference Tuesday at , coach Anna Spallina said that after placing (that is, among the top twelve) in the national finals for several years, "we set our mark and set our goals."

Spallina, who has been coaching for 19 years and who has led the Rocky Point Cheerleaders to 12th place, ninth place and eighth place national rankings in recent years, told the girls, "I'm running out of time, let's do it this year." The team matched the determination of its coach.

"We worked four hours a day, seven days a week, plus we tumbled on Sundays" said team member Katy Moran.

"If I said jump, they said 'How high?'," Spallina said. "Cheerleading is not about pom-poms and skirts. The girls run the track alongside the football players, they take gymnastics on their own time. I tell them if you want to be treated like an athlete, you have to act like it."

"We considered ourselves very blessed to have Anna leading our girls," said Alicia Lebens, whose daughter Heidi is on the team. "She's incredible."

The team had to pull together at the last minute when one of the regular flyers became ill. Junior varsity ninth grader Danielle Ortolani, after never having competed, stepped in to the breach.

"I was excited and a little nervous," she said, "but I had 15 other people on the mat and I knew I could do it."

"She stepped into big shoes and did well," Spallina said.

Cheerleading, having its roots in American sports, is as ubiquitous as apple pie, but cheerleading itself is not considered a sport.  When Donna Collier, the Rocky Point Middle School coach was asked about cheerleading being a sport, she claimed "It is, that's the answer."

"It should be recognized, but that will change the sport as we know it," said Amy Agnesini, Director of Health, PhysEd and Athletics for the Rocky Point School District. "If recognized as athletes, they wouldn't be able to go to the nationals, but only to the state level."

Whether recognized as a sport or not, 26 members of the team and 16 "on the mat" athletes, competed in the nationals and were judged best in the entire country.

The girls and their coach were asked what they were going to do to celebrate. One of the mothers joked, "They've already been to Disney World."

The answer: The team--along with the rest of the nation--will be watching their triumph on ESPN in March on a big screen.