{"id":103278,"date":"2026-01-17T13:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/103278\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T13:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T13:50:11","slug":"staten-island-cyo-cheerleading-st-clares-with-a-newly-debuted-game-day-team-looks-to-make-noise-at-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/103278\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island CYO Cheerleading: St. Clare\u2019s, with a newly-debuted Game Day team, looks to make noise at Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Editor\u2019s note: This is the second article in a series of CYO Varsity division cheer stories SILive.com will focus on leading up the Island championships in March.)<\/p>\n

With many youth cheerleaders moving on to compete in high school, especially on Staten Island, each CYO program certainly does everything it can to help its athletes progress.<\/p>\n

Part of that process, of course, are coaches who listen to their athletes\u2019 needs and, sometimes, even wants. In fact, even the best ideas can come from an unlikely source.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t believe it? Just ask St. Clare\u2019s varsity cheer coaches.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1\/70<\/p>\n

St. Clare’s debuts new Game Day team as it looks to make noise at Nationals<\/p>\n

The Crusaders, partially at the request of its varsity roster, debuted their Game Day team this season. Competing alongside their 19-girl traditional team, the 21-athlete gameday roster has competed at several local and UCA competitions over the last few months.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, however, the Great Kills school earned bids in both routines to compete at the National High School Cheerleading Competition in two weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, we were at a Warren Hills competition and the girls were watching Game Day routines when they came up to us and asked if they could do it,\u201d laughed coach Dorothy Scarabaggio. \u201cThat was the first seed, but then we went to Nationals and we really saw potential in gameday. We also knew it could help our traditional routine with being tight and going back to basics.<\/p>\n

\"St.The Crusaders will compete both its traditional and gameday routines at the National High School Cheerleading Competition later this month. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was definitely a hard decision, putting a whole second routine on these young kids, but we knew the girls really wanted to do it and we wanted to give ourselves a challenge. It was definitely worth it in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, with the coaches not having any experience in the division, there were multiple challenges learning the nuances of the routine.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the outside looking in, you assume it\u2019s easy since it\u2019s just doing motions and no crazy stunts. But there\u2019s so many little things that, the first time we got a scoresheet, the comments were things we didn\u2019t even think about,\u201d added Jennifer John. \u201cNow, towards the second half of our season, we\u2019re more tapped into what they\u2019re looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"St.The Crusaders will compete both its traditional and gameday routines at the National High School Cheerleading Competition later this month. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

While the team got better throughout the season, two people that helped the program navigate Game Day were alumnae Lilly Dimino and Sophia Guglielmetti. The college freshmen, who both cheered at Notre Dame Academy and were part of the Gators\u2019 first Game Day team, currently cheer for St. John\u2019s University and Monmouth University respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey taught us everything we know, including the scoresheets,\u201d John said. \u201cThey\u2019ve read and explained it to us, and they taught us all the little rules like what props we needed and when we can or can\u2019t tumble. Just so many things no one really knows about [until they do it].\u201d<\/p>\n

One aspect that sets the girls in blue and gold apart, however, is the inclusion of three fifth-graders in its routine. While junior high teams typically range from 6th to 8th grade, the coaches felt there were multiple benefits in upgrading the trio to the \u201cbig leagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"St.The Crusaders will compete both its traditional and gameday routines at the National High School Cheerleading Competition later this month. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir older sisters are on our team, and one actually stepped in for us [in traditional] last year when we had an injury. They\u2019re just insane for their age and so energetic that it was a no-brainer since they\u2019d be [going to Nationals] with their families anyways,\u201d said Laura Maiorano, with Victoria Claudio and Bianca Palumbo rounding out the staff. \u201cAlso, for us to compete in Large for Game Day (which has up to 30 girls on the floor), we knew we couldn\u2019t be on the smaller side because it\u2019s all about crowd-leading. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe needed to be in the 20s, so they brought us to 21.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, with two routines to focus on, the coaching staff emphasized the need to focus on simplicity and playing to the Crusaders\u2019 strengths.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we\u2019ve learned over the past couple years, as coaches, that complexity doesn\u2019t always equal greatness,\u201d said Scarabaggio. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to throw something into the routine if it\u2019s not almost perfect, and we\u2019re not taking chances. I think the girls are much more confident because of it, especially with two routines.<\/p>\n

Finally, finishing in 19th place last year at UCA Nationals, the squad has high hopes of making some noise in the Sunshine State.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Game Day, we want to be the first team to make finals for elementary. We\u2019re very excited to be the first [from Staten Island] to do it, but it would be so cool to be the first and make finals,\u201d emphasized John. \u201cFor traditional, we just want to hit. I want the girls to feel fulfilled and be happy with what they put out there, because last year they weren\u2019t happy at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a really mature team of eight eight-graders, seven who went to Nationals last year, so we hope they stay calm, cool, and collected while being leaders for the sixth and fifth graders. Now, they know exactly what\u2019s going to happen and what to expect so they can prepare themselves and be ready for the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"St.The Crusaders will compete both its traditional and gameday routines at the National High School Cheerleading Competition later this month. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

CHEERLEADER\u2019S CORNER<\/p>\n

The Staten Island Advance\/SILIVE.com, to highlight some of the young cheerleaders spending multiple days a week practicing and preparing for competition, spoke with eighth-grade backspots Chloe Calcagno and Olivia Napolitano to get their thoughts on Nationals.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite part of competing in Game Day?<\/p>\n

CC: Probably the cheer – it\u2019s really loud and entertaining. Everyone\u2019s peppy and cheering each other on, and when we do our callbacks they\u2019re really loud and gets the audience going.<\/p>\n

ON: My favorite is the band chant – I think it\u2019s very upbeat and it\u2019s very exciting for me to do.<\/p>\n

What are you looking forward to most when you\u2019re in Disney?<\/p>\n

CC: Seeing if we make it to Finals and moving on – we didn\u2019t do the best last year, but I think we really have a chance to make it this [time].<\/p>\n

ON: Same for me – I want to make Finals this year. I\u2019m looking forward to seeing how we do because we worked really hard this year and I hope we make it.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s one pre-competition ritual you have?<\/p>\n

CC: I get a Starbucks strawberry acai refresher and a Bacon, Gouda and Egg sandwich.<\/p>\n

ON: I get a Starbucks iced matcha with a bacon egg and cheese in the morning.<\/p>\n

\"St.The Crusaders will compete both its traditional and gameday routines at the National High School Cheerleading Competition later this month. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Editor\u2019s note: This is the second article in a series of CYO Varsity division cheer stories SILive.com will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-103278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}