{"id":141945,"date":"2026-02-22T18:32:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T18:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141945\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T18:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T18:32:30","slug":"staten-island-cyo-cheerleading-with-a-wide-range-of-age-on-its-roster-olgc-thrives-on-team-chemistry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141945\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island CYO Cheerleading: With a wide range of age on its roster, OLGC thrives on team chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

While the CYO cheer divisions have changed over the years, specifically in age range, it\u2019s fair to say the varsity division is usually made up of seventh and eighth-graders.<\/p>\n

But, while most teams opt to include sixth-graders, it\u2019s almost unusual for anyone younger to compete at the higher level save for special circumstances.<\/p>\n

Not for Our Lady of Good Counsel\u2019s varsity cheer program, however.<\/p>\n

With ten girls ranging from 4th to 6th grade on its 16-member roster, the Knights are used to having its younger members having to fill big shoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though it\u2019s challenging in some ways, our younger girls are very mature for their age and are always putting in 100 percent,\u201d said coach Kerri Ettinger. \u201cThey want to be just as good as the older girls and look up to them, so they work hard while enjoying it.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1\/50<\/p>\n

With 16 girls ranging from 4th to 8th grade on their roster, the Knights are focused on building their bonds on and off the mat as competition approaches.<\/p>\n

While there were some growing pains in the beginning, especially with what coach Michelle Pizzo referred to as \u201cbody awareness\u201d and \u201cpositioning,\u201d the coaching staff agreed there were a few benefits in having the youngsters competing on the varsity level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen some things are said or done, it can be hard for the younger ones to understand because they aren\u2019t as mature – like with body positioning and awareness, that\u2019s something you just get with age,\u201d said Pizzo. \u201cBut, in the long run, it\u2019s good for them because they have that much more time to develop their skill because they\u2019re competing at that higher level [from early on].\u201d<\/p>\n

But, being that OLGC is on the smaller side in terms of class size, it helps that the Knights are close both on and off the mat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe benefit of being in a small school is that everyone is like family and they do a lot of things with each other [in and out of cheer],\u201d added Pizzo. \u201cAnd, coming into the season, our goal was to focus on teamwork and having them form that second bond really early on – so that we could hit our skills while supporting each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know what it feels like to really work together and celebrating each other\u2019s successes, and I feel now we\u2019re very strong as a team because we did that early on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OLGCWith 16 girls ranging from 4th to 8th grade on their roster, the Knights are focused on building their bonds on and off the mat as competition approaches. (Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)(Annie DeBiase for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

But, on the mat, the coaching staff attributed their focus on tumbling to being their strongest suit. And, with half of their roster opening their second section with tumbling passes while the other half completes a braced switch-up, it\u2019s fair to say the Knights can impress when it all hits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had tumbling in past seasons, but not as many girls tumbling at the same level,\u201d said Pizzo. \u201cBut we\u2019ve really focused on it this year, and the girls have really committed themselves to upping their tumbling skills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, with CYO competition just weeks away, the Tompkinsville school aims to keep pushing itself to the limit and being their best – in other words, according to Pizzo, \u201chitting everything a little bit higher and stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re willing to keep rising to the occasion, going to each competition and taking their own notes and making new goals on what they need to do to get better,\u201d said Christina Lema, who rounds off the staff. \u201cIt\u2019s not just us pushing them to get better – they push themselves and each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, as long as I\u2019ve been coaching, it\u2019s never been about winning,\u201d concluded Pizzo. \u201cThese girls are so proud of what they\u2019ve done and have that fight in them, so they just want to keep going while enjoying what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OLGCWith 16 girls ranging from 4th to 8th grade on their roster, the Knights are focused on building their bonds on and off the mat as competition approaches. (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-grader Leila Ettinger (backspot) and fifth-grader Penelope Lema (base\/flyer) to get their thoughts on the season.<\/p>\n

Why do you love being an OLGC cheerleader?<\/p>\n

LE: The friendships you make over the years – like some of the girls I haven\u2019t known for that long, but we\u2019re so close because we spend so much time together.<\/p>\n

PL: Like Leila said, you can grow closer to all your coaches and your other teammates and make a lot more friendships.<\/p>\n

What is your favorite skill to perform and why?<\/p>\n

LE: I would say roundoff back handspring tucks, because it feels really cool to just be in the air.<\/p>\n

PL: I like stunting, especially my 360 extension because it\u2019s really cool. I also feel sometimes it can be a really hard stunt and we still do it, and it shows how good of cheerleaders we are.<\/p>\n

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

LE: In third grade, my friends and I came up with a list of songs that we changed the lyrics to so they\u2019re cheer-related, and we listen to them before every single competition [laughs].<\/p>\n

PL: One thing we do before competition is a prayer to God and asking Him to give us confidence [on the mat].<\/p>\n

\"OLGCWith 16 girls ranging from 4th to 8th grade on their roster, the Knights are focused on building their bonds on and off the mat as competition approaches. (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 sixth article in a series of CYO Varsity division cheer stories SILive.com will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-141945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141945","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=141945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}