The night of September 20th was flooded with River Dell team spirit at the Friday night football game. The football team was not only supported by a soaring crowd of fans and students, but most importantly, the high school cheerleaders along with the newly introduced mini cheer team.
The mini team is a program that targets the ages of kindergarten to second graders to begin their cheerleading journey. The 2024-2025 season marks the third year in a row in which this program takes place. With an outstanding number of 85 participants, six high school cheerleaders came together every Thursday from 5:30- 6:30 in the oval after their own practices to volunteer and give a helping hand to the parents and young girls.
The idea was introduced by two Oradell moms with great cheer and coaching experience by the name of Janine Caruso and Nicole Lewandowski. As Nicole has been interested by cheer her whole life, Janine developed a passion for it when her gymnastics experience got cut short due to an injury. Since then, she has seen cheer as so much more than just a sport. Janine shares, “The sport itself teaches much more than just stunts and cheers and tumbling; it teaches concepts like teamwork, community service and bonds that last lifetimes.”
Both Janine and Nicole carried their passion for this sport into college. Their growing love for the sport continues and they now are able to spread that amongst younger generations. Nicole’s goal was to introduce cheerleading to an early age as she was never able to receive herself. She explains, “Where I grew up I couldn’t cheer until 5th grade! For someone who hated all the other sports it was hard not having something I was passionate about. We wanted to introduce the little ones to the sport so if there are kids who, like me, only want to cheer, they find that passion early on.”
While this program only began in 2021, they are getting greatly recognized throughout the town. They not only made an appearance at the River Dell football game, but also will be seen at the Oradell Family Day Parade, the 4th of July Parade, and Oradell 5K and Fun Run. The Program is also growing more and more each year. In their very first season, they started off with 65 girls, then 72 in their second, and now 85 this year!
“It was fun doing routines and dancing with the high schoolers” Vera Stramiello, mini cheerleader exclaims, “I look up to them because when I get older and I am in high school, I want to be just like them!”
The varsity team agrees with the enjoyment of this experience. Senior Natalie Picinic shares, “It’s cool to see the youngest and oldest of the cheerleaders spread out [on the sidelines] and being able to see the support from the mini team!”
Although it was a very fun experience, working with young ones can be challenging at times. Luckily, the girls were able to keep them engaged with their enthusiasm and entertainment during the majority of practices. All in all, while it was challenging at times, it was worth it in the end for all to see the love they are growing for the sport.
