Girls Bask in Their New Destiny: Cheerleaders

A Good-Will Enterprise

What is striking to some parents is how well special-needs activities have taken hold. Five years ago, Sharon Myrick saw a special-needs cheerleading team perform and vowed, "We can do this." That was the beginning of "Eye of the Storm" at the Maryland Twisters gym in Glen Burnie.

Its 21 members, including Myrick's son, another boy and 19 girls, have made great strides in balance, coordination, timing and memorization, she said. With five hours of practice a week and 11 competitions a year, they are a tight group in spite of sometimes large differences in their abilities, she said. "It's really grown them socially."

Since the team was formed, at least eight others have cropped up in Maryland and Virginia, national cheerleading officials said.

Destiny started after Kristi Messer approached officials at Dream Allstars gym in Gaithersburg in June 2006. Messer's daughter, Hannah, 10, had tried special-needs cheerleading elsewhere, and Messer thought the idea was too good to let go.

Destiny took shape by last fall.

Since then, it has been a good-will enterprise. Gym owner Andrea Needle is covering the cost of gym time and uniforms, and Karen Mason is donating her Saturday mornings to coach. Typically, all-star cheerleading costs more than $3,000 a year, which not everyone on Destiny could have afforded, parents say.

"We knew all the families have a lot of financial burdens for the care of their children, and so we decided to support this," Needle said.

Five cheerleaders from other teams have stepped up as regular volunteers, on hand for every practice, every competition.

Relationships have been forged.

Fourteen-year-old Marlo Bloom, one of the most skilled cheerleaders, has become especially close to Clare Kearney, who needed the most help. In the beginning, Marlo literally helped Clare move her arms. Clare still relies on Marlo but now moves with more independence.

Said Clare's mother, Paula Kearney: "It's like she's a whole different child" at the cheerleading gym.

The team practices every week for 90 minutes, working on jumps, dance moves, tumbling. At break time, they play duck, duck, goose, chasing each other, laughing, then practicing again. Their routine, set to music, is a little under 2 1/2 minutes.