News

You can call them mom and dad, but you can also call them cheerleaders. This all-adult team can tumble and soar just like their children.

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
Terrie Morgan-Besecker on Facebook   |   @TLTerrieMorgan on Twitter

LUZERNE – It’s just 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning and Barb Harned’s mind is already as frazzled as the sweat-drenched hair on her head.

click image to enlarge

Members of the parents cheer team of the West Side Starz catch their flyer, Julie Frederick, center, as she comes down from a stunt. From left are Joanna Martin, Frank Palermo, Rob Demko (face obscured), Amy Fry and Barb Harned.

Pete G. Wilcox/The Times Leader

click image to enlarge

Members of the West Side Starz parents team work on the final pyramid in the cheer routine they’ve been learning. The parents formed the team to get an idea of what their daughters go through.

Pete G. Wilcox/The Times Leader

Additional Photos Below

On the web

• View video from the parents' dress rehearsal

Select images available for purchase in the
Times Leader Photo Store

The West Side Starz parents team

Marisa Crispell-Barber, 31, Noxen

Tami Cannell, 36, Exeter

Rob Demko, 38, Warrior Run

Kristin Dow, 29, Kingston

Heather Ebersole, 35, Edwardsville

Dane Favia, 40, Larksville

Meridith Favia, 37, Larksville

Julie Frederick, 38, Sweet Valley

Amy Fry, 43, Larksville

Barb Harned, 42, Swoyersville

Kimberlee Hinton, 27, Pittston

Kerry Hummer, 37, West Pittston

Chris Ktytor, 34, Larksville

Joanna Martin, 60, Luzerne

LeeAnn McDermott, 40, Dallas

Tammy Mikolaichik, 37, Wyoming

Joanne Mortimer, 34, Pittston

Frank Palermo, 42, Philadelphia

Sue Phillips, 40, Luzerne

Lori Sullivan, 35, Forty Fort

Alaena Swingle, 27, Exeter

Alyssa Techmanski, 31, West Wyoming

Jessica Thomas, 27, Edwardsville

Jessica Timek, 34, Exeter

Janine Verdetto, 28, Forty Fort

To see more photos and a video of the Starz parents team, visit www.timesleader.com

For the past hour the 42-year-old mother of two has been racing around a gymnastics mat, trying desperately to keep up with her teammates as they zip through a series of rapid-fire dance moves.

No matter how hard she tries, Harned can’t get it right. Her hands go up when they should be down; her body goes left when it should go right; she zigs when she should have zagged.

“Arrggh,” a flustered Harned grunts as she buries her head in her hands. “I need someone to follow!”

Why on earth, she wonders to herself, did she get into this?

“This” is the all-adult cheer team made up of parents of cheerleaders who belong to the West Side Starz All Star Cheer and Dance program, a nonprofit youth cheerleading organization based out of the Joan Harris Center in Luzerne.

Harned, of Swoyersville, is among 25 parents – 22 women and three men – who agreed to test their bodies, minds and endurance as part of the parents team. This was the second of nine practices the group would hold in February and March in preparation for a performance at an all-star cheer competition in Philadelphia on March 27.

The parents were cajoled, or as some confessed, “guilted,” into joining the team by their kids, who wanted them to get a feel for what it’s like to take part in an all-star cheer routine.

Tara Sinclair, a long-time coach and choreographer for the Starz, was happy to oblige.

Sinclair thought it would be fun and motivational for the girls to watch their parents groan and moan their way through the complex, fast-paced cheer routines their kids have been doing for years.

Her goal was simple: Create a cheer routine that would “wow” their kids, she said.

On this day, Harned’s goal is to simply make it through the practice.

She and other parents say they knew the routines their daughters perform, which require high level gymnastics, complex stunts and blistering fast dance moves, were difficult.

They didn’t really know just how tough it is – until they hit the mat with Sinclair.

Parent Julie Frederick found out within a few minutes of the first practice.

“Tara said, ‘Can you do a cartwheel?’ I said ‘Sure!’ ” Frederick recalled. “Then it’s, ‘Let’s do it again, let’s do it again.’ Well, 20 cartwheels later . . .”

Frederick, 38, of Sweet Valley, is among the more experienced cheerleaders on the team, having cheered throughout grade school and junior and senior high school. She also previously coached a youth cheer team for the Lake-Lehman School District.

Her flexibility and ability to tumble – do basic level gymnastics like a cartwheel and round-off – earned her a spot as a “flyer” on the parents team – the persons who are boosted in the air by a group of four others, known as “bases.”

Team members range in age from 27 to 60 and come in all shapes and sizes.

At age 60, Joanna Martin of Luzerne is the oldest. She was prodded to join by her teenage daughter, Amanda, a four-year veteran of the Starz, and a desire to relive her own glory years.

“I was a cheerleader in high school and I always thought, one of these days I’m going to do it again,” Martin said. “Of course, I can’t tumble or do a cartwheel anymore. Those days are long gone!”

Most of the team members have some cheer experience. But parent Janine Verdetto is a verified newbie.

Verdetto, 28, of Forty Fort, never cheered a day in her life before joining the parents team – a fact, she confesses, that always bothered her.

“In high school I never made the cheer squad,” she said, explaining that she wanted to try out for her high school varsity team, but an injury scuttled that plan. “It’s something I always wanted to do.”

LeeAnn McDermott, 40, of Dallas, had a personal goal.

“I wanted to prove to myself that I can do it. It’s neat to say you’re 40 and can still do something like this,” she said.

She and the others got that chance to prove themselves – repeatedly – at this day’s practice.

Over the course of 90 minutes, the group goes over, and over, and over the dance moves in the routine. Finally, toward the end of practice, they all get pretty much in sync.

They’re exhausted, but feeling good about themselves. Then Sinclair hits them with the news.

The total routine will be 2 � minutes long. They’ve now learned a whopping 30 seconds of it.

Sis boom business

All-star cheerleading has become a booming business in the United States. It’s estimated that more than 400,000 children, ranging in age from grade school to teenagers, participate on thousands of teams, according to the United States All Star Federation, a nonprofit group that promotes the all-star cheer industry.

The routines consist of high level stunts and gymnastics coupled with intricate dance and cheer moves. The teams don’t cheer for sporting events. They exist solely to compete at various cheer competitions sponsored by any of the dozens of cheer and dance companies in the nation.

The West Side Starz was founded in 2004. This year the organization had eight youth teams that competed in various age and skill levels.

This is the second year the Starz featured a parents team. The squad was working to perfect a routine for the “Moai Madness” cheer competition sponsored by the Complete Cheer and Dance cheer company.

The performance was an exhibition, meaning the team would not be scored by a panel of cheer judges. That didn’t mean the parents weren’t serious about the competition.

They were motivated by one thing: fear of failure.

“I don’t want to embarrass myself or the organization,” said team member Rob Demko, 38, of Warrior Run.

Coach Sinclair was there to make sure that didn’t happen.

At 5 feet tall, Sinclair isn’t physically imposing. But she’s a ball of fire when it comes to whipping a cheer team – regardless of age – into shape.

An eighth- and ninth-grade English teacher in the Pocono Mountain School District, Sinclair, 30, of Harveys Lake, was a cheerleader most of her life and has coached at various levels since age 18.

Since 2001 she’s been the head coach for the Misericordia University cheer squad. She previously worked for the cheerleading company Eastern Cheer and Dance.

If the Starz parents were expecting her to go easy on them, they were sooo wrong.

Cheer routines are based on an eight-count system. Each move in the routine is tied to a specific count. Everyone has to be in sync and remember which move goes with each count for a stunt, dance or cheer motion to work.

The parents also have to remember where on the floor they’re supposed to move at a given time and, even more difficult, ensure they don’t run into each other doing it.

Gonna fly now

Just two practices are left before the performance. The team is trying to master a stunt in which they break into five groups and lift their flyers into the air. They’re having trouble getting all five flyers up at the same time.

“Come on!” Sinclair shouts. “This needs to hit! You keep coming down late. It’s timing! Pay attention to the timing!”

Later in the practice, they’re going over the dance portion of the routine for the umpteenth time. This time Verdetto is having trouble.

“I keep messing up and I don’t know why,” Verdetto says as she approaches Sinclair during a water break.

“I don’t know either, but I’m going to make you do push-ups if you keep doing it!” Sinclair says.

Verdetto isn’t sure if she’s serious, but she doesn’t want to find out. Luckily, she figures out her mistake on the next try.

“I was putting my arms up when they’re supposed to be on my hips,” she says.

The experience is giving them a whole new appreciation for what their daughters do, the parents say.

“I knew the routines were difficult, but I truly didn’t think it took so much to run around the mat and count and move and jump and remember where you have to go next,” said Sue Phillips, 40, of Luzerne.

“I have a newfound respect for my daughter,” Harned said. “She’d come home and say, ‘My belly hurts,’ and I’d say, ‘Suck it up.’ I’ll never tell her that again.”

It’s now near the end of the practice. The group lines up to go through the routine one final time.

“Make it look pretty,” Sinclair shouts.

The dance is good, Sinclair says. The stunts are looking better, but the cheer portion is a “little bit of a disaster.”

It’s not perfect, but overall, she’s pleased.

“We’re actually starting to look like something,” she says.

Practice makes perfect

Team members begin arriving at the Philadelphia competition early in the morning of March 27. They’re not scheduled to perform until around 5:30 p.m., so they’ll spend the bulk of the day watching their daughters’ teams compete against dozens of others from around the eastern part of the United States.

As they sit in the stands, several of the parents work on prettying themselves up for their big debut.

Frederick leans forward as her 16-year-old daughter, Tori, applies her cheer makeup – blue eye shadow with silver sparkles.

When she’s finished, Frederick helps team member Amy Fry pin a bow in her hair. Fry, 43, of Larksville, is less than thrilled by the “Little Bo Peep” look the bow gives her.

“I’m almost 44 years old and I’ve got a bow in my hair!” she says with a laugh.

About 30 minutes before the team goes on their nerves begin to show.

“My hands are sweaty already,” says parent Tammy Mikolaichik, 37, of Wyoming. “I’m afraid I’m going to see everyone in the audience and my mind is going to go blank and I’m not going to know what to do.”

Team member Dane Favia, 40, of Larksville, is more confident. His wife, Meridith, who is also on the team, is a long-time coach with the Starz and knows the routine well. They’ve been practicing at home.

“I had a live-in cheat-sheet,” he says.

The team heads to the practice area to stretch and go over the cheer and dance moves one final time.

“I think I’m going to puke,” Harned says as she arrives in the practice area. “I haven’t slept in two days. I’m afraid I’m going to forget the counts and embarrass my daughter.”

The team gathers in a circle one last time for a mini pep talk from Sinclair. Relax, she tells them. The key is to remember the counts. And most of all, have fun.

Then come the words they’ve been waiting – or is it dreading? - to hear:

“On deck, the West Side Starz parents team,” comes the voice of the announcer.

A minute later, the team enters the mat to the thunderous applause of the audience and the chants of “parents teams, parents team” from their daughters, who surround the mat.

The music starts, and they’re on.

The cheer motions look pretty good, as does the dance, and all the stunts and pyramids go up. The timing isn’t perfect, but no one falls. They finish with a pyramid in which five flyers are lifted into the air.

Their daughters scream wildly as the routine ends, then rush the mat to deliver hugs and a bunch of lollipops tied to a stick in the shape of a balloon – a gift for the parents made by Starz coach Tammy Blannard.

“What an adrenaline rush,” an out-of breath Demko says as he exits the mat to a hug from his daughter. “I was looking up in the crowd for the girls. I just wanted to stay focused and not goof up.”

The reviews from the girls are gushingly positive.

“I’m proud of my mom,” Harned’s daughter, Erica, says.

“I was shocked. They did great,” adds Frederick’s daughter, Tori.

“You’re supposed to say my mom is awesome,” Julie Frederick interjects.

“My mom is awesome,” Tori dutifully complies.

Their performance over, the parents settle back to enjoy the rest of the competition and reflect on their accomplishment and what it meant to them and their daughters.

“I felt like an idiot,” parent Jessica Timek, 34, of Exeter, confesses, “but then (my daughter) Gabby came up to me and said, ‘Mom, that was awesome. I’m so proud of you.’ ”

The parents said they also learned some things about themselves.

For Verdetto, the experience provided a sense of personal satisfaction.

“I learned I’m capable of things I haven’t done before,” Verdetto said. “I’m one of those people who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. When Tara first told me I was going up in a pyramid, I thought she was crazy. But I was able to do it.”

It was a difficult month, the parents say. The hours of practice. The sore legs and arms. The bumps and bruises.

But that short time on the mat made it all worth it.

“My Erica ran up to me and said, ‘I’m so proud of you. You’re just like me,’ ” Harned said, her voice cracking with emotion. “I bitched the whole time, but I’d do it again, just to see that look on her face again.”

Editor’s note: Staff writer Terrie Morgan-Besecker’s daughter, Alison, has been a cheerleader for the West Side Starz since 2006. Fellow parents tried to convince Morgan-Besecker to join the parents team, but she chickened out. Morgan-Besecker may be reached at 570-829-7179.