South Sabres cheer teams make history, qualify for Nationals
For the first time in nearly 15 years, cheerleaders representing the Manchester South Sabres Youth Football and Cheering program have qualified to compete in a national competition.
MANCHESTER, NH — For the first time in nearly 15 years, cheerleaders representing the Manchester South Sabres Youth Football and Cheering program have qualified to compete in a national competition.
But it won’t be just one team of Sabres headed to Florida next month for the VCADA Global Nationals. Three squads have earned the right to compete against teams from throughout the country at the Kissimmee Silver Spurs Arena.
“This is such a huge opportunity for these kids,” said Tabitha O’Connor, head coach of the Sabres 14-2 squad. “I guarantee half these girls have never been outside the city. So much effort has gone into getting to this point.”
The Sabres D10 (7-10 year-old), D14-1 and D14-2 (11-14 year-old) each captured division championships at the New England Regional Cheer and Dance Championships at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell, MA, on Nov. 16.
The regional titles capped off spectacular seasons for all three of the squads. The D10s (coaches by Krysti Goudouros, Annie Ventresca and Chanel Alba) were crowned State Champion and overall Grand Champion at the final meet of the season.
The D14-1s (Coached by Alex Martinez, Kiana Dorsey and Krystie Ferretti), won the State Championship.
The 14-2s also captured the State Championship, overall Grand Championship and have won first place plaques in each of their events this season.
O’Connor, a graduate of Memorial and a former competitive cheerleader herself, has coached this particular group of athletes for several years, moving up with them as they aged through the system. She said it’s been gratifying to watch their progress and that this season, everything has just fallen into place.
”Their ability to mesh together and mold into a (cohesive) team has made a big difference,” said O’Connor. “They’ve been willing to keep trying year after year. Their passion has grown as they’ve gotten older.”
O’Connor describes the Sabres cheer teams as “a family,” supporting and encouraging each other through challenges both related to performing but also in their personal lives.
“The reason why this experience is so important to us is because cheerleading at south sabres is much than just competing lots of our own athletes have over come personal experiences and being apart of something where they know no matter what they can be themselves and shut the noise of life out is what makes our teams so special,” said O’Connor. “It is an honor to be apart of this experience for them.”
The Sabres will leave for Kissimmee on Dec. 3, and compete through Dec. 7. The Sabres will be looking to place in the Top 5 in their division preliminaries in order to advance to the “Super Saturday” finals.
They will return to Manchester Dec. 8. Though only in Florida for five days, it will be the trip, and opportunity, of a lifetime for these young athletes.
With such a tight window between the Regionals and the Nationals, the biggest challenge faced by O’Connor and the other Sabres’ coaches and program administrators is fundraising. It’s estimated that the minimal cost to get the three teams and coaches to Florida (travel, accommodations, food) will be $50,000.
“Our families have been fundraising in efforts to help lessen the cost of the teams out of pocket expense,” said O’Connor.
The fundraising efforts got a strong “kickoff” boost from the family of Dajia Brown, a former athlete with the South Sabres cheer program and a graduate of Memorial. During her time with the Sabres, Brown was part of a team that competed at nationals.
Brown passed away, unexpectedly, in 2020, at the age of 26.
Brown’s presence is still felt strongly within the Sabres program. Her niece competes for the D6 team and her sister-in-law coaches for both D6 and D10.
“As an organization we have come full circle as Dajia’s father has coached many of the girls who are cheering in the organizations parents who played football for him,” said O’Connor. “It is a true blessing to have supportive past, current, and future of the association and we know that Dajia would have loved that her dad did this for association and sport that she loved so much.”
If you wish to help the Sabres reach their fundraising goal for their trip to nationals, you can use the QR code below.
The administrative staff of the South Sabres program includes the following:
Board of Directors
- President – Lindsay Perkins
- Vice President- Chris Corson
- Secretary – Krystie Ferretti
- Treasurer- Amy Trembly
- Football Coordinator- Randy Frederick
- Assistant Football Coordinator – Paul Nunes
- Cheer Coordinator- Kyla Nunes
- Assistant Cheer Coordinator- Irena Ancic
- Volunteer Coordinator- Casey Richards
- Concession Manager – Corey Dearborn
