sports
It’s time to play ball in Bayside
106 THE QUEENS COURIER • APRIL 19, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo via Twitter/@NYPD111Pct
The Bayside Little League held its annual Opening Day Parade under sunny skies on April 14 along Bell Boulevard. Teams of players coaches joined local elected offi cials including City Councilman Paul
Vallone and Assemblyman Ed Braunstein as they walked along Bell Boulevard and local streets to Crocheron Park, where Opening Day ceremonies kicking off the new season were held.
Ridgewood schools host huge cheerleading competition
BY RYAN KELLEY
rkelley@ridgewoodtimes.com
Twitter @R_Kelley6
In eight short years, cheerleading in
Ridgewood schools has grown exponentially.
It all started with the Owls at P.S 71,
where the students wore leggings and
T-shirts when the fi rst team was formed.
Assistant Principal Allison Napoli said
that the school launched a fundraising
campaign to buy cheerleading uniforms,
and soon the school had three separate
teams.
In time, the cheerleaders moved on
to middle school at I.S. 93, and a team
was formed there. Naturally, when they
reached Grover Cleveland High School, a
cheerleading program began there as well.
As Napoli puts it, “We built from the bottom
up.”
Th e local popularity of cheerleading
culminated in an impressive show of spirit
on April 14 at Grover Cleveland for the
second-annual Owl NYC Cheerleading
Competition. With more than 30 teams
from many parts of the city split into
four sessions and several age divisions,
the event was double the size of the debut
event last year, Napoli said. One of the
sessions even included all teams from
District 24, which Napoli was especially
proud of.
While the growth of the sport has been
impressive, Napoli’s personal motivation
has been one of the driving forces behind
it.
“I keep joking around that one day we’re
going to be in the Barclays Center and
have to take over,” Napoli said. “Cheer
on Long Island is much bigger and we’re
trying to grow it here in the boroughs to
give these kids the opportunity to participate.
It’s now considered a sport, so they
can get scholarships and they can cheer
from high school to college. I actually did
cheerleading on a scholarship, and that
was the thing I felt kept me in school and
kept me focused. Th at’s what I wanted to
bring to them.”
Th e top three teams in each division
were awarded with trophies, but
the teams that didn’t make the podium
were also given small trophies recognizing
their participation.
In the senior elementary division, the
Brooklyn Diamonds took home the fi rstplace
trophy while P.S. 71 Senior Cheer
came in second and P.S. 153 came in
third. Th e junior high non-mount division
saw only two teams compete, with
I.S. 217 coming in fi rst place and P.S./I.S.
214 coming in second place.
Th e regular junior high division had
enough teams to be split into two sessions,
and the top three teams in each
session were awarded. Th e Brooklyn
Diamonds took the top spot again with
their junior high team in the fi rst session,
while I.S. 318 came in second and
St. Gregory’s came in third. In the second
session of the junior high division,
I.S. 93 was named the winner with I.S. 113
coming in second and P.S./I.S. 102 coming
in third.
Two teams competed in the elementary
dance division, and P.S. 88 was the
fi rst-place fi nisher while P.S. 71 came in
second. Two teams also competed in the
elite cheer division, with the GRYC Elite
team taking fi rst place and Columbia
Secondary fi nishing in second place.
Spirit awards were also given to P.S. 71’s
tiny cheer, mini cheer and mini dance
teams, Iconic Cheer Elite and I.S. 217.
Photos by Ryan Kelley/Ridgewood Times
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