At the start of summer 2022, 10-year-old Emily O’Flinn had never stepped onto a competitive cheer mat. That’s hard to believe when you watch the tween land a stunt today—gracefully in the hands of her cheer-mates—or stick the landing of a back handspring.
It’s all a testament to one season of proper training at the year-old Naples Cheer Revolution, the city’s only competitive cheer studio. In May, Emily and her band of mostly novice teammates turned heads when they earned a coveted invite to The D2 Summit, one of the pinnacle events in the world of competitive cheer. It was a feather in the cap for the new athletic program. “They were rookies. Most of them didn’t even know what The D2 Summit was,” says Alexa Day, a coach at Cheer Revolution who led the studio’s team Midnight to the invitational event at Walt Disney World’s ESPN complex.
Anna Nocera launched Naples Cheer Revolution last August. After a busy first season—60-some competitive athletes participated—about 90 athletes have already signed up for season two.
On any given day, if you step inside Cheer Revolution’s state-of-the-art facility, you are struck by the strength and endurance of the budding athletes. You’ll see more burpees and Superman holds than pom-poms and “Go team,” chants.
While programming includes open gym, tumbling classes and specialty classes for flyer and jump training, the competitive teams for ages 3 through 18 form the cornerstone of the operation. When they first put out a call for tryouts last year, the gym drew enough talent to fill four teams. By the end of the season, they had traveled to competitions all across Florida.
At the beginner level, the youngsters perform cartwheels and forward rolls and typically progress to back and front walkovers before eventually graduating to back handsprings and tucks. For the uninitiated, that means doing full-on flips after a roundoff back handspring series—essentially the building blocks to what you see in floor exercises in the Olympics. But one key element sets cheer apart from gymnastics: “There’s nothing in cheerleading that’s solo,” Alexa says. “It’s truly a team sport.”
One of Alexa’s highlights this year was leading team Midnight through half a dozen competitions, culminating with The D2 Summit. The former cheer captain at Naples’ Lely High School cheered at Florida Atlantic University before landing at Cheer Revolution.
At Summit, nerves and excitement ran high, yet Alexa’s team of girls, ages 8 through 15, delivered a strong performance, overcoming one twisted ankle during warm-ups. “Everyone just said ‘Don’t look behind you,’ because there was a giant Summit banner,” Emily says, recalling the pressure.
Ultimately, the team’s score wasn’t enough to advance to the next round of competition. But Summit provided great exposure for the gym, experience for the athletes and preparation for the next season. The judges also gave the team a performance award. “Now we have big expectations for next year,” Alexa says.
Alongside athleticism and competition, Anna and her co-visionary, Jess DeArmas, the program director at Cheer Revolution, have weaved personal growth, conduct and familial spirit into their top priorities. “Pride yourself in sense of togetherness and unity” reads the first value of the gym.
In application, that means rising above or confronting any social pressures or bullying that can surface in such settings. Parents have quickly noted the effort as a refreshing shift in the sport. “Cheer can be so hard and negative, but Anna is trying hard to be different,” says Emily’s mother, Katie. “Anna is more about being a team, being inclusive and making everyone feel good in a place they’re proud to call their cheer home.”
For coach Alexa, that can look like taking a pause during practice to offer relational wisdom when conflict surfaces, as is prone to happen on the mat. “We’re dealing with [young] girls,” Alexa says, underscoring the intimate and cooperative nature of the discipline. “You have to learn to trust each other. And you have to learn to deal with conflict.”
Photo by Christina Bankson
Founded last year, Naples Cheer Revolution is already making waves. Their Midnight team, with athletes ages 8 to 15, made it to the pinnacle cheer competition, The D2 Summit in Orlando, this year.
As a parent, Katie says that Cheer Revolution showed up at a pivotal moment for her daughter. She saw that Emily was starting to become withdrawn in school and wanted her to find a passion. “I feel like cheer has been life-changing for Emily. And I realize that’s a big statement,” says Katie, who lives in Bonita Springs. “She has found a self-confidence she didn’t have, and she has good friends.”
Another parent, Brittany Pittsford, had been on the hunt for a program for her 12-year-old daughter Sofia. Without an opportunity nearby, they had considered making a regular commute to Fort Myers. “We were hoping and praying that somebody would open a cheer gym [in Naples],” Brittany says. “It’s fun to be on the ground level of something new.”
Commitment to cheer is already shaping character traits like perseverance and flexibility in Sofia, who has taken on different positions around the mat. She has begun helping younger athletes, too, and embraces a mantra from the coaches reminding her that 20 percent of cheer is on the mat and 80 percent is in your head. “I learned that I can take responsibility in things that are really hard, and I can have some leadership roles that I never really had before,” Sofia says. As the middle child out of three, it’s also given her some bonus sibling points.
Recently, her older sister Izabella decided to try out for high school cheer. Sofia and her mom helped the eldest prepare, sharing what they learned in the gym. The results suggest that Cheer Revolution is already making an impact beyond its own walls and students. “She made the high school team,” Brittany says.