Newtown Youth Cheerleading sent two teams — the D12 squad along with the D14 group — to compete in the Nationals Cheer Competition in Kissimmee, Fla., December 10-11, and the D12s won it all.

Both teams competed on December 10 and made it to the finals, which included the top five teams, then performed again the next day. D14 performed well against tough competition in the Larger Level 3 Category.

D12 finished in first place in Small Level 3. The girls executed their routine flawlessly during the competition, referred to as “hitting zero.”

“I cannot put into words how overwhelmingly proud I am of these athletes. They worked tirelessly to achieve this goal. Last season at Nationals, we finished in third place. From the start of this season, they set their minds to winning Nationals, and they did. I started working with most of the girls on this team when they were in third grade,” Coach Lea Guglielmo said. “It has been an honor watching them grow, both in skill and in confidence, over the past four seasons. We went from having four of these girls tumbling last season, to having ten tumble this season. They worked together, lifted each other up, and pushed each other to be the best team they could be.

“In the routine, they performed some pretty impressive skills, especially for their age. During stunting, some of these skills included full ups, full downs, half twists to extensions, and toe touch basket tosses, as well as switch ups and half twist release moves in the pyramid,” the coach added. “In tumbling, they performed round off back handspring back tucks, round off multiple back handsprings, and standing double back handsprings.”

The D12 squad competed against three other D12 teams at Nationals — two from Florida and one was from Massachusetts. “Miami was definitely our toughest competition. They had some very impressive skills on their team. Instead of letting it affect them, our team used this to light a fire inside of them. All four teams in our division advanced to Super Sunday. Our team performed the best they ever had on Sunday. They Hit Zero, which means they had absolutely no deductions. They hit every skill in their routine flawlessly, and kept their energy high despite some overcoming illness and injury,” Guglielmo said.

Just how quickly this success came about, and factoring the experience of the cheerleaders, makes the triumph all the more impressive.

“These athletes practiced six hours a week, learning new skills in a matter of a few weeks. This team performed at Level 2 last year, which involves less difficult stunts. This season, we made the decision to push this team to Level 3. Not only did they have a lot to learn in a short amount of time, but they competed against some tough competition. Typically, D12 teams consist of 6th and 7th graders. This season, our team was made up entirely of 6th graders. It is incredibly impressive that they held their own competing against teams of 7th graders,” Guglielmo said.

A group of girls ranging from grades 5 to 8 will combine to make a Newtown Youth Cheer Globals Competition Team. This team will go on to participate in two more competitions, in February and March of 2023.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.