Cheer Champs Fundraise For The Finals

New Haven Steelers Cheer and Dance Team Co-Captain Timilia Thomas wants to put New Haven on the map as a mecca of cheer. 

With her squad recently taking home a state championship, that goal could soon be a reality.

“We’re going to make history,” said Timilia, a freshman at Hillhouse, who was surrounded by her eight yellow-and-black-clad teammates, ages 12 through 15, on a recent afternoon at Pizza House on Howe Street.

That opportunity to make history, however, is contingent on raising a whole lot of money.

$10,000, to be precise, to help cover the costs of transportation, lodging, and competition fees to get to and participate in the Pop Warner National Cheer and Dance Championships in Orlando, Florida in early December. That’s when and where competition from the nation’s top teams awaits. 

To raise the necessary funds, the Lady Steelers, as they’re known, have set up a GoFundMe page.

Update: The squad was unable to raise the funds needed to get to nationals in Florida by the deadline and had to pull out of the competition. Coach Breyiona Bryant said the funds they did raise will be placed in the team’s savings account. ​“We want to thank everyone who contributed,” she said. ​“It’s a very good head start. But we will keep fundraising so we don’t miss any more trips.”

One such trip, she said, is to Atlantic City in February for the globals. The team won an invitation to that competition based on its first-place showing in both states and regionals, an unprecedented feat for a first-year team. She and her team invite anyone who’s interested in supporting their efforts to visit their new page at https://gofund.me/a20d5f0d.

To help the cause, Eat Up Foundation’s Kristen Threatt and Brian Burkett-Thompson, as well as New Haven’s Tyler Booker, who’s an offensive lineman at the University of Alabama, joined the team’s pizza party and presented the Lady Steelers with a $1,500 check.

“I reached out to a lot of businesses in New Haven for support and Kris and Brian contacted us right back,” said team mom Chazaree Parker, amid the aroma of freshly baked pizza and the girls’ lively chatter. ​“And their first words were: ​‘How can we help?’”

To hear Threatt tell it, he and Burkett-Thompson were simply fulfilling a promise they pledged at the time they launched Gorilla Lemonade, which is currently stocked in 40 locations throughout the state: that is, to donate 50 percent of every bottle sold toward community initiatives supported by the Eat Up Foundation.

“We didn’t know a lot about them,” Threatt said about the cheerleading team. ​“Then we looked into it and realized these girls were representing the best of us here in New Haven. We realized they were doing us proud.” 

The squad, they learned, was in its first year of existence, having formed in August. They learned of the grueling two-hour practices in the wind and rain, in every kind of element, five days a week, on the field of Brennan-Rogers Magnet School in West Rock.

“Sometimes there would be nowhere to practice, but we’d find a way,” said Coach Breyiona Bryant.

“These were different kids from different backgrounds and with different skills, and it was nice seeing a lot of them come out of their shells and build a bond as a team,” Bryant said. 

Then came the squad’s first competition at Floyd Little Athletic Center on Saturday, Oct. 8. 

In a video of that first ever performance, there are gravity-defying stunts executed with breathtaking precision and a dash of unapologetic style and sass. There’s something else that comes through: pure, unadulterated joy.

“We were the newest team, and when we were on stage, all the other teams were shouting and cheering for us, and everyone said: ​‘Good job,’” said Lady Steeler Semaj Holness, a seventh grader at Highville Charter School. ​“We knew we had something special.” 

They took home first place, as well as the ​“Team Spirit” award, for the sportsmanship they showed in turn in cheering on their competitors.

“Getting first made us want to work even harder,” said Holness. At a competition two weeks later, the team prevailed again. 

“This is about giving back to a group of girls that are already making our community proud and have the chance to make an even bigger impact,” said Booker, the Alabama football player, who came up to New Haven on his team’s bye week.

Booker said he started playing Pop Warner football at the age of seven with the New Haven Steelers. ​“I’m a firm believer that what you give is what you get back, and it’s up to me to bring light to causes that are important to me,” he said. 

And this cause matters because, he said, ​“there’s nothing like the camaraderie of a team, and that’s what these girls are experiencing, and doing this can only help them going forward.” 

His sister, Jailen Booker, said Tyler’s appearance is a continuation of what their mother instilled in the family from the beginning.

“She got us involved in sports, and all our brothers and sisters always showed up to each other’s games for support,” she said.

It’s also a matter of paying it forward. 

“Tyler grew up in this community and he has the platform to give back, to do what his coaches did for him, which is to bring change to his community one young person at a time.”

Threatt acknowledged Lindsay Mondrone, who met him and Burkett-Thompson while developing Gorilla Lemonade, for her donation.

“I’m supporting this squad because Kris and Brian aren’t just talk,” Mondrone said via text. ​“They’re doing something really special in New Haven wherever and whenever they can,” she said. 

Even with Mondrone’s donation, and the $1,500 from Booker and Gorilla Lemonade, there’s a way to go. 

“Even a dollar would be a blessing,” Timilia, the co-captain, said, as the team filed out of the restaurant. ​“We just want to show the world what we’ve got.”