Hampton spirit team has strong showing at nationals

By: HSSN Staff
Sunday, February 18, 2018 | 11:45 PM

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After a difficult finish in last year's National High School Cheerleading Championship, Hampton spirit coach Amanda DeMello and her squad had something to prove.

The Talbots already had proven plenty, delivering five consecutive bids to the PIAA championships in the program's first five years of competition. But they wanted more.

“Since the team's inception five years ago, we have had competitive success,” said DeMello, who, in addition to coaching varsity cheer, teaches private tumbling lessons and works as a full-time attorney. “Which is a big accomplishment for a new cheerleading program.”

This year, the team finished second at WPIALs and fourth in states in the small varsity division, no easy task for a group whose seniors — Elyssa Evans, Vienna Howat, Addison Rutkowski and Olivia Beraducci — were in middle school when the program started.

“I'm sad to say that nationals was my last cheerleading competition,” said Beraducci, who emerged as a leader on the team in her four-year career. “But I am so happy that I got to spend the last four years with all of these girls who I am glad to call my sisters and best friends.”

DeMello has been aided in her success by convincing many girls to leave the independent cheer circuit and stick to varsity, which is no easy task. But the immediate success of Hampton cheer undoubtedly has been a selling point.

“I think they did this because we are all very close and passionate about the competitive program we have created together,” DeMello said. “They wanted to give their entire focus to Hampton.”

This year, the team finished second to Bethel Park at regionals at Slippery Rock, earning another bid to nationals in Orlando, Fla., where it had a tough go last year. This year, the Talbots made it to the finals, where they placed 14th despite losing three seniors and battling injuries and sickness throughout the year.

“We had something to prove after a devastating finish last season,” DeMello said. “Our goal was to make it back to the finals like we did our first season down there ,and we made it through with three pretty good routines.”

DeMello attributes the team's great finish to its work ethic and commitment to perfection. It ended up becoming what DeMello described as her favorite routine since the program's inception.

“This team was very hard-working and really wanted to master the difficulty that we had in this year's routine,” she said. “They kept wanting to push the routine to the next level and were on the same page with me with what this routine could become.”

Devon Moore is a freelance writer.

Tags: Hampton