Competition cheer squad takes top honor at USA Nat’ls
By PETER RASMUSSEN
Special to The Dispatch
GILROY – South Bay Elite is a cheerleading squad without a home team. Except for 14 competitions during a season from October to March, it remains silent.
The cheer organization is a competitive team that includes three girls from Gilroy High School. It practices all year to compete against other squads, not to lead cheers at sporting events. The Elite is not affiliated with any school or sport, and any cheering can only be heard at competitions.
“It isn’t cheer,” said Gilroy High sophomore Samantha Nussbaumer, who is not bothered when people consistently classify her as a cheerleader. “We stumble and do stunts.”
The Elite finished up the season on a high with a national championship at the USA Nationals in Anaheim in the Senior Prep Intermediate Division. It also placed second in the Senior Small Coed Division. The latter division allows up to four boys to be on the team.
“I am always amazed by how well these individuals perform these difficult stunts as a team,” said Bill Zelina, the Elite owner. “To see their growth is just amazing.”
The other two Gilroy High students on the squad are freshman Monique Pirozzoli and sophomore Marissa Gomez.
Pirozzoli, however, said she does not enjoy being called a cheerleader.
“Everyone says you just go ‘rah, rah’, but there is more to it,” Pirozzoli said.
Zelina, a Gilroy resident, said cheerleading is a sport that has evolved from sideline cheering to competitions.
“Girls who try out to be on our team do it to compete,” Zelina said.
Both girls and boys try out in early May and practice three times a week in Campbell, Calif. through the summer and early fall before the competition season begins in October.
Potential Elite members come from the northern San Francisco Bay area and as far south as Hollister.
“These kids come try out from all over the area because they have seen what we can do,” Zelina said.
Zelina said 150 girls and boys try out every year and he attempts to find a place on the Elite for all of them.
The next competition will be in October at Marine World in Vallejo, Calif.
