Cheerleaders tumble their way to world competition
By Mary Shane Contributing Writer

(l to r) Jessica Parker and Betsy Watts-Orfao PHOTO/MARY SHANE

Region - Unlike many teenage girls, Westborough resident Betsy Watts-Orfao, 15, and her friend Jessica Parker, 15, of Shrewsbury, spend much of their time tumbling and flying around.

Watts-Orfao and Parker cheer with the Senior Silver Level 5 Co-Ed Unlimited team at Celebrity Cheer, a gym in Salem, N.H. The 36-member team consists of tumblers and flyers with diff erent skill levels ages 18 and under. They practice a minimum of three hours twice a week and six to 15 hours four times a week before national competitions. They also must annually earn credentials in dance, stunts, tumbling and flying to remain on the team.

The friends became interested in cheering by watching their older sisters, Lisa Parker and Katie Watts- Orfao, cheer. The younger sisters started cheering in kindergarten with the Pop Warner organization and have been cheering together for the last seven years.

Betsy's advanced tumbling is equivalent to basic Olympic tumbling without the dance moves. Jessica, as a "flyer," performs difficult dance moves and spins similar to high divers. Their routine, created by choreographers from the University of Kentucky, includes dance moves, high-end tumbling, stunts and human pyramids with a flyer on top.

Betsy and Lisa's team has won multiple national and Grand Champion titles, along with choreography and dancing awards, and received the highest score ever awarded at the 2007 Montachusett All Stars competition in Fitchburg. It also placed sixth and fifth at 2006 and 2007 Cheerleading and Dance Worlds competition, respectively, out of 27 international teams. The teammates hope to finish in the top three at this year's Worlds in April at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla.

Doing well in the competition is just part of the fun.

"[I] just like being well known and performing for the audience," Betsy said. "Cheerleading is a sport and hard work."

"I like competing against well-known teams [and] meeting new people," Lisa said. "It's a lot of fun and I love it."

Teams can earn a spot or bid to compete for Worlds at sanctioned international events throughout the year. Currently, Betsy and Lisa's team has an "unpaid bid," meaning they can compete but must foot the entire bill. They will compete for a "full-paid bid," worth up to $35,000 in transportation and lodging fees for their team and coaches, at Cheersport 2008 Nationals in Atlanta in February.

"These girls are dedicated," Betsy's mother, Nancy Watts-Orfao, said. "They can't always go out with their friends on the weekend because they're competing the next day. They have to do decent in school. The girls do homework in the car or at the gym before practice."

Lynn Parker, Jessica's mother, admires the girls' ability to handle their schedules.

"It's a real balancing act," she said. "I think the girls do a good job with that."

Although they girls work hard and compete seriously, they root for others in the competition.

"They may be competing against their absolute best friends in different places around the country," Nancy said. "Once the competition is over, they hang out [with the other competitors]. They want each other to do really well. [Cheering is] everything to them. It's their passion."