By Melanie Petrucci, Contributing Writer

Team Rain is comprised of (l to r) Brooke Macey, Hailee Saporetti, Ella Thorpe, McKayla Flanders, Alyssa Crouss, Sarah Wallace, Olivia Ambach, Chloe Meyer, Francesca McKenzie, Chloe Truong, Sean Sullivan, Sofia Turieo, Celeste McKenzie, Sarah Morais, Angelina Turieo, Chloe Pierson, Ashley Meleski, Emily Macey, Mary Bace and Coach Steven Visneau.
Shrewsbury – Bay State All Star Cheer & Dance (BSCD), located in Shrewsbury, was recently honored to have two teams receive bids to compete at The Summit, Varsity All Star’s Cheerleading Championship held in Orlando, Fla., in May. Participation in the Summit is by invitation only. Bay State Small Junior 2 Team “Rain” won the championship in their division. Team “Frost” placed third out of 32 teams in the Small Youth 1 division.
“We had two of our teams make it to the biggest cheerleading nationals in the country,” said Coach Ashley Cinquegrana. “Not only was it the first time we have qualified for this event but one of our teams won the entire division of 34 teams and the other came in third out of 32 teams. These were two of the biggest divisions of the competition so, as you can imagine, we are very proud of our athletes.”
Matt Holdridge, who co-owns BSCD with Steven Visneau, agrees: “It’s a huge honor to be invited to compete at this level.”
BSCD was founded in 2006 by Holdridge and Karen Anastasi (a parent of one of its members) and was originally located in a small rented space in a gymnastics gym in Worcester.
“The business grew and relocated to a space in Shrewsbury,” Holdridge said. “As the sport of All Star Cheering has exploded, so has BSCD. Bay State needed more space to accommodate what we wished to offer our kids and athletes – a better experience with more equipment.”

Team Frost includes (l to r) Julia Franco, Naomi Moura, Mia Cincotta, Kailey Golden, Yednelis Santana, Karina Hagberg, Anaisy Casado, Mya Foley, Haley Roy, Coach Sean Perkins, Drew McLaughlin, Vivian Walsh, Lauren Hankis, Ava Lefebvre, Robyn Griffin, Amani Rivera, Camdyn Connelly and Maddy Marcello. (Photos/submitted)
They also wanted to be able to reach other markets such as the All Stars population, high school students and Shrewsbury American Youth Football, a recreational youth cheer program of which Holdridge is assistant director. BSCD has been in its current location since last August.
Bay State now has 24,000 square feet of training space with three full spring floors, two nine-panel hard floors, two tumble tracks, one 60-foot rod floor and one trampoline with 30-foot ceilings.
Registration is open for BSCD’s second annual BC5 Overnight Camp July 27-30, open to boys and girls ages 7-13.
For more information about the camp, teams, classes and tryouts, visit the BSCD website at www.baystateallstars.com or call 508-845-5678.