When the Special Olympics USA Games start in one month, Osceola County will be represented at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports.
The Harmony High School Unified Cheer Team earned a qualifying spot in the cheerleading competition, which will be held June 6-7.
Despite teaching at St. Cloud High now, where she’s started a similar program, Allison Mortensen works with the group of 15 members at Harmony High who work in the spirit of inclusion and that of the Special Olympics.
It’s been a busy few months for the team, who was finally able to compete again late in 2021 and this year after not being able to get together in 2020 after the coronavirus pandemic took hold.
Mortensen started the program at Harmony four years ago. Per Special Olympics rules, the team can be made up of eight “athletes” who have disabilities that would qualify them for the Special Olympics, and seven able-bodied athletes called “partners.” Unified basketball, one of the main things the cheer team cheers for since its makeup is much the same, was a COVID casualty.
“Last year I was teaching at Harmony, and so just to stay active we held a competition on campus,” Mortensen said. “Another team sent a video of it to Special Olympics, and around June of last year I was told the team would be able to go to the USA Games. I didn’t even know there was a video!”
Soon after, Special Olympics Florida announced the qualifying on a Zoom call.
“The kids and the other coaches were like, ‘Wait, what?’” Mortensen said.
It got a little complicated this year, when Mortensen took a job teaching exceptional education (ESE) this school year at St. Cloud High, but didn’t find anyone she was comfortable with to hand the Harmony squad over to. So while continuing to work with the Harmony students, she started a Unified program at St. Cloud — they cheered for the Bulldogs’ Unified Basketball program, which won a state championship in February.
Meanwhile, the Harmony cheer team stayed busy cheering for the Longhorns’ volleyball and basketball teams, and to stay sharp for the Special Olympics USA Games, worked out a deal with a St. Cloud gym to practice weekly.
Much like unified basketball, eight athletes along with seven fullyable student “partners” make up the cheer team. Per Mortensen’s team rule, the student partners must be part of an outreach program such as Best Buddies in order to be on the team.
“I want to foster an environment of inclusion,” Mortensen said. “Best Buddies mentors have the exact qualities in the kids I’m looking for that make the athletes feel loved and special.”
The Harmony team members are Alondra Caliz, Helen Delie, Willow Stine, Shelby Moon, Paizly D’Amico, Rhiannon Giordano, Jacob Cooper, Breck McCarl, Leilany Ortega, Haley Armstrong, Aubury Straite, Mettea Allen, Ryan McCarl, Mallory Mortensen and Kaia Allen. Matt and Tyra McCarl and Ana Agudel are the assistant coaches. Special Olympics is providing most of the gear needed for the USA Games.
Unified cheer has, for the most part, returned statewide, and both the Harmony (Level 2) and St. Cloud (Level 1) teams did well enough at a recent area competition to qualify for the Florida state competition May 20-21 at ESPN Wide World of Sports, so the Harmony team will get to compete on the same stage it will in June.
