We are thrilled to share with you today’s guest blog from a remarkable lady named Debbie House. Debbie is the organizer and head coach of the Contender cheer team, a unique group of special needs cheerleaders. The team was formed three years ago with the five girls pictured below. A year later, the squad increased to eight, and this year there are 10 team members. The girls cheer at Hunterdon Huskies home games at Union Forge Park in High Bridge, NJ.

From Debbie House:

You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it. 

We Bought a Zoo (2011)

I waited nervously at the field for the girls who were coming to see just what this was all about.  Eventually they all arrived and, for the first of many times, I saw the smiles of the five girls who would become the very first Hunterdon Huskies Contender Cheer Team, a squad for kids with special needs. We loved each other, and we loved cheerleading together from that first day forward.

I am the lucky voice for the team. Those first five teenage girls, with varying special needs, joined a team that never existed, coached by a woman they had never met, with a game schedule that was incomplete, and all part of an organization that had never had a special needs athlete before. I can’t help but admire the courage it must have taken the girls and their families to even consider being on the team.

Kids with special needs don’t always get the warm fuzzy welcome we would hope, and their parents are full-time advocates often fighting a system that doesn’t always work for their child, often settling for what they are offered. Most of the extracurricular activities that these kids previously participated in were only for kids with special needs – this was definitely not going to be that – this was cheerleading, the sport with arguably the most stereotypical participants and parents.

What I asked these families to perceive, envision, and believe in was something they were unfamiliar with – yet they came to the field that first day. They believed me, and they took a leap of faith that most would probably not. Why? For the love of the sport. For love of a body in motion that may not necessarily present the most skilled maneuver, but nonetheless, is a body in motion. It’s simple, if you ask: The girls just want to be like other girls their age.

The members of my team don’t even realize the walls they break down simply by putting on their uniforms. They possess the courage to be put in a position of vulnerability without concern for criticism. Hundreds of people have watched them perform. Hundreds of people have been and will continue to be changed by seeing what these girls can do – hearts become lighter, edges blur, and tears flow. It becomes clear that while judges’ scores may be immediately important, the reality is that enjoying what you’re doing needs to be more important. And perfection is relative. If you ask any member of any audience that has seen this team perform, they will say they were PERFECT.

They are a team of ten now. Ten ambassadors. Not just ambassadors for the special needs community, but ambassadors for every person who ever wanted to try something they weren’t sure they were good at. And trying with 100% determination so that, whatever the outcome, trying is the victory.

Their courage and enthusiasm is paving the way for other teams to emerge, and for other girls with special needs to join in and cheer, and be part of something completely amazing.