Ace Elite Allstars Come To Shoreline
Morgan Seniors Get Involved
Ace Elite Allstars is the first competitive cheerleading gym to be established on the Connecticut Shoreline. This gym opened during the summer of 2022, by Coach Brittany Delvecchio. The team is now run by Coach Brit and accompanied by 2 other coaches, Cara Hoyt and Tia Kelly, but hoping to expand their franchise in the following years. The gym is located in Madison, Connecticut, but originally shared a space at the Guilford Athletic Center in Guilford, Connecticut. This opening has created a wide range of opportunities for athletes who can’t participate in school teams, or want to further their athletic experience. Tryouts were held in July of this year, and two teams were created; the level 1 Junior Royals (elementary age athletes), and the level 2 Senior Elite High Rollers (middle school and high school age athletes). There are around 15 cheerleaders per team, but half year participants will be joining each team this December. Both teams will be competing in competitions around New England starting in January. There will be 2-5 competitions for each team in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, which will be held over the course of an entire weekend for the senior team, and one day for the junior team; these competitions will run until the end of March. Each team practices for 1.5-2 hours, 3 days a week, however the gym offers separate tumbling classes along with private lessons that the athletes can attend to better their skills.
Senior Athletes Rachel Hromadka and Mikayla Brotz both made the Senior Elite High Rollers team, and plan to compete this upcoming season.
Mikayla and I both competed for the Morgan Cheerleading team since freshman year, but decided to only participate in Ace for our Senior season. I have been cheering for 9 years and Mikayla has been for 7, and this opportunity has been an incredible way to challenge ourselves and encourage each other to become better athletes. The team has created a very positive community and being able to participate has been a dream come true for both of us. Allstar cheerleading has been something we have looked forward to forever, but all gyms being over an hour away make it very difficult to become a reality and fit into our schedule. The proximity of Ace has made it so easy to attend and created an opportunity to experience something we have dreamed of since we were little. Although I will not be able to compete due to a knee injury, I am still part of the team and have never been surrounded by a more welcoming and accepting group which has motivated me to do whatever it takes to have a full, speedy recovery.
Coach Brit expressed that she has wanted to open a competitive gym since she was a kid and finally was able to accomplish her goal. She cheered competitively for East Celebrity Elite her entire childhood through high school, and continued to receive a Division 1 scholarship for cheerleading and Radiation Therapy. After college, she worked in the medical field for a few years but decided that it was not the right path for her, and wanted to embrace her passion for cheer and dance. She worked as a coach in a few different tumbling gyms before deciding to take “a leap of faith” to begin coaching full time. She coached for GCA Fairfield for a total of 3 years, and decided it was finally time to pursue her coaching career further. Coach Brit expressed that coaching for high school cheer opened her eyes and made her realize that “opening a gym was something that {she} could not only handle, but something that was made for {her}”.
With her dream gym now started, she plans on opening many more facilities around Connecticut in the future once more athletes find out about the program. She is beginning advertising more on social media, along with potential billboards and newspapers to further broadcast the company. Coach Brit says she can’t wait to see more of her visions come to life, and she’s very proud and accomplished with her building this team from scratch.