NORWICH – The Norwich Cyclones Cheerleading program is proud to announce that they have added a new modified cheerleading program for this upcoming season. This program allows students in seventh and eighth grade to cheer as the A team cuts off at fifth and sixth grade. The purpose of this program is to provide a level in between the A-team and high school cheer to increase interest in the sport and setting up a bright future at the varsity level.

This program is something that Danielle Nolan had wanted to do for a while. Nolan has been the Cyclones cheer coordinator for the last three seasons. Nolan grew up cheering for the Cyclones as well as for the Norwich Purple Tornado at the varsity level. With her passion for cheerleading, she rejoined the Cyclones from a coaching prospective.

“Coaching is something I always knew I would do. My mother and aunt were amazing role models as cheerleading coaches, and they taught me how a coach can make a positive impact on their athletes. I never knew how much I would love coaching youth sports,” Nolan said.

Since taking on this responsible role, Nolan set three important goals to improve the Cyclones cheer program. Her first goal was to provide the program with new uniforms, which the Board of Directors supported, and Nolan was impressed with how sharp the uniforms are.

Next, she wanted to see a growth in the registration numbers, which had been a struggle starting out.

“I wanted to see growth in our cheerleading registration numbers. When I first started coaching for the Cyclone program, it took months to get our cheerleading rosters full, and our program numbers were around 12 athletes per team,” Nolan said. “This year, our younger teams were full within 24 hours and each team is expected to have about 20 cheerleaders. It was amazing to see familiar names of cheerleaders who have been in the program in previous years, as well as new kids who are coming from the City of Norwich Youth Bureau program. So I feel at this time, we have also accomplished this goal.”

Nolan also added that this year’s flag football cheerleaders have 17 signed up while the A and B teams have 22, and the new modified program has six, which is the minimum that the program had wanted.

With having six committed cheerleaders signed up for modified, Nolan has achieved her third goal.

“Lastly, I wanted to do something to "bridge the gap" between Cyclones and varsity cheerleading. The Cyclones Board of Directors has approved the addition of a modified cheerleading team to help reach my third goal. This team will cheer alongside our A-team cheerleaders at games and will compete in our league's cheerleading competitions against other modified programs,” Nolan said. “So far, we have six athletes signed up and are hoping to add cheerleaders all the way up to our first practice! The modified cheerleading team is available for 7th and 8th graders. We hope this team will play a small part in growing Norwich Cheerleading into the powerhouse it once was.”

If you are interested and have any questions about the Cylones cheerleading program, please contact Danielle Nolan through email at dcoachnolan@gmail.com. The modified cheerleading registration is ongoing at norwichcyclones.com.