CARVER – As the Middleboro cheer team performed at the Thanksgiving football game between Middleboro and Carver, the team reflected on a successful season where they overcame obstacles on the way to a fifth place finish in their division’s state competition.

“We had some setbacks throughout the season, so overcoming all of them and getting that far felt really good,” said Sachem Cheerleader Sophia Nardullo. 

One setback in particular was an injury to a key player. Tai Sylvia broke her finger a day before a league competition that the team had to win to make it to regionals and ultimately to states.

“I broke my pinkie,” Sylvia said. “It was the day before [the league competition], and we were at practice and I broke it. So they had to literally redo everything the next day.”

Sylvia had a key role as a “base,” which means that she holds up other players on the team when performing routines at competitions. Her injury a day before the competition meant that the team needed to replan their routines to accommodate for the new teammate who would be taking her role in the competition. 

“It was very tough at competition because I’ve never not competed,” Sylvia said. “I feel like we all had to work as a team. We had to come together rather than think of it as ‘someone’s out.’

Coach Jessica Dempsey said her team’s fifth place finish in the Small Coed Division of the Massachusetts State Competition on Sunday, Nov. 19 taught her team important lessons about resilience.

“It’s not always easy and you have to overcome adversity,” Dempsey said.

“I learned more about who I am as a cheerleader, and how adaptable my team is as a whole, and how much we can come together with setbacks like that,” Nardullo said.