Holliston Athletes Cheer at Own the Throne

Participating at the Own the Thrown Cheering Competition in Newbury, Massachusetts, athletes representing Holliston were part of two teams from the Galaxy All Stars coached by Laura Bloise. The Coach took her mini team, “Big Bang,” which is made up of 5-8 year olds and her junior team “Fusion,” which is comprised of athletes between the third and eighth grade.
Both teams came away with third place trophies, but it could have been higher.
“The two teams were both originally announced as the third-place finisher in their respective divisions,” Bloise said. “However, when I received the scoring sheets and started going through them I realized that there were tabulation errors in favor of both teams (the same judge made an error on both sheets) which would have given both Big Bang and Fusion a tie for first place.”
Unfortunately, by the time Bloise had discovered the errors, the winners had already been announced and everyone was already leaving the venue. Nothing could be changed at this point. Both teams were obviously disappointed, but understood and took things in stride.
Holliston athletes on Big Bang were Ashleigh Dickinson and Sophie Nystrom and flyer Charlotte Ward represented team Fusion. According to the coach, Ward hit all of her stunts, while the two mini athletes representing Holliston were taking part in their first competition ever.
Other Holliston athletes that take part for the Galaxy All Stars Advanced Division (7th – 9th grade) under the name “Eclipse” are freshman Lili Derubis and seventh graders Juliana Abushbery. Both athletes are now bases for the Eclipse and along with the rest of their teammates have already qualified for the US Finals in May.
Bloise began the Galaxy All Stars five years ago using Shen Gymnastics in Holliston, but eventually moved to Massachusetts Elite Gymnastics Association (MEGA) out of Millis.
“When I started this club 5 years ago, I was the high school gymnastics coach for Holliston,” Bloise said. “I had intended for this to be my feeder program for the high school, however things worked out differently than I anticipated.”
Although the Galaxy All Stars gymnastic club team didn’t fully turn out the way Bloise expected it to, it still is sort of feeder program leading up to the high school. The younger athletes will hopefully continue in gymnastics and move their way up the ladder until the eventually are participating for the Advanced squad, which in turn will mold girls that may want to continue their gymnastic careers on the high school level.