Montclair Recreation cheer team wins national championship
Published on February 12, 2025
Montclair Recreation Bulldogs Jr Pee Wee Cheer team are Pop Warner National Champions
The Bulldogs Jr. Pee Wee cheer team made history in Montclair by claiming its first National Crown among the top pop warner teams from around the country, on December 6-10 in Orlando, FL. The Bulldogs mastered their routine and won the judges’ vote, leaving no doubt for the local cheer team to be crowned champion of their respected cheer division.
The Pop Warner Cheer & Dance Championships feature over 500 cheer & dance teams who compete at the four-day event. Competitions take place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida.
The Jr. Pee Wees are also repeat champions of the Pop Warner eastern regional tournament (2023-2024), in which teams compete in a post season tournament each year against the top teams throughout the region, from Upstate, NY, NY, PA, NJ and Delaware to qualify for the national tournament. The participants in the Pop Warner program are unique as opposed to those of other programs. While they are taught about the values of competition, they also maintain grades at a satisfactory level in order to attain the ultimate prize of being named a Pop Warner National Champion.
On Jan 28th, the young locals were honored before the Council Meeting with a proclamation by Mayor Baskerville and the township council for their tremendous achievement of being crowned as Pop Warner national champions. The team also received a national championship banner from North Jersey Pop Warner and individual trophies from Montclair Recreation. The Recreation department is very proud of our volunteer coaches and participants for all of their hard work and dedication to the program and the team.
More recently (February 7-9) , the team competed at the YCADA Globals cheer competition in Atlantic City, NJ, where national champions from various leagues around the country compete against each other in a battle of the elites to claim the overall title.
The Bulldogs continued its magical season with a 2nd place finish out of the top 9 teams in their cheerleading group. The team features 15 participants, ranging from the ages 8-10 years of age: Jaelynn, Morgan, Peyton, Skylar, Aria, Zoe Lyriq, Annabelle, Xareena, Madison, Nora, Bridgette, Skyler, Clementine, and Tori. They are coached by Head Coach Jasmine Atuncar and Assistant Coach Heather Kufta.
The Cheer and Dance Program offers teams a wide range of opportunity for young athletes at all skill levels: Novice, Intermediate and Advanced. The Bulldogs Football and Cheerleading program (ages 5-14) open registration for the 2025 season on Tuesday, April 1st online at www.communitypass.net. F more information logo onto www.montclairbulldogs.com or call the recreation office 973-509-4915 during business hours 8:30am-4:30pm Monday-Friday.