All-female cheer squad helping special needs athletes express their passion

Reporter: Zach Oliveri Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:
Shine Athletics Angels CREDIT WINK News

A cheer team is opening its doors to a group for the opportunity to do what they love. Shine Athletics’s cheer team is for girls of all ages with special needs.

Shine Athletics Angels are all about lifting each other up, literally and figuratively.

“Touching my heart and it probably touched her heart too,” said Shine Athletics Angel Isis Gutierrez.

Gutierrez has been an angel for a year and keeps coming back to learn all the different routines and of course be with her friends.

“Really amazing because they probably feel the same way and probably they probably feel we are the first-place winning team,” said Gutierrez.

The Shine Athletics Angels is a group of eight girls of all ages and abilities. They’re given a chance to express themselves through cheer.

“They have the opportunity to do things they’ve never done before in a specialized program. So just seeing them dance and cheer and sing and you know they’re just so proud of themselves,” said Shine Athletics Angels coach Christine Burns.

They even get to be part of the gym’s competitive teams by joining them on the road and getting their chance to go through their routine.

“We have some of our special athletes that have said it was the best day of their lives. Being on stage, they’ve never experienced an opportunity like that before,” said Burns.

This is a team that has grown into a family.

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