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03/01/2017 11:00 PMThe Thunderbirds’ cheerleading community continues to grow with North Branford graduate Marisa Laudano at the helm of the high school team for the sixth straight season. Marisa captained the T-Birds for two years before graduating in 2007. She’s had a busy schedule while balancing her coaching life with work and school through the past few years, but Marisa does it because she loves it.
“I feel like it has to do with organizing my time. I love everything I do. It might get stressful, but it’s worth it,” says Marisa, who teaches in the New Haven school system. “Since this is my sixth year, I kind of had a groove and know the things that are going to come up. I now set benchmarks for where we should be, so we don’t fall behind, and I have an awesome group of parents that support me. Any time I need help, they’re willing to step up and help. That allows me to keep organized, so everything gets my attention.”
Coaching at her alma mater is a dream come true for Marisa, who wants her team to lend support to all of North Branford’s squads, while also getting out and about in the community.
“I wanted to make sure we spread out and cheer for more than just football and boys’ basketball. We’d like to support all programs, so with that, we’ve cheered at cross country meets, girls’ basketball games, and we’re looking for some hockey games, as well,” says Marisa. “We do a lot around town, as well—anything we can do to branch out, motivate, and show our face. With our sport, it’s cool because it’s a dual sport of personality and athleticism. I don’t want girls that just have competition skills. I’d like for them to also go out, be friendly, motivate, and help any way we can within the community.”
North Branford Athletic Director Kory Kevorkian has taken note of all of Marisa’s hard work. Kevorkian knows that Marisa wants her T-Birds to not only become better cheerleaders, but also grow as all-around student-athletes.
“Marisa does a tremendous job with the cheerleading program,” says Kevorkian. “She has always done a great job at keeping her program in alignment with all of the department goals and expectations that we have. In addition, her girls are some of the brightest and most well-rounded kids at the school.”
Marisa also has goals that extend beyond the North Branford cheer squad. One thing Marisa and her fellow Shoreline Conference coaches want to do is help organize a yearly league championship meet like the state’s other conferences have. Currently, the Thunderbirds compete at local competitions and then have the State Championship, but Marisa would like to see a Conference Championship that exclusively features the Shoreline teams.
“Our conference is really small, but it’s an up-and-coming one on the cheer end,” she says. “We recently put together an All-Conference cheer team, but a Shoreline Conference competition keeps falling through the cracks. It should be coming next year or the year after because we do want to have that community of the Shoreline Conference teams.”
Marisa says there’s been some inconsistency with the amount of girls who’ve competed for her team during her tenure. Right now, though, the T-Birds are on a good run and that’s something Marisa wants to continue, while encouraging even more people to join the program.
“The number of participants always fluctuates. We’ve had a few big classes graduate and come in, so they’re always relatively different. But it’s still growing,” Marisa says. “When I started, the program hadn’t competed in two years and many of the seniors have never been to a competition, so it was like starting from the basics. Now, we never miss any competitions and this program has built up a reputation.”
As Marisa works toward her master’s degree in elementary education at Quinnipiac University, she isn’t sure where she’ll be teaching next season. Regardless of where she winds up, Marisa plans on continuing to lead the North Branford cheerleading team as its head coach.
“There is no doubt I want to continue working with them now that my schedule will start to free up,” says Marisa. “I can’t see myself coaching anywhere else. I’m so invested in this town and community that I plan to be here for a while.”