May 03, 2019 at 10:50PM
The girls and boys from the Candy Elite All-Stars — Newark's first and only travel cheerleading program — were preparing for practice Thursday night when a cell phone in the Central Ward community center started buzzing unexpectedly.
Normally, any distractions would be ignored. But this time, a coach picked up — and no one could have expected who was on the other end of the line:
Gov. Phil Murphy.
He was calling to send well-wishes to a pair of teams from the program — 100 Grand and the Jawbreakers — who last month became the first teams ever from Newark to qualify for The D2 Summit, the most prestigious championship tournament in the country.
Murphy told the girls and boys and their coaches that all of New Jersey would be rooting them on from afar.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Murphy can be heard saying in a short video clip posted to Facebook. "We wish you the very best down there, okay?"
The story of the Candy Elite All-Stars — a troupe founded four years ago and named in honor of Candy McLean, a local cheerleading visionary murdered in a 2008 quadruple homicide — was documented Sunday in The Star-Ledger and NJ.com. The program has provided an outlet for dozens of inner-city teenagers and children looking to escape violence and dysfunction in their neighborhoods and at home.
Plus, the teams have achieved remarkable success far quicker than anyone could have imagined. The Jawbreakers and 100 Grand stunned the cheerleading world by qualifying for The D2 Summit, which starts May 10 in Orlando. Each will be competing against more than 30 teams from around the country — many of which have far more resources and charge significantly more money to be in their programs.
A coach was murdered. A cheerleading troupe formed to honor her. Now they're headed to the nationals.
Newark teams shocked the cheer world by qualifying for the most prestigious tournament in the U.S.
Wydeyah Hay, one of the coaches and owners of Candy's Elite, said Murphy found out about the teams and their accomplishment from reading the article in The Star-Ledger and on NJ.com. Hay said one of Murphy's staffers reached out to her Monday to set up a call between Murphy and the athletes. Only Hay was expecting the phone call next week.
The unexpected call Thursday only fueled the excitement, Hay said. She added that the boys and girls were ecstatic and jumping up and down after receiving the message from Murphy.
"They were just like, 'Wow! The Governor just called us!" Hay said. "I was even in shock."
The cheerleaders have a few more days of practice before heading to Florida for the competition. Hay said after some early struggles implementing new enhanced routines, the girls and boys are ready to go.
"The athletes look better than they did a month ago," Hay said. "We're excited for next week, and hopefully we can come back as champions."
Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The girls and boys from the Candy Elite All-Stars — Newark's first and only travel cheerleading program — were preparing for practice Thursday night when a cell phone in the Central Ward community center started buzzing unexpectedly.
Normally, any distractions would be ignored. But this time, a coach picked up — and no one could have expected who was on the other end of the line:
Gov. Phil Murphy.
He was calling to send well-wishes to a pair of teams from the program — 100 Grand and the Jawbreakers — who last month became the first teams ever from Newark to qualify for The D2 Summit, the most prestigious championship tournament in the country.
Murphy told the girls and boys and their coaches that all of New Jersey would be rooting them on from afar.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Murphy can be heard saying in a short video clip posted to Facebook. "We wish you the very best down there, okay?"
The story of the Candy Elite All-Stars — a troupe founded four years ago and named in honor of Candy McLean, a local cheerleading visionary murdered in a 2008 quadruple homicide — was documented Sunday in The Star-Ledger and NJ.com. The program has provided an outlet for dozens of inner-city teenagers and children looking to escape violence and dysfunction in their neighborhoods and at home.
Plus, the teams have achieved remarkable success far quicker than anyone could have imagined. The Jawbreakers and 100 Grand stunned the cheerleading world by qualifying for The D2 Summit, which starts May 10 in Orlando. Each will be competing against more than 30 teams from around the country — many of which have far more resources and charge significantly more money to be in their programs.
A coach was murdered. A cheerleading troupe formed to honor her. Now they're headed to the nationals.
Newark teams shocked the cheer world by qualifying for the most prestigious tournament in the U.S.
Wydeyah Hay, one of the coaches and owners of Candy's Elite, said Murphy found out about the teams and their accomplishment from reading the article in The Star-Ledger and on NJ.com. Hay said one of Murphy's staffers reached out to her Monday to set up a call between Murphy and the athletes. Only Hay was expecting the phone call next week.
The unexpected call Thursday only fueled the excitement, Hay said. She added that the boys and girls were ecstatic and jumping up and down after receiving the message from Murphy.
"They were just like, 'Wow! The Governor just called us!" Hay said. "I was even in shock."
The cheerleaders have a few more days of practice before heading to Florida for the competition. Hay said after some early struggles implementing new enhanced routines, the girls and boys are ready to go.
"The athletes look better than they did a month ago," Hay said. "We're excited for next week, and hopefully we can come back as champions."
Matthew Stanmyre may be reached at mstanmyre@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattStanmyre. Find NJ.com on Facebook.