Melissa Thomas has had opportunities to interview for a head cheerleading coach’s position at other schools, but loves being an assistant coach at North Haven so much that she just can’t leave her hometown team. Melissa was a senior captain for the Indians before graduating in 2000 and wanted to stay in the program, so she promptly joined Head Coach Kathleen Crisafi as an assistant. In the 15 years since, North Haven has progressed into one of the state’s premier programs that won SCC and Class L titles in 2011 and Melissa was recently rewarded for her impact on the Indians when she was named the Connecticut High School Coaches Association’s Assistant Cheerleading Coach of the Year.

Melissa was nominated for the honor by both Crisafi and Sacred Heart Academy Head Coach Stephanie Redding. She found out she’d won the award in February and was presented with her plaque at the All-State banquet at the AquaTurf Club last month.

“I was really honored and very happy and excited. It’s only the second year they’ve done an assistant coach in cheerleading and to be the second person in Connecticut to have been chosen for the award was a big honor,” says Melissa, who received her distinction alongside three All-State North Haven cheerleaders in Jordyn Sheeley, Stephanie Corniello, and Jordyn Aurora. “You put a lot of work into it just like any coach in any sport. You dedicate a significant amount of personal time to do this and there aren’t a lot of times where you get to be recognized, so the fact that there’s someone out there who recognizes people for it, that felt really good.”

Melissa was a flyer when she competed for the Indians and so she lends her expertise to those athletes as one of the varsity squad’s assistants. Melissa teaches her flyers the techniques and also develops the confidence they need to go airborne.

“There’s a lot of fear with flyers in being thrown in the air and hoping to get caught, so there’s confidence building with getting them to go for it. You help them understand what we call body awareness, where you know what you need to do at the right time when you’re in the air,” says Melissa. “Some of them are so talented and could be extremely great flyers, but they just have a fear of being in the air and so it’s a lot of getting them comfortable and making sure they’re in a positive environment where they can do it. They just need that push to get up there. There’s a lot of demonstration and visual things to help them understand and a lot of practicing that gives them confidence, as well.”

Melissa is also the head coach of North Haven’s junior varsity team, which has its own competitions, in addition to cheering at games with their varsity colleagues. It’s a different situation than being a varsity assistant for Melissa, who spends a lot of time teaching the basics to girls with minimal cheerleading experience. Melissa likes building their skills from the ground up and also has fun creating her own choreography for the JV squad.

Crisafi compliments Melissa for showing tremendous compassion while coaching the girls on both levels and says they all respond wonderfully to her. Crisafi knows that Melissa’s work with the JV athletes plays a major role in the varsity team’s success and feels that the Coach of the Year honor went to the right person.

“Melissa takes what she does so seriously and her level of preparation with those JV kids is so important. The program is successful at the JV level. They’re one of the teams to beat and she sends me kids that are so skilled and I’m not sure that anyone else could do that,” Crisafi says. “I don’t think they could have found someone more deserving of that award than Melissa.”

Crisafi is also Melissa’s aunt and Melissa says one of the best things about North Haven cheerleading is how everyone supports each other like they’re in a family. Melissa’s become a motherly figure in that family, which has come a long way from the time she was a cheerleader.

“I joke all the time that I feel like I get 30 new daughters every year. We really are that close,” says Melissa. “We spend so much time together that we just have this bond like a family and that’s why it’s so special to be part of it and witness the program growing from nothing. My first two years, we were not a competitive program and didn’t have a lot of skill and Kathleen built it into an amazing program that can compete with the best of the best teams in the state. It’s an honor to be a part of that.”