- May 27, 2026
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After West Orange High School’s Unified Cheer team won the state championship last season, head coach Karen Smith received a call that changed the trajectory of the program.
The Warriors team — comprising athletes with and without intellectual or physical disabilities — was invited to represent Team Florida at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games.
At first, Smith emailed the parents to inform them the team had a cool opportunity, but she didn’t know much about it. She had just begun coaching the last time the Special Olympics was happening in 2022, which was in Florida that year, so she thought it was state games. She didn’t put two and two together, so when they called she instantly said, “We’ll do it.”
She didn’t realize how big of a deal the invitation was until the team arrived at a training camp in June 2025 and realized they were the only cheer team in Florida competing.
“I was excited, but to be quite honest, I was stressed because I was like, ‘How are we going to pull this off?’” Smith said. “Are the kids going to want to do this?”
The USA Games will take place from Saturday, June 20, to Friday, June 26, in Twin Cities, Minnesota. It will bring together more than 3,000 athletes from all 50 states to compete across 19 sports.
Smith’s mind went into panic mode, but it was the kids who changed her emotions.
“The kids were all like, ‘This is the best thing ever,’” she said. “They actually were the ones that were like, ‘We got this, we can do it.’ … They really don’t feel pressure, they are beyond happy and excited to just be cheering with their friends.”
After all, the team had won states four consecutive years, so in the athletes’ minds, it made sense they would be competing on the biggest stage in the country.
The USA Games take place every four years, and West Orange’s Unified Cheer was created in the 2022-2023 season, just missing the cutoff for the games in 2022. But this year, the team was eligible, and its impressive performances at states caught the attention of the Olympic committee. Smith said they look at record, team size and athlete ability, and the Warriors, who are the youngest of the teams representing Florida, were selected.
When the team went to the training camp in June 2025, the coaches and athletes traveled together for a three-day overnight trip in Lake Nona. There, the Olympics’ staff observed the athletes to make sure they could handle being away from home.
The Warriors met their non-cheerleading Team Florida teammates and began to form friendships. When the team heads to Minnesota, the athletes can’t wait to rekindle their friendships from a year ago.
It was a special trip for bonding. The girls enjoyed face masks in the hotel, while the boys ran around and did different activities the hotel had to offer. They did a giant Team Florida dinner banquet, Drive Shack outing and a goodbye breakfast.
After the staycation was complete, it was go-time.
Smith and the team had to prepare a choreographed cheer that represented the Sunshine State.
The Warriors wanted a routine that showcased everything Florida had to offer. They chose “Rocket Man” for the Space Coast, Pitbull, “Walking on Sunshine,” and Orlando’s biggest selling point: Disney. All of it, especially Disney, was not in their normal routine, so it posed the biggest preparation change, but it was exciting.
Every year, the team creates a new routine, so it built the Florida one since last summer. Smith said they spent six weeks editing music, finding the right songs, what they wanted it to sound like. Then they looked at where they wanted to do stunts, how many eight counts were needed for the sequence or for the whole dance. They also tested their DJ skills by mixing and matching songs and transitions.
After the mixtape was set, the team spent another four to five weeks choreographing the dance.
“It was just a lot more extensive, because in years past I’ll typically buy a mix, like a pre-made licensed cheer mix and then tweak the routine to fit the music,” Smith said. “This year, I made the music and then made the routine.”
Although it was stressful at first, Smith said it was fun having the creative freedom to pick out everything and allow the athletes to be involved. Kelsie Mattson, one of the cheerleaders, helped, especially with making the music, and she was excited to have the hands-on experience.
When the Unified Cheer team was established four years ago, Smith never would have imagined it would have grown into this.
Her first team only had nine cheerleaders, and now it has grown to 17. Not only has cheer grown but so has West Orange as a whole. The school now has expanded and offers unified cornhole, basketball, flag football and e-sports.
“We have more and more athletes from all different walks of life who were interested in cheer who are now doing basketball, and so the program has blown up, which has been super exciting,” Smith said. “It’s kind of surreal in a way. … Parents are just so happy that they have opportunities to compete at school and feel like every other athlete at the school. They get recognized in the same way, we’re in pep rallies and they get their varsity letters.”
The team’s cheer season began in August, and they are on the sidelines for all of the JV football and basketball games to cheer on their fellow Warriors. They train together once per week for two hours. Sometimes, Smith comes in with a great plan laid out, but they aren’t able to complete it because they have to address other matters first, or they have days where everyone is extremely focused.
But every practice ends with duck, duck, goose, which helps build the team’s spirit and the safe environment.
Tyler Boyd, who is in his first year with the team, has quickly picked up the sport. Smith described him as a natural performer. He also does band and loves the spotlight. Boyd especially loves doing jumps during their performances and trains with Sydney Whitman, another member of the cheer team, on his trampoline.
The pair has practiced together throughout the season and use the natural height the trampoline provides as a way to sharpen their jumping ability on stage.
During the state competition Saturday, May 15, and Sunday, May 16, at ESPN Wideworld of Sports, Boyd felt confident leaving the stage after the performance.
The team gathered together and heard the bronze and silver medals called, then they erupted in cheers when West Orange was called as the gold medal winner at states for the fourth year in a row.
“We had a lot of changes this season leading up to state games, we had some roster changes, we had some big adjustments within our team itself,” Smith said. “For the coaches especially, it was a big relief that all of the stress from the last couple of months really paid off and the kids were just so excited.”
With their gold medals, they all ran on stage together and took team photos.
Two weeks ago, everything became real when Team Florida’s cheer uniforms arrived in the mail.
“I’ve been waiting,” Mattson said. “I was waiting very impatiently, and then they were so pretty. I expected good uniforms. I didn’t expect ones that I would fall in love with.”
Smith was able to have creative freedom with designing the uniforms. She worked for a varsity cheer team in college so she knew a lot about sizing and made sure to choose appropriate ones. She then placed it into an editing software. The bedazzled Florida lettering for the girls and big pink text for the boys’ uniforms with a bedazzled state logo on the back was complete.
The Warriors are ready to catch their flight to Minnesota Friday, June 19. Every day, they ask Smith what day it is, when the flight is and what time they’ll take off. Before they fly out, they will reconnect with all of Team Florida and on the trip do meet and greets with the Timberwolves and see the Mall of America. Herbie Loomis-Culberson is especially excited for sushi.
The USA Games will commence with opening ceremonies and a performance by Demi Lovato and John Batiste, but the team won’t compete until Sunday, June 21.
“It’s a big responsibility representing the entire state,” Smith said to the team. “You’re the state cheerleaders.”
But they aren’t focused on the weight of the responsibility, rather they’re looking at the experience as another tool to exercise their talents on a larger scale and as a 10-day vacation with their closest friends.
“Cheer is the best because of my friends,” Danielle Morson said.
