The New and Inclusive Friday Night Lights

Being strong takes on a whole new meaning for differently abled athletes. We are huge fans of multisport events like the Paralympics and the Special Olympics, as well as single-sport organizations like The Sparkle Effect. Meet Sarah Cronk, founder of The Sparkle Effect, who launched this inclusive cheer program when she was a sophomore in high school. Wait, you’ll go hoarse with the cheering.

Ê: How old were you when you started The Sparkle Effect, and how did it come to be?

SC: In 2008, when I was fifteen, I helped to create the nation’s first school-based cheer team designed to bring together students with and without disabilities, the Pleasant Valley High School Spartan Sparkles. My initial interest in inclusion stemmed from my relationship with my brother, who has a developmental disability. After creating the Spartan Sparkles, I realized that students nationwide could start their own inclusive cheer and dance teams, which is why I created The Sparkle Effect in 2009. Since then, over ten thousand students have directly participated on two hundred teams in thirty-one states.

Ê: Why do you think your mission of total inclusivity resonates with a sport like cheerleading, which can sometimes be thought of as overly exclusive?

SC: I have loved turning the cheerleader stereotype on its head through The Sparkle Effect. Cheerleading, at its core, is about school spirit. It’s about rooting for each other, even when the chips are down. It’s about rallying our communities around a common cause. To me, there’s nothing more inclusive than that. Cheerleading as an activity is also incredibly adaptive—it can be modified to suit any skill level. The public nature of cheerleading also has allowed us to put a bright spotlight on inclusion—to show audiences nationwide what individuals with disabilities can do and the many ways in which we’re more alike than different.

Ê: How did you know that a sports program started by a high school student (totally youth-driven and youth-led) would turn into a national program with over two hundred teams? What was the “ah-ha” moment, when you knew it could grow and be scaled like that?

SC: I can’t say that I ever did know! I’ve been at this for ten years now, and I still pinch myself every day. The first time the Sparkles team at my high school took the field, I knew we were on to something special. The impact the team was making on our community indicated to me that the idea was worth sharing. But I was definitely figuring things out as I went along. My initial goal was to create one hundred teams, and in our first year we only generated two. I went through many years of trying and failing, and pivoting and trying again. All I really knew was that I couldn’t give up.

Ê: Did the success of your team change any other sports at your school? Have you heard of other sports picking up on your inclusivity mission to make similar changes at other schools?

SC: Yes! When I was in high school, it was a real struggle for my brother to be accepted into any school activities. There was even an issue about him joining the school choir, even though he has perfect pitch. It’s important to keep in mind most authority figures in American high schools grew up in an era when people with disabilities were completely segregated from the rest of the population. Seeing the Sparkles on game night was the first time most folks in our school and community had seen social inclusion in action. Once both students and adults saw how simple and easy inclusion is, everything at our school started to transform. Now, students with disabilities are welcome everywhere— in choir, theater, sports, you name it. The transformation has become [so] ingrained that most people in the community genuinely can’t imagine it being any other way.

Ê: Besides the very real and intensive “Friday night lights” cheer experience, what else do Sparkle Effect team members gain in terms of mentorship, leadership, and empowerment opportunities?

SC: We’ve always said that “when everyone cheers, everyone wins,” because we believe that everyone involved in a Sparkle Effect team benefits from the experience. Students with disabilities report improved confidence and social skills. Students without disabilities describe the experience of being on a Sparkle Effect team as life changing, and report that their involvement has given them a sense of purpose. Parents say that their involvement has helped them feel less marginalized. They find gratification in being able to attend events where their children are participating and in seeing their children form genuine friendships with their peers, sometimes for the first time. And through the years, we see entire communities more readily embrace inclusion as a way of being.