Champion All Stars in Danbury, CT, finds the strength to persevere through even the toughest of trials with a little bit of cheer and an 11-year-old inspiration.
By Erin Skarda
CBN Oct/Nov 2010
If it’s true that only the strongest individuals are chosen to face the toughest of circumstances, then Michele Mastrianni, owner of Champion All Stars in Danbury, CT, is solid as a rock. In late 2006, not only was the first-time gym owner experiencing the devastating effects of a deteriorating business partnership, she also received a deeply personal blow that would forever alter her life and the lives of everyone around her.
It was October, and her then 18-year-old daughter, Marli, was driving home one night with some friends when they were struck by a drunk driver. Immediately after the accident, Marli appeared to have sustained no major injuries, but as the weeks progressed, Michele started to notice that something was seriously wrong. Marli was violently ill, vomiting and experiencing painful headaches. She was dizzy, more forgetful and her senses were intensified to the point that exposure to light, sound and strong smells made her feel discomfort. Little by little, more debilitating ailments emerged that prevented Marli from living her usual vibrant life as an all-star cheerleader on the verge of entering college at Western Connecticut State University. After a parade of doctors’ visits and hospital stays, the diagnosis was heartbreaking: Marli had sustained a traumatic brain injury that had caused irreversible damage. While she talks and acts just like any other 22-year-old, Marli is limited in what she can do and suffers from pain every day.
As the Mastrianni family struggled to adjust to their new version of reality with no clue as to how Marli’s injury would progress, Michele was still dealing with the aftermath of the bitter breakup between her and her former business partner. Seeking a total program reinvention, Michele had bought out her partner’s share of the business and changed the gym’s name from Cheerleading Training Center of Connecticut (CTC) to Champion All Stars, but it appeared the damage was already done: One of her trusted employees left the gym to open a new establishment a mere 10 minutes away from Champion’s facility, taking more than half of the gym’s athletes along with her. “We went from 178 members to about 40,” Michele says. “My partner and I were going through a divorce, if you will. It was sour, and people just didn’t want to be around that. It was really a heart-wrenching time for me, personally.”
There’s no doubt that such a series of unfortunate events would be more than enough to bring even the toughest person—or most successful cheer program—to her knees. But for Michele and Marli, along with the rest of the Champion family, the desire to persevere was stronger than any setback. Reflecting on this experience four years later, it’s certain that Champion’s story is not one of sadness, but one of inspiration, character, hope and, of course, cheer.
At the Crossroads
With the gym in disarray and Marli in need of constant care and attention, Michele knew something drastic would have to change and quickly. She began looking for a new facility, something closer to home so she could be there whenever Marli needed her. As fate would have it, Michele stumbled upon the perfect place, only four minutes away from home. “When [my family] moved to [our current] house, I used to drive by this place. It’s right by a stoplight with all glass in front, so at night you could see right inside,” she says. “It was a karate or tae kwon do studio at the time, and I could see people working out. I would sit at the light and think, ‘That would be so cool to have a cheer gym right there, because you can see everything.’ Low and behold, three years later, I got the place.”
As Champion settled into its new home, business started to look up. By the end of the 2006–07 season, membership numbers had doubled from 40 students to 80. But despite business being on the rebound, Marli was still assimilating to her new lifestyle. Unable to read, write, use a computer or work with numbers, Marli had to reconsider her dream to study elementary education in college and become a teacher. After weighing her options, she decided to combine her passion for cheerleading with her desire to work with children and rejoined the gym at Champion, this time not as a participant, but as a coach. “I love everything about working at the gym,” says Marli, who now coaches two teams at Champion. “Right now it’s the only thing I can do, but I just love being around the kids. They’re the best, and they always make me feel better [when I’m having a bad day].”
With her service dog, Jake, constantly by her side, Marli has been able to push through the pain and frustration that she experiences every day to be there for the kids at Champion. Not only has the program grown stronger with her as the assistant cheer director—boasting 120 athletes and nine teams at the beginning of the 2010–11 season and still growing—but Marli has also been an inspiration to everyone who walks into the gym. While many programs are bogged down by everyday drama, at Champion, negativity just isn’t allowed. “I always take what we’ve been through, because it was horrible, yet it never showed on my face,” says Michele. “People don’t know the way Marli has to live, because that’s not what they see. They know it because that’s what we tell them, but they don’t see that. Our kids have stated that Marli is an encouragement because she comes to work every day with head pain, and you would never know it. It’s an encouragement to them, that whatever they’re going through, they can get through it, and do it with a smile.”
A Small Inspiration
Despite Champion’s incredible and emotional history, throughout their close-knit Connecticut community, the gym is most well-known for its selfless service efforts. Shortly after Marli’s accident in October 2006, 7-year-old Jaxxon Reed, a cousin of one of the gym’s participants, was diagnosed with stage four neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer that develops from the tissues that form the sympathetic nervous system. In Jaxxon’s case, the cancer was found in his brain. “Jaxxon used to come in with his mother and ask if he could jump around on the trampoline,” says Michele. “If the gym wasn’t too busy, I’d let him, [with supervision].”
On the day before Thanksgiving 2006, Jaxxon was playing on the trampoline, and Michele was talking to his mother, Kim, about Marli’s head injury. Two days later, Jaxxon experienced a burning headache and was taken to the emergency room. Within hours he was airlifted to another hospital for surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. While Jaxxon was recovering, Kim called Michele, since she knew Marli had also experienced a brain injury, and the bond between the families developed from there. “At that point, they didn’t even know if Jaxxon was going to make it,” says Michele. “When he got through the trial period [and we found out] that he was going to make it, I just knew we had to do something. If it’s in our power, we have to do something [to help him].”
In February 2007, Michele planned Champion’s first Jaxxon Reed Fundraiser to assist the Reed family in affording the treatments that Jaxxon needed to survive. Since then, supporting Jaxxon has been one of the hallmarks of the program, and everyone at the gym and throughout the community has pitched in to help. “Jaxxon is a vibrant little boy,” says Michele. “Watching him and his mother go through such a horrible ordeal really made us look hard at things, because at any moment, this can be taken away from any one of us. Jaxxon’s mom and I have grown so close talking about our kids over the past four years. My daughter is going to live; we don’t know Jaxxon’s outcome yet. It gives you a greater appreciation for life and for people. Every day we should be celebrating like it’s a holiday, and every day we should be grateful that we have that day.”
To celebrate Jaxxon and help support his family, Champion also created a team in his honor, Team Jaxx TV Stars, which is fittingly coached by Marli. The gym continues to raise money for the Jaxxon Reed Fund through three events that it hosts each year. The Jaxxon Reed Fundraiser, which is a collaboration between Champion and Connecticut Spirit of Hamden, has grown so much since its inception that the gym had to move venues this year to a local athletics center to accommodate the demand. So far, Champion has raised well over $12,000 for the fund, which has helped the Reed family pay for the experimental treatments that have helped put Jaxxon’s disease in remission. But perhaps more importantly, Champion’s support has lifted his spirits and given him something to cheer about, even during the toughest days. “We all love Jaxxon. He’s the most amazing little boy you’d ever meet,” says Marli. “All the kids [on Team Jaxx] want to perform and do well for him. I love that he has his own team because he loves it. He tells all his friends that he has his own cheerleading team. People in the gym have a heart for him, and they want to be on his team to support him.”
Indeed, the demand for Team Jaxx has grown so much over the past three years that Champion had to create an exhibition team, the Jazz Stars, just to accommodate those who want to try out for Team Jaxx. And for reasons not lost on the Mastrianni family, Team Jaxx is also the most successful squad at Champion, bringing in four National Championships, six first-place finishes and five second-place finishes. “When we got our first national banner with Team Jaxx, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the whole gym, not just because of the kids, but because of Marli and Jaxxon,” says Michele. “Their victory was Marli’s and Jaxxon’s victory.”
Moving Forward
Champion’s continued growth may be directly attributed to the gym’s increased visibility in the community, but creating a cheerleading powerhouse isn’t something that Michele’s focused on—at least not quite yet. “I’m a hard worker by nature and a determined person,” says Michele, who feels there’s a much bigger plan for Champion in the future. “I work hard for something when I believe in it, and when I opened the gym, I opened it for all the right reasons. It wasn’t because of business. I opened it for the kids, and I always want to have a place where they can go and call home.”
Michele claims that her life is an open book, which has helped her to run her business because anyone who knows what she’s been through has been persuaded to look at life in a different way. “When you’re dealing with the stupid nonsense in life, then you just stop [worrying about] it. That [perspective] definitely overflowed into the gym,” she says. “I’m very honest with people. I’m able to tell them that there are more important things in life, and I think that’s my biggest change. All this—Jaxxon, Marli—it’s definitely changed the way I think and do things. I’ve tried to take an awful situation and use it somehow for good.”
While neither Marli nor Michele can predict what will happen in the future, one thing is certain: They will never give up and will always keep moving forward. As of press time, Jaxxon was in remission from his illness, and Marli had just started seeing a traumatic brain injury specialist who the Mastriannis are hoping will help determine a better treatment plan and understanding of her injury. Despite her limitations, Marli sacrifices everything to coach her teams. Even though it’s sometimes difficult, you can still find her at every competition Champion is a part of, along with her most loyal canine friend, Jake. “Sometimes if I’m having a bad day, I don’t even know how I get through it—probably Jake, Jaxxon and the kids in the gym, because I really just love being around them,” she says, offering just a small amount of advice on getting through tough times: “Find something you love and do it,” Marli says. “Just keep pushing through and holding on.”
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