
Meet the Empire Staff

Christopher Cote - Owner
Bio of Chris coming soon!

Maureen (Mo) Farrell
Mo began her coaching career 8 years ago, coaching both cheerleading and gymnastics. She joined Empire’s coaching staff in 2014 when it was first established. Mo grew up doing competitive gymnastics in which she competed for a private club, high school, and college club gymnastics team. Mo also did cheerleading in high school and was named one of the captains her senior year. She appreciates the discipline gymnastics taught her, but being able to go on the competition floor with her friends was the reason she fell in love with the sport of cheerleading. Mo attended college at the University of Delaware where she majored in Psychology and Business and is currently attending Springfield College to pursue Sports and Exercise Psychology. She has experience coaching USAG levels 3-5 gymnastics, rec gymnastics, preschool gymnastics and All Star cheerleading levels 1-3. A fun fact about Mo is that Coach Chris was one of her coaches when she was a young gymnast!

Alexis Monaco
Bio of Alexis coming soon!

Victoria DePalma
Photo and Bio of Tori coming soon!

Leah Strachan
Leah currently coaches numerous girls gymnastics, tiny tot gymnastics, and tumbling classes. In addition to coaching classes, Leah is currently our elite level 2 tumbling coach. Leah has been a cheerleading and tumbling coach for 5 years. She started her cheerleading journey at 5 years old doing all star and pop warner cheer. She continued for 15 more years with high school and collegiate level cheerleading. She was named head captain of her high school cheer team and was awarded All-State and All-American cheerleading titles a number of times. Leah has experience coaching many levels of tumbling and has been a part of various tumbling clinics and training. Leah is a 4th-year student pursuing her undergraduate degree at Central Connecticut State University in Political Science with a legal concentration and a minor in psychology. A fun fact about Leah is that she is also a trained EMT!

Madison Hyland
This is Madison's second season as a member of the Empire coaching staff. This season, she is coaching our Tiny cheer team. Madison has spent the last 10 years specializing in dance instruction. With 20 years of personal Irish Step dancing experience, as well as three years of high school cheerleading experience, Coach Madison is excited to return to the cheer world. Madison currently attends Central Connecticut State University, pursuing her Masters in Social Work.

Ashley Deal
Photo and bio of Ashley coming soon!

Alexis (Lexie) Shelton
This is Alexis’ first season as a member of the Empire Coaching Staff. She currently coaches our half-year junior 2.2 team along with tumbling all of Empire's half-year athletes. She started her all star cheerleading career at the age of 7 and continued until she graduated college. She was named as captain of her high school team and held the title of co-captain in college. She also has some experience in choreographing competition routines. Alexis attended Delaware State University where she received her BS in Forensic Biology and her MS in general Biology. A fun fact about Alexis is that’s she also works as a Forensic Science Examiner at the CT State Laboratory.

Emma Hong
Photo and bio of Emma coming soon!

Mackenzie Stansfield
Mackenzie began her coaching career last season as a volunteer coach on Legacy. She joined Empire’s coaching staff in 2021. Mackenzie grew up doing many sports; soccer, basketball, field hockey and even has a black belt in karate. Mackenzie started cheerleading in high school and was named one of the captains her senior year. She fell in love with cheerleading the first time she put someone in a prep. Mackenzie attended college at Central Connecticut State University where she majored in Business Management. A fun fact about Mackenzie is that Coach Chris was one of her tumbling coaches when she was in High School.

Kendall Gallinoto
Kendall is currently a gymnastics and tumbling instructor/coach at Empire. Kendall was a gymnast for 8 years until high school where she switched to cheerleading. She cheered for 4 years, then moved on to coaching. Kendall is most passionate and well trained with tumbling and technique. It is Kendall's second year coaching and sharing her love for tumbling and gymnastics with kids. Kendall is attending college where she is studying creative writing and psychology. A fun fact about Kendall is she has 4 siblings who she also loves to coach as well!

Denise Patton
Bio of Denise coming soon!
Want to join the team? Apply Today!
Email us at EmpireCheerCT@gmail.com