Christopher Cote - Owner

Bio of Chris coming soon!

Ashley Sabo - Owner

Bio of Ashley coming soon!

Maureen Farrell

Maureen 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. Maureen grew up doing competitive gymnastics in which she competed for a private club, high school, and college club gymnastics team. Maureen 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. Maureen 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! 

Rachel Melluzzo

Bio of Rachel coming soon!

Desirea Garcia 

Desirea has been coaching cheerleading for the past five years and has spent three years coaching at Empire. Aside from being an All Star coach, Desirea has extensive experience in the cheer world as an athlete as well. She was an All Star cheerleader for eignt years, spent four years as a college cheerleader, and was a UCA staff member for two years. She attended Southern Connecticut State University where she and her cheer team competed at both UCA and NCA college nationals. Desirea also competed at Worlds and left with 4th place finish! She has experience coaching All Star cheerleading levels 1-3 along with many other teams through UCA. Desirea has the passion and experience in cheerleading that can lead her athletes to success. 

Brittany Horn

Brittany coached Odyssey, our Junior 2.1 team this past season! Both a level 7 gymnast as well as a level 7 All Star cheerleader, Brittany has spent many years in the gym obtaining skills and knowledge that would later help her successfully coach our Empire athletes! In 2017, Brittany graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Sociology and Communications degree. Around that time, she competed two years in a row at Worlds, taking home an impressive 4th place finish!

Madison Hyland

Madison is a new member of the Empire coaching staff. This season, she will be coaching Legacy, our Mini 1.1 team! Although this is her first year coaching All Star Cheerleading, she 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. 

Megan Heffernan

Megan has been coaching high school cheerleading for three years, and has been an 8th grade ELA teacher for two years. Before she was a coach, Megan was a competitive gymnast for thirteen years, then went on to cheer at the middle and high school levels. She was an all star cheerleader for two years, then spent three years cheering for the University of Delaware while also working as a UCA staff member. Additionally, she competed at two college national cheer events in Oklahoma and California - with her team placing 2nd both years! With her diverse experience, Megan is looking forward to bringing her knowledge and love of coaching to the Empire family. 

Alexis Moy

Bio of Alexis coming soon!

Victoria DePalma

Bio of Tori coming soon!

Mackenzie Stansfield

Bio of Mackenzie coming soon!

Leah Strachan

Leah is a new member of the Empire coaching staff. 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 apart 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! 

Denise Patton 

Bio of Denise coming soon!