They scored fourth in the nation, but they’re number one in our hearts.”

Maggie Slane

Last week, after placing fourth at a national championship competition, the Barrington Pop Warner Junior Varsity cheerleading team took their teamwork and pep somewhere unexpected — a windowless room at the Jacksonville airport after making an emergency landing. By performing their routine and teaching some moves to nearby children, they turned a terrifying, frustrating, traumatic experience into an endearing memory and a story of resilience.

Shortly after Breeze Airways Flight 717 departed from Orlando, cheer mom Maggie Slane received a concerning text from her daughter, Aven Sheets, who was accompanied by her dad, coaches and numerous teammates. “They had some really stiff competition this year, and they came in fourth in the nation. We thought that was gonna be the story! Little Rhody coming in fourth in the country – how fantastic is that? The the girls got on the flight to come home, and my daughter started texting me saying she was very scared, that there was an altercation on the plane, and one person alleged that the other had a bomb,” Slane said.

Two passengers, sitting directly in front of Aven and her father, were displaying clear tension from the get-go. “They were a couple, and I heard him say, ‘Oh, you love me at the airport, but we’re breaking up when we get there – you’re just gonna bring me up north and dump me.’ The lady was like, ‘Can you just leave me alone?’ and he said, ‘Well, I’ll just tell them you have a bomb in your luggage,’ ” Aven explained.

As it became clear that the situation showed no signs of de-escalation, Aven and her father requested to be moved away from the pair, and they went toward the back of the plane with the rest of the cheer team. She said, “We took off and they let us switch seats and moved them apart, and my dad told the flight attendant that he said she had a bomb. I’m pretty sure they had heard it from earlier when they were talking to the two people.”

With this knowledge, the flight team made the decision to make an emergency landing in Jacksonville. Angela Bishop, mother to another team member, said: “The flight attendants made sure we knew nothing was wrong with the plane. The crew was definitely concerned, but not alarmed. They really handled the situation well.”

Upon landing, law enforcement was already on site and prepared. Coach Stacey Munzert said, “When we landed, it was like a movie – all the cops and fire trucks coming down the runway with us while we were getting up to the terminal.”

Both the man and the woman involved were removed from the plane, and the FBI arrived shortly after to sweep the area with the assistance of a K-9 unit. After this, passengers were told they would be de-planing. Aven said, “The pilot said people sitting near them needed to deboard first, and the FBI needed to ask us some questions, so me and my dad got off. There was this nice lady who asked us for our information in case they needed to get in contact with us, and they asked us all about what happened and what we saw.”

At this point, the passengers were escorted inside, no one quite sure of how the situation might evolve. They were all brought to a windowless, warehouse-like room and left waiting. When it became clear that the airline wasn’t going to make hotel reservations for the grounded passengers, the coaches took it into their own hands. Bishop said, “They scrambled to gather us and book seven rooms, as all of the hotels quickly filled up.”

Amidst all this, the energy in the room was understandably drab and negative. Bishop said, “There was a really serious mood to the environment and an overall upset tone.”

Echoing the same sentiment, Slane said, “A lot of the little kids were trying to keep it together. It’s hard to sit still for that long – people were hungry, people needed to use the bathroom, people were angry, scared, and it was traumatic. The spirit in the room was very poor.”

In this moment, the girls, eager to ease the tension and lighten the mood, found a way to have some fun. 

“We’re sitting in this room, and they’re not letting us leave. We noticed there were a bunch of kids, so we decided we should show them our routine and teach them how to jump and tumble. We did it really safely with lots of spotters so no one would get hurt, and they were so adorable and they were giggling and everyone was watching. Our parents were videotaping it, and it was really sweet,” Aven said.

The mood instantly lifted. Bishop described the shift as “shocking, and really endearing. There was just a lot more peace.”

Slane, Munzert and Bishop all share the belief that to come together in such a way after experiencing something as intense as this was truly remarkable. Slane said, “The Barrington JV cheer team, comprised of 12- and 13-year olds, moved past what they were feeling, and got up and they did their cheer routine. Immediately, the energy in the room changed … It became something about joy, growth, and resilience. When something like that happens in a traumatic situation, it can change the way people process the experience from a mental health perspective. That’s important, and they saw that.”

Not only did this allow the kids to get up, move around, and have fun, it allowed their parents to relax as well. Said coach Munzert, “These are middle schoolers. They could have spent the whole time on iPads or doing TikTok or whatever, but they didn’t. They really chose to live in the moment and make it a happy experience for everybody.”

The next morning, when everyone returned to the airport to reboard and fly back to T.F. Green, the girls were welcomed and celebrated by their fellow passengers. 

“It was so sweet. All the families came over to express their gratitude to the team. It was a really incredible bonding experience for everyone involved. We were joking about our ‘airplane family,’ and it was really amazing to see how good most people are. Some people will try to ruin it for everyone, but the majority of people are so genuine and kind,” Bishop said.

Upon arrival, the girls were immediately greeted and interviewed by various news outlets eager to hear their story. To their families and community, their ability to turn this situation around has become a beacon of light. Slane said, “It’s a story of them taking back the narrative. They were not victims. They turned it around, and I think that makes them number one. 

“They scored fourth in the nation, but they’re number one in our hearts.”