Click to watch the interview Cassie Mattia did with Delaney Dunlap
My Mom, her grandma, had to talk me off the ledge when we found out about her condition 5 months before she was born. I was beside myself with thoughts of my child not fitting in, or being made fun of, or not doing what other kids can do… and all my Mom kept saying was, “She will be awesome, she will inspire others”. I brushed it off as Mom speak – don’t know why I did that since she was right most of the time, but I did. I do see now what she meant..
Delaney is strong-willed and independent and I couldn’t be more proud watching her have a conversation with you about it.
It really is a testament to this community, her friends, and her teachers just to name a few, who have nurtured her growth along the way.
Thanks again to you and David Miller for stepping out and showcasing what makes Loveland such a great place to live.
Read the full story about why Delaney Dunlap is in Loveland’s DNA…
11 Year Old Local is “Tumbling” into a Bright Future!
Each and every citizen in Loveland makes up an important piece of the community, but in saying that it’s up to the citizen as to what they do with their role as an important piece of that community. This is what makes up a community’s “D.N.A.”
Over the past two years, Loveland Magazine has been in search of community members that truly play an important role in Loveland’s D.N.A.
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – In the Sweetheart of Ohio, it’s not hard to find a good inspirational story as you could simply walk down the Loveland Bike Trail and find a lovely Loveland local to tell you their story. But there is a significant difference between a good story and a great story and well this 11-year-old Loveland prodigy makes for one GREAT story!
Delaney Dunlap, daughter of Mike and Gina Dunlap, from a very young age always saw the rainbow behind the storm cloud. At 15 months old, Delaney encountered the turning point of her very young life; a leg amputation. Delaney was born with a condition called Fibular Hemimelia, meaning her fibular bone was missing. When the fibular bone is missing this can lead to limb length discrepancy, foot deformities, and knee deformities. Only 1 in 40,000 births encounter FH.
“We worked with Shriners and Children’s Hospital to determine the best course of action and we decided that having an amputation at an early age would allow her the most normal life with the least interruptions,” Delaney’s mother Gina explained, “On March 4th, 2012, at 15 months old she had her amputation. About 3 months later she was fit for her prosthetic leg.”
Both Gina and Mike Dunlap knew very early on that Delaney’s leg amputation wouldn’t stop her from achieving her highest goals!
Gina, Delaney, and Mike Dunlap on vacation in 2019.
“At 2 years of age, she took her leg from us and said, ‘I do it myself!’ She proceeded to put her leg on and jump up and say, all done, with a shrug of her shoulders,” Gina said. “By 4 we had her in gymnastics with Ms. Karol Warden and she started performing in front of people. By 5 she was playing soccer, by 7 she was playing softball, by 8 she was golfing, and about 2 years ago she took up snowboarding,” Gina added.
Delaney performing with the SoringMaster Tumbling Team at a recent Loveland High School basketball halftime
Now at age 11, Delaney has not only been featured in several news outlets nationally for her unbelievable athletic abilities, but she has also shared her gymnastic skill set with the world, tumbling at university games, half-time shows, local schools, and festivals. Below is a video clip of Delaney performing at the halftime of the UC game in December.
Mike Dunlap, Loveland High School’s Soccer Coach, and Science Teacher couldn’t be more proud of Delaney’s hard work and dedication to her craft!
“Delaney has gotten the opportunity because of her determination, to do many auditions and has landed a couple of commercials. She loves Tik Tok,” Mike added, “She currently has gathered 8 of her friends together and is choreographing a performance for the upcoming talent show at Loveland Intermediate School. They practiced for 2 hours the other day!”
Delaney is not only an all-star athlete she was also recently selected as an Academic All-Star for the Ohio Lottery’s Partners in Education program.
“Delaney signed with a talent agency in 2016! She has done 2 commercials and a Huffy photo shoot,” Gina said, “Recently she has had big auditions for Netflix, Nickelodeon, HBO, and Disney!”
Gina also told us that Delaney has been consistently visiting 2 kids, Tessa and Eli who have recently had amputations. “She just wanted to let them know that they are not alone and they can do anything they set their minds to doing,” Gina said.
Karol Warden, tumbling coach for the SoringMaster Tumbling Team has coached Delaney for 5 years. Warden said, “She inspires everyone.” Warden says that Delaney is a joy to teach and has the highest round off tuck of all of her students. “She never complains or uses her disability as an excuse. Her parents have done a great job teaching her ‘I can’ and not accepting ‘I cannot!.”
So without further ado, Loveland Magazine presents, “What’s In Loveland’s DNA: Delaney Dunlap,” an exclusive one-on-one on-camera interview!
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Watch Delaney tumbling at a recent Loveland High School halftime
Click to read about Delaney’s father L.H.S’s Mike Dunlap who Provides Tiger Students and Athletes the Tools for a Bright Future
Read more of our, What’s in Loveland’s DNA” stories…
The Loveland High School Cheerleaders were dressed for Christmas at a recent basketball game
Cassie Mattia is a resident of Historic Downtown Loveland
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio– Hundreds of parents and spectators will be cheering their way into a packed gym for the 2019 Eastern Cincinnati Conference Cheer and Dance Competition on February 2nd at Walnut Hills High school.
The ECC Cheer and Dance Competition will be held at the Walnut Hills High school gymnasium on February 2nd; where the dance competition will begin at 11 a.m. and the cheer competition will begin at 1 PM Admission will be 6 dollars for adults and 4 dollars for students and seniors. For more information visit the Eastern Cincinnati Conference website at www.eccsports.com.
Student athletes from Loveland, Milford and Kings, to name a few, will take part in one of the most important cheer and dance competitions of the season sponsored by the ECC beginning at 11 AM. Each school in the ECC will be represented in the competition that is said to be the highlight of the cheer and dance team’s year.
“It is the one time a year that these cheer and dance teams can come together as a league and compete in their sport. They do so much for the school throughout the year; it’s their chance to be highlighted,” Assistant District Director of Student Athletics at Loveland High school, Eric Fry explained.
Each cheer team can bring 30 cheerleaders and each dance team can bring 16 dancers. Fry says in the past this competition has been so well attended that there has been a line to get in the door.
“The past several years the gym has been packed! The crowd is cheering for the athletes and there is a great atmosphere all the way around,” Fry said, “Walnut’s gym has a great set up for this competition and has worked well the last couple of years.”
Loveland High School Cheer Team dressed for Christmas at a recent basketball game
Last year, Milford won the event in cheer, Loveland came in 4th in cheer and Kings won in dance. This year for the first time Loveland will be competing in the dance competition.
“I know that teams have been working hard for this competition. I know the Tigers will be there and represent well,” Fry said, “Kings has had a phenomenal dance program and Milford has been doing well in years past in cheer. This year is anybody’s championship to take!”
Loveland High School Cheer Team dressed for Christmas at a recent basketball game
Those who attend cheer and dance competitions as spectators are of course entertained by the athleticism and musicality of the student athletes, but many don’t truly understand how technical the competition itself actually is and how intensely the teams are scored. Tournament Manager, Heather Kaiser, says judges for the ECC Competition are selected based on experience and have to be licensed cheer and dance judges from the Universal Cheerleaders Association and Universal Dance Association organizations.
“This is a pretty competitive event so we use some of our very best judges. Judges are looking for an overall well executed performance routine,” Kaiser explained, “Difficulty comes into play as well. Cheer has to compete in two different categories, Game Day and Performance. Dance performs in two different categories as well, Pom, Jazz or Hip-Hop. For both the cheer and dance competitions two scores are then averaged to pick an overall winner,” Kaiser said.
Last year, Milford won the event in cheer. This photo is from January 4th during player introductions when the Loveland Men traveled to play Milford H.S.
Seems simple enough right? Wrong! On the ECC website I found score sheets for both the cheer and dance competitions and the judges really have to pay close attention to every single detail as the points given to the teams are broken down into subcategories. For example, on the Cheer overall score sheet judges are expected to score “Jumps” out of 15 points. They must look at proper technique, form, height, synchronization, type of jumps, connections, combos and variety. Judges also look deeper into
Loveland High School Cheer Team dressed for Christmas at a recent basketball game
“Dance,” which is out of 10 points. In this category judges look at technique, sharpness, placement, timing, spacing, use of levels, overall choreography and visual appeal. Lastly, on the overall score sheet for Cheer judges score the “Overall Impression,” which is 5 points. The judges base this score on routine creativity, flow, use of formations and transitions. This is just one of the score sheets involved in the Cheer competition! There is also a “Game Day and Crowd Leading” score sheet, which is 50 points, a “Game Day, Fight Song and Band Chant” score sheet, which is 50 points, and a
Loveland High School Cheer Team
“Tumbling” score sheet, which is 35 points. While the Dance competition is one individual score sheet the subcategories on the score sheet are just as intense! Judges look at “Execution” of movement, skills, synchronization, uniformity, spacing, communication and projection for a total of 50 possible points. The score sheet also includes “Choreography,” where judges look at creativity, musicality, routine staging, complexity of movement and difficulty of skills for a total of 40 possible points. Lastly, the judges will score the “Overall Effect,” which is based on the overall impression of the music, costume and choreography for a total of 10 possible points.
Loveland High School Cheer Team
“Teams can stand out if they really focus on the difficulty category,” Kaiser said, “For cheer; crowd leading routines are very appealing. Tumbling and dance also play a big part. For dance; choreography plays a huge part. If they include turns and lifts the judges find that really appealing as well,” Kaiser explained.
The Loveland High School Cheer Squad dressed in a Christmas theme at a December basketball game
As the competition draws nearer athletes are fine tuning their final routines and, according Kaiser, couldn’t be more excited to show their parents, friends, coaches and the judges the final product.
The athletes take extra pride in this event because it’s against the teams they see all year long.
“The athletes take extra pride in this event because it’s against the teams they see all year long. Conference Championship games are always a big deal in every sport plus they get so many fans to come to this particular event and the support is HUGE,” Kaiser said.
This will also be the first year the ECC will include cheer and dance to be counted towards the All Sports Trophy Title.
“The competition is fairly new, so the league wanted to get it right before it was included in the ECC All Sports standings,” Fry explained.
The ECC Cheer and Dance Competition will be held at the Walnut Hills High school gymnasium on February 2nd; where the dance competition will begin at 11 a.m. and the cheer competition will begin at 1 p.m. Admission will be 6 dollars for adults and 4 dollars for students and seniors. For more information visit the Eastern Cincinnati Conference website at www.eccsports.com.
1 Year Old Local is “Tumbling” into a Bright Future!
Delaney Dunlap, daughter of Mike and Gina Dunlap, from a very young age always saw the rainbow behind the storm cloud. At 15 months old, Delaney encountered the turning point of her very young life; a leg amputation. Delaney was born with a condition called Fibular Hemimelia, meaning her fibular bone was missing. When the fibular bone is missing this can lead to limb length discrepancy, foot deformities, and knee deformities. Only 1 in 40,000 births encounter FH.
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“Delaney has gotten the opportunity because of her determination, to do many auditions and has landed a couple of commercials. She loves Tik Tok,” Mike added, “
Delaney is not only an all-star athlete she was also recently selected 
