Benson — As Rose Walker stomps her feet, claps her hands and wiggles her hips, her cheerleading squad mirrors her moves.

"Get funky ya'll," she shouts to the group.

Walker is the head coach of the Johnston County Special Olympics cheerleading team, which practices weekly in the old Benson Elementary School gym.

After squad members pause to welcome teammate Patricia Hill, Walker rounds up the group to practice a new routine. The cheerleaders, ranging in age from 23 to 69 years old, form a "V," bow their heads down and wait for the music to start. When the beat hits, the cheerleaders wave their blue and white pom-poms in the air, strut forward and spell "Go Katz."

"Wow, I'm impressed," Walker says. "That was pretty good for the first time."

Rob Kelley, 31, has been a Special Olympics athlete in New York and North Carolina for almost 20 years. He has competed in basketball, softball and bowling but has a special fondness for cheerleading.

Kelley has been captain of the squad twice and has one of the loudest cheering voices on the team. "I just have a blast," says Kelley, of Selma. "I am just so blessed to be around such a great group of people -- really and truly."

Shelly Whitman, 22, is pregnant but that has not stopped her from cheering. Only one month shy of her due date, Whitman had to get permission from her doctor to continue practicing. The Smithfield resident wanted to be a cheerleader in high school but was never given the opportunity.

"When I heard the Special Olympics was doing cheerleading, I was shocked," Whitman says. "I just didn't know they had cheerleading. I was so happy when I found out I was on the team."

All of the cheerleaders have intellectual disabilities. The other cheerleaders are Nancy Capps, Carol Ann Jackson, Amy Jones, Sharon Overman, Harvey Quinn and Angela Cuomo, Walker's 30-year-old daughter. Walker, who helped found the team five years ago, picks cheerleading routines with simple movements and catchy music. But team members also have their say. They picked the squad's name and blue, black and white uniforms, which they wear only in competitions.

"We want them to learn the fundamentals of cheerleading," Walker says. "We don't just want it to be around music. We want it to be the art of cheerleading."

Of course, some cheerleaders need a little bit more coaching than others. "Some athletes, you have to tell them the same thing over and over again, but they love it, and it fills my heart to see the smile on their face," Walker says. "Words can't even explain it."

Next March, the Johnston squad will compete in the N.C. Special Olympics Basketball & Cheerleading Tournament in Winston-Salem. Last year, the squad team won second place.

"They are just like any other cheerleaders," Walker says. "When it comes time for them to get on that floor and compete for the medal, they are making sure every move is perfect. They are jumping around, giving it their best."

Carolyn Stafford's 23-year-old son, Robbie, is on Johnston's Special Olympics basketball team. Since becoming coordinator of Johnston Special Olympics last November, Stafford has worked closely with Walker, assistant coach Linda Vick, volunteer Vicki Lindsay and coach Melanie Kyle.

Stafford has found working with the Special Olympics to be more rewarding than she ever imagined. "How can you complain when you see others who have it a whole lot harder than you, and they are not complaining?" she says. "To me, there is nothing more rewarding that you can do in your life."

For more information about the cheerleading team, call Stafford at 550-4838.