Summer of Cheer

School is out. Time for relaxation, toes in the sand, and listening to the waves…….no wait- you are a Cheer Parent!

Summer means time for camp, choreography, skill building, and events! Events? What? What events?

Pick up your pom poms- it's time for parades, fairs, and festivals!

Parades, fairs, and festivals are a great way to get your community excited about cheerleading. As a gym owner, these events can provide you with local exposure and low cost marketing. As a parent, this is a chance to see all the cheer programs your area has to offer. As an athlete, this is a wonderful opportunity to perform in front of friends and family in a low pressure, fun environment.

Typically these types of events cater primarily to school cheerleading squads, but over the past few years many event organizers have started the process of making these events competitive for all star groups. While there are still some improvements to be made, the event crews are slowly adapting the competitions to be more all star friendly.

As summer is just beginning, I took a moment to reflect with two all star gym owners and coaches on their aspect of summer cheer events- Jamie C. of Hearts in Motion in Delphos, Ohio and Abbey K. of United Tumbling Academy in Sidney, Ohio.

What is your favorite type of summer event (festival, fair, parade)?

Jamie: “I would have to say festival. We are able to showcase our teams and the skills the kids have to the community in a noncompetitive environment. It is excellent exposure for the gym and the kids have fun with it.”

Abbey: "As we are only going in to our 2nd season, United has only participated in fair competitions.  We are thinking about trying a parade or 2 next year to try something different.  United volunteered to help at the Tailgate for Cancer event last year on September 14th in St. Mary's, OH.  We cheered on 5k runners/walkers, handed out waters and snacks and our senior athletes showcased their stunting skills later in the afternoon along with some Alumni OSU Cheerleaders! We were very excited to be a part of this and hope our athletes and families enjoyed it. It's a great cause:)"

How long have you/your teams been participating in summer competitions?

Jamie: “We started our second year in business, so for 4 years.”

Abbey: "We competed in the Auglaize Fair the last 2 years and performed demonstrations at Bremenfest the last 2 years and this was our first year at Shelby County Fair."

How have summer competitions evolved to accommodate all-star groups over the past five years?

Jamie: “Well quite frankly they haven’t! That is our biggest problem. We have a hard time competing at these events because the judges do not have experience with all-star cheer and most of them will advertise as having an all-star division but in the same sentence state that no stunting is allowed. They simply are not educated in All Star Cheer.”

Abbey: "I have attended several different summer competitions over the years as a coach and a fan and it tends to fluctuate on the number of All Star squads involved each year…I am guessing because of the amount of time All Stars have to prepare for these competitions.  It is a lot of work to get any team ready for summer competitions.  I think the cost is an issue too as some have entry fees on top of ride fees and grandstand fees.  However, it is great that the fairs have been able to incorporate All Star squads in to the competitions.  It's a great opportunity for spectators to see what competitive all star cheerleading has progressed to…a lot of people in our area do not get to see the difficult stunting skills these kids are performing."

What do you feel is the biggest difference between a fair or festival cheer competition and a regular season all-star competition?

Jamie: “The biggest difference is that there are no rules at fair cheer competitions. You go there and are allowed to throw whatever skill you desire. Although this sounds great, I am not a fan. What happens to us is that we go against other local teams that come from dance studios, or even gyms, that do only summer fair competitions as a supplemental to their year round dance and gymnastic teams. Therefore what happens is you have teams that do more of a high school routine, but throw in flashy stunts (some of which have been banned for USASF sanctioned events) but have no body position changes, transitions, etc. We end up losing to these teams, not because they are better but because the judges see a huge team (most of these groups put 30 kids on a team of 6 to 18 year olds) that do a few flashy things and give them more points. The elements that make all-star cheer what it is are not recognized at these fairs. We then have a hard time marketing our all-star programs to the area because they think only of Fair cheer teams that they see locally.”

Abbey: "The obvious one would be the spring floor verses the dead floor/carpet covered gravel;)  Another big one are the score sheets.  There are several differences in the score sheets and rules during the regular season such as we do not have a floor cheer in our routine, we are 2 min. and 30 seconds music only and fair competitions do not include stunting on their score sheets.  We follow the USASF rules and regulations.  Also, the wait time from warm-ups to compete time is a couple hours which is hard for our athletes as they are use to 20-30 minutes, although I understand not being able to have a warm up floor separate from the competition floor at the summer fairs." 

 Do your athletes do anything differently to prepare for summer competitions?

Jamie: “We have to add a cheer and two chants when we compete at these events. We also have to be able to add poms somewhere as most groups at fair cheer use them. We could adjust our routine heavily to add flashy higher level stunts, but I am an advocate for safety first and feel that my teams are better off staying within their limits that have been set in place by the USASF.”

Abbey: "We usually have to water our routines down and do not allow our athletes to throw their most difficult skills as they are not trained to do them on the hard floor.  We would hate to see them start the year off with an injury.  Of course we have those athletes that like to push themselves and are use to tumbling  from school cheerleading on the hard floor.  We are hoping to eventually have a dead floor to help with this transition to summer competitions and school/college cheerleading training.  Summer competitions actually help us prepare for our regular season as it helps us get a jump start and have a few competitions under our belt before regular season competitions!"

What do your parents love about festival/fair/parade competitions?

Jamie: “They love that it is close, that local people get to see their children cheer.”

Abbey: "It's a great opportunity for  friends and families that are not able to travel to our regular season competitions! They are much shorter then our all day competitions too except when I prefer them to stay and support all teams;)"

What are some tips you could give parents about attending these types of competitions?

Jamie: “You have to realize that these events are going to be a different feel than what us seasoned All Stars are used to. It won’t be in air conditioning, most of the time it is out in the hot sun. Be prepared to be patient because the event will run differently. You may not have times for competing or awards (and in fact 99% of the time you don’t). Also understand that you are in an entirely different ball game!”

Abbey: "I would say definitely arrive early for good seats or at least bring some blankets to set down so you can go enjoy the fair during warm ups…who doesn't enjoy a little fair food and some fun activities for those with other kids that may or may not participate in the fair competition!  This year we seemed to have great weather, not too hot at the outdoor events.  I would say bring your cameras and take lots of pictures as your athlete's are just beginning a great season bonding with their teammates and coaches and don't forget your noise makers!!  Any team performs better with a loud crowd behind them:)" 

What do you feel is the biggest benefit for your athletes/parents/families by attending summer competitions?

Jamie: “That is a tough one. I used to think exposure was the greatest benefit; however it sometimes turns out to hurt us because of the lack of rules. I have lots cheerleaders to other programs that do only summer cheer because it is a shorter season and much cheaper. My students beg to throw things like tuck baskets (these other teams are doing these with 6 year olds!) and I simply won’t let them.”

Abbey: "The biggest benefit is just gaining experience and growing our athletes confidence especially  our younger teams.  Every time our athletes compete they get stronger and improve! We had a lot of new athletes this season and a few new teams so for some of our athletes it was their first time ever competing so it's a big deal!! We just ask that our athletes do the best that they can do and have fun doing it…we try to keep the summer fair competitions as carefree as possible so that our athletes don't feel any pressure;)  It's not about winning it's about hitting your routines!!"

Jamie is the owner of Hearts in Motion Baton, Dance, & Cheer Center of Delphos, Ohio.

www.heartsinmotion.info

Abbey is the owner of United Tumbling Academy of Sidney, Ohio.

www.unitedtumblingacademy.com