CHEER BLOG CENTRAL
Blog: Spirit Cheer Newsletter
It has been a heck of a month here at Spirit Cheer Inc. so far. We are preparing for our upcoming event season, double checking venue locations and contracts, production costs, and we are full steam ahead into meeting gym clients and our marketing efforts. We are certainly excited about the upcoming season. We believe it will be a different year than any other in years’ past.
This month we have seen the dynamic Michael Phelps and The lightening Usaine Bolt from Jamaica, while customers are feeling the crunch of the economy and at the gas pump. Gyms are feeling the pinch in gym collection fees, we have seen gym consolidation and the number of events they will be attending decline. Like Middle America, small gym USA feels this much more then the upper 1%, the big gyms, but there is no doubt we all feel it. In these times, I am renewed by the fact of why we all do what we do on a daily basis. It is hard and it is so easy to want to complain. My feeling is why complain it is not worth it. We all are working harder to earn for our families, So, I pose the question to you, why do we do what we do?
Here is my take: I believe we all do this for a smile! Yes, a smile. The reward of seeing the first time that a girl in your gym does a back handspring by herself, team bonding or watching your team that you have given countless hour after hour of choreography to watch them hit the routine for the very first time, opening a box of a brand new pair of Nfinity shoes and smelling that new shoe smell. The reward I see at our events of our customers smiling and have a great unforgettable event experience, watching tiny age and mini age cheerleaders interact with our crazy leg stilt walkers, all around us we look for that smile. So in this last month, we smiled as we watched Michael Phelps, Shawn Johnson / Nastia Luken and the dynamic volleyball duo Misty May & Kerri Walsh, and the countless hours we spend looking to help someone smile in our gyms or at our practices because they have learned something for the first time. It is refreshing, if your like me, to never forget why we really do what we do, and that’s for that smile all customers like to give and want to give you when they are happy. Make sure you recognize that smile when you see it and give one back!
Mike Pare
spiritcheer.com
Blog: Competitions
Through the years cheerleading competitions have gone through quite a metamorphosis. Long gone are the days competing on hard wood floors, grass and astro turf. The make up of divisions and different types programs that have changed, as well. From Pop Warner, Junior High, High School, and since the late 80’s All-star gyms have been altered from competing by age group to: age, size of team, difficulty level of team, size of facility, and number of participants in a given gym. So what does all of this mean to the first time coach? How do coaches, gym owners, parents, and athletic programs choose between the many competitions that are now available? Here are a few quick tips to help find which event is best suited for organization.
1) Location of Event: How far are you willing to travel with your group? Are participants and parents willing to stay over night?
2) Cost of Event: Price per participant for registration, meals, transportation, lodging, and spectator fees.
3) Venue: Is it in a convention center, High School gym, theme park, NBA Arena, or football stadium? Is the venue temperature controlled?
4) Production: Will the competition be held on a matted floor or spring floor? Will there be elevated staging? Will it have production lighting and professional sound? What makes this event something that would be fun and memorable to all?
5) Awards: Will the teams receive team awards, individual awards, cash prizes, banners, and rebates for future events?
6) Give aways: Will each participant get a free gift? Will spectators have a chance to win free items?
7) Professional Talent: Is there a professional MC and actors to keep the crowd entertained during down time? Does this talent help to make it fun?
8) Advancement: Does competing at one event and scoring high allow you the opportunity to advance to a higher level; regional, state, national, and now international?
9) Safety and standard of care: Does the event provide safety guidelines, EMT’s, Trainers, and management staff?
10) Competitive Environment: Do you think the event will have enough competition for the division your team or teams will be competing?
These are just 10 quick areas that must be considered when looking for the right match for your competitive cheerleading team at any level. The main thing is to ask and do not assume each Event Production Company does the same thing at each event/competition.
Glenn Cook
University of Kentucky Cheerleader 1988-1991
University of Kentucky Coach and Choreographer 1992-1996
Owner and Partner CATS Gyms 1995-2000
Vice President Spirit Cheer
AACCA National Certifier for 6 years
NCSSE Certified
SITA Member
OSIP Member
Development of Scoring Programs for Cheerleading Worlds 2007
