Blogger Allie- 12/27/2019

Hey guys!

      My name is Allie and I come from Central NJ.  I’ve been cheering for 8yrs.  I cheer for Titan Cheer Alliance and we’re a full-season performance rec team. Before you say “A rec team” just know we train equally as hard as any allstar team in the nation!  

     I’m on 2 teams this season.  My home team is a Senior 3 team called Lady Storm.  On that team I’m a tumbler, a backspot and a base. My other team is a Junior 4. On that team I tumble, I base, and I fly a little bit!   

    The exciting part about this season is that my whole gym is on a Quest! We are on a mission to win one of the Varsity bids to the Quest in Disney! If you are in allstar cheer, I’m sure you have heard about the Summit. Well, this year Varsity has a completion held at Disney called the Quest which is like the Summit, but for the best of the rec cheer teams. I hope you join me this season on all the up and downs and to hopefully get to Disney for the Quest!

Allie

Blogger Alexis- 12/26/2019 - Hi Cheer World

Hi cheer world!

 My name is Alexis Barkley. I will be 22 on January 12th. I retired from cheerleading my senior year in 2016 and now I have a little 2 year old girl named Parker. This cheer season I decided to come out of retirement and join my old all star team, Cheer Trixx Athletics. The team I joined is an open level 4 senior team. Open team meaning a mixture of young and old combine forces to create an amazing, wonderful routine. That being said we have all ages from 13 to 25! Even though I have cheered since I was in kindergarten, returning to cheerleading after being off for four years and having a baby, it’s definitely been a crazy ride so far.

I have been very fortunate to have a gym full of amazing coaches who continuously choose to be so open and loving towards all athletes. My gym has been my second home and for that I am thankful. Recently during our crazy practices that are gearing us up for our big season, our coaches have offered us 10-15 minutes group circle to talk our our problems. This is a dedicated time to sit in a circle and release all of our anger, fears, and accomplishments. I can’t even begin to explain how much this has helped relieves the minds of many athletes and reduce the drama. We try to have team bonding monthly in an effort to remind our athletes how special each and every single one of them are to one another. In our gym, we are family. Our booster members go above and beyond constantly to make sure all athletes are well loved and cherished. Our first send off to our competition they rewarded us with special VIP lanyards and little trinkets.

On January 10th-12th we will be traveling to Cleveland Ohio to compete at the Huntington Convention Center at the big Double Down competition. Even though we have already competed once this year, this will be our big first competition of the season. We make sure to condition to keep strengthening our bodies and having the energy to push forward. Every practice we practice perfecting our jumps and reaching the beautiful effortless over extended jumps you love to see.

We have a tiny team, mini team, two junior teams, a senior team, and an amazing adaptive team!

We are here to prove no one will ever stop us this season! 

-Alexis

Blogger Ellie- 12-8-19 LIFE BEHIND THE BLUE MAT

LIFE BEHIND THE BLUE MAT

     On November 24th I got to experience cheer from a different view. Waking up that morning I wasn’t worried about if my hair was high enough, if my makeup was on point, or constantly going over my counts and grips for my stunts. I had a new uniform to wear, someone else’s counts to remember, and making sure my girls were feeling great. It’s a different feeling being a coach and not cheering. Don’t get me wrong it’s still thrilling and you still get that rush right before the music starts and lights go on, but it's different.  One of my favorite things when I was competing was watching my coaches cheering us on because at the end of the day they want to win as much as we do. Now it was my turn to jump up and down and scream my heart out for someone to hit her stunt, to be strong, and work the dance. It’s crazy how everything is in slow motion and that “look” by your coach mid routine can easily remind you to breathe. Maryland Adrenaline Daredevils took on a very close competition and came in 3rd place with a score of 94.48. They came together and worked it. They are working even harder to bring it at our next competition in Ocean City.

Cheers!

Ellie

Cheer Mom Jessica-A New Season

             Hello Cheer4Today Readers, It's Cheer Mom Jessica.  We have just entered our 9th season with our gym and "C" couldn't be happier. She entered this season really hoping to be part of our Elite team in our gym and after 8 years of mini, youth, junior, and senior level teams at various ability levels... she has finally done it! Her team will be striving for that coveted World's Bid. For those who are new to the sport, the Worlds Bid and the Worlds Competition is the competition  that all cheerleaders strive for. They dream of not only attending it, but winning it. When she found out in early June that she had made this team, she was over moon.  

        The reality for "C" didn't quite set in for her until the weekly practices began and the level of training began. This team is a beast and their work ethic is unreal!  I can't say enough about the coaches either.   

      The reality for me set in when I got the first monthly newsletter with the breakdown of costs for her new team. Let me also remind you that we live on the west coast which is nowhere near Florida (Worlds is held at Disney World). Not only to do we have the typical costs of  cheer and team tumbling, but flying to Florida, hotels, transportation, etc...  It's not cheap to fly from one side of the country to another. I might seriously need to get a second job to pay for this. YIKES 

Keep Cheering,
Jessica

We Want You...

**We are looking for some more cheerleader, coach, or parent bloggers this season. Please message us on here or DM us on our Instagram account (Official_Cheer4Today).

Blogger Ellie- 11/18/19

My name is Ellie and I am a recent high school graduate! I have been cheering since I was 11 years old! Before cheer, I was a dancer. 

I cheered rec for 3 years. The last year of rec, we won US finals in the J2 division! 

I started to cheer as an all star in my freshman year of  high school! I have been on a Jr 2, Sr 2, Sr 3 and Sr 4.2 team with Maryland Adrenaline Extreme! 

I graduate high school in May and I also turned 18 that month! I am a student at Paul Mitchell cosmetology school in Annapolis! I am aspiring to be a salon/product owner one day! I am also a make up artist! I actually create the make up look for Max Cheer and assist many of the athletes in getting ready for competition and showcase days! 

I also work part time at a higher end salon in Baltimore. So I am pretty busy trying to juggle school, work and cheer! 

This year, Max Cheer is starting a half year Senior team! They asked me to come back and cheer.  I was hesitant at first, but then I realized that I could make a difference and could help them this season. So I am back! I am a main base with point flyer!!! I can tell you that I bring it in the dance and that is one of my favorite parts! 

Cheer has brought a lot of challenges and new opportunities in my life! I have a ton of friends from cheer, I have traveled to great locations for competitions, I have won jackets and t shirts and bids but it has also taught me to be a leader and a hard worker! 

Even though I will be cheering with the Sr team this season, I will be attending competitions with the Junior and Youth team too so I will be able to share some great stuff out about all of our program! 

Cheers! 

Ellie 

Blogger Cayla- 11-2-19

     Hey everyone, Cayla here! You So this month has

been so crazy... at CA we were getting ready for showcase and our first competition. We were at the gym 3-4 times a week and practices were crazy intense! I don’t even know how many floors of bear crawls we did. My stunt group got changed so that was another adjustment, but we figured it out and worked together to hit!  

 We got our dance, music and uniforms this past month... all super exciting! We also tried out a few different hairstyles before the coaches settled on the one we are going to do. I actually really like it and it’s pretty easy so that will make comp days a lot less stressful. 

Got my first spray tan of the season, which is always a highlight for me. Also got an adjustment and massage therapy at the chiropractor. All that happened on Wednesday then went to practice Thursday and early Saturday practices. Early to bed with a healthy dinner the night before showcase! 

     Showcase was the 27th and I was so excited and scared. It’s really a lot of pressure to be a new athlete on a team that had the kind of season my team had last year! All the CA teams did amazing and it was so much fun!!! I just love my team and my gym! 

First comp is this weekend! Have a great month everyone! 

Welcome Blogger Cayla

October 1, 2019



 Hi everyone, my name is Cayla and I am 16 years old. I cheer at Cheer Athletics, Plano. I am a base on their Senior 2 team, Sabres! This team had an amazing season last year and I am so excited to perform with them this year and to take you along on the journey! I also model for Cheerlyfe and GK Cheer! 

-Cayla

The D2 Summit 2019

The Summit

   The Summit is an all star cheerleading competition  for non-cheerleading Worlds eligible teams. It is held at Walt Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports. It is a competition that was founded by Varsity in 2013. To attend The Summit a team must earn a bid at bid eligible competition during that cheer season.  

   This year, the D2 Summit was held  on May 10th-12th 2019. There were amazing routines on display, the weather was fantastic, and overall Varsity did a wonderful job of keeping things organized and putting on a great competition.  The full story about the weekend will appear in our summer publication, however check out some of the highlights of my trip below. :-)

...........

Cheer Mom Jessica- Who Should Handle It?

     

     


             Hello Cheer4Today Readers, It's Jessica again. It's been a couple months since I last submitted a blog to Cheer4Today. We are entering a new cheer season here on the West Coast. I took some time to think about what I really wanted to talk about this time. Usually, I talk about the cute things I do for my girl's teams, but this blog is going to be a bit different. 
             Let me first start by saying my children both love their gym and they have been there for many years. My oldest daughter  "C" has cheered for 12 years and 8 of those years were with this gym. They have great kids, great coaches, and overall a great program. So this is why, when my daughter's attitude toward her cheer team and practice changed, I was a bit surprised to say the least.  Everyone who knows me knows I am very active in my girls' lives and immediately I got involved and became a cheer mom detective. after a couple weeks, I got my daughter to open up and she told me that recently they had a few new girls come into the gym and join their team. They were very talented and deserved to be on the team, but they were extremely rude with "C", talked down to her like she wasn't capable of doing the routine, and at times made her feel like she didn't belong. "C" was really bothered about it and it made me sad that something she loved so much and had been involved with for so long might taken away from her because of these girls. I also asked her how the coaches were handling it. She said that because she was on an older team that the coaches didn't watch things as closely and she wasn't sure that they even knew how she felt or what was being said. The mom in me wanted to march right in there give those girls a piece of my mind and be that super hero mom that just makes everything ok for my daughter.  As a parent, we never want to see our children feel hurt, but I knew that wasn't the answer either. "C" needs to stick up for herself, she needs to let her coaches know how she feels and then I can step in if needed.  It was hard to take a "back seat" to this, but my baby is growing up and I am not doing my job if I don't provide her with the tools to fix situations for herself.  My the end of the 2018-2019 season, all the problems were resolved and team placed very well in their last competition of the year. 
            This was a situation my children and I had never dealt with before, but we got through it. I wonder have you or your child experienced anything like this? How did you  or your child handle it? Feel free to comment on this blog, but please be sensitive to identifying specific people. We don't want to be part of the problem. Be Nice! :-)

Keep Cheering,
Jessica

Cheerleader of the Month-February 2019

Congrats to Diamond Myles

of Cheer Athletics 

Name: Diamond Myles                                                                                 Age:  15

Years cheering: 2 1/2

Current Team: Cheer Athletics Panthers

Favorite Competition: Worlds

Proudest moment in cheer: Breaking The Large Senior All Girl Curse

Favorite Team (other than yours): Lady Jags

Something you would like readers to know about you: I did gymnastics for 12 years

Social Media Handle for others to follow you on: My Instagram is @diamondmyless

CheerParentsX2

Happy February. It’s that crazy time of year when cheer parents everywhere are trying to keep track of added practices and competitions and trying to maintain balanced family life. Let us introduce ourselves. To our 3 kids Carmella 15 , Audrea 14 and Aronne 8 we are mom and dad, to our friends we are Tony and Julie. To others we are just another crazy pair of cheer parents.

We began our journey in the cheer world in 2008 when Carmella discovered the world of recreational competitive cheer at the age of 4 in Surprise Arizona. 11 years and 3 states later Cheer is a very large part of our life in Indiana PA with Carmella on Varsity Cheer Team , as well as both girls members of the IHS JV Competitive Cheer Team and Senior Vendetta with Cheer Trixx All Stars. It’s a challenge combining the two and we look forward to sharing the ups and downs and triumphs and missteps as we navigate this journey. Until next month. Tony and Julie

Cheer Mom Jessica- A 2 Day Comp

         Hello Cheer4Today Readers, It's Jessica again.  January was a really busy comp month for us at our gym and now that we are slowing down in February I have been thinking about my next cheer project.  At the end of February we have our first 2 day comp of the year. For the 2 day comps I like to do something a little extra special. Its the first time we get the chance to stay at a hotel as a group and for our families who are new to travel cheer, this can be a bit overwhelming. I hope that some of my ideas will help relieve a little bit of that stress.
     

Idea #1
           You can never go wrong with breakfast. I think that doing a goody bag centered around breakfast would definitely come in handy when you are staying over night at a hotel
     







Idea #2
            Every girl loves a good pajama party! Collect a few pajama party essentials (like lotion, sleep mask, skin mask, and nail polish) and put them in a cute container with a pair of pajamas. The whole team in matching PJs will make for a great "photo op" 










Idea #3
          Essentials to keep kids busy. Sometimes there is "down time" where they are sitting around waiting to go to warm up. If they had a bag full of things to keep them busy, their coach will be extremely grateful. :-) Some of the items you could put in the bag would be a puzzle book, a pen and paper, chap stick, playing cards, a disposable camera to snap pics with, etc... These might seem like simple things, but they will keep the typical cheerleader busy.

Keep Crafting,

Jessica

A Cheer Dad's Perspective- February 2019

During my time in the cheerleading world I have come to find out that it is more than just simply going to a competition and watching your athlete’s routines, watching them win, and going home. I’ve learned that life bonds are formed here that they are more than just athletes but they become family. Well, come on think about it honestly. If you are a flyer you are trusting your spot and bases with your life. That is ultimate trust being able to simply place your life in the hands of others. That’s amazing but that isn’t why I believe that we are family. Over the last couple months I have read about other gyms facing adversity and tragedy in almost every form. I have read some heartbreaking stories and social media posts but I have also seen stories of triumph. In those moments I have not only see the gym dealing with the issues come together but I have seen the cheer world come together and embrace them in their time of need.

 So when I tell you that I believe that this is more than a sport I mean that. Yes, you can see these same things with other sports. You can see a football team come together and embrace another team when they are going through a tough time. I get the sense of brotherhood in football, I played for a long time. There is something special about cheerleading to be honest. Cheerleading has a reach that other sports do not have simply. Think about the competitions themselves. When we travel to bigger competitions it is the most diverse atmosphere you can see there are teams from all over from just about every walk of life. That’s what excites me, us as a smaller gym making connections to some of the bigger gyms in our region. I love being able to go to competitions and my daughter getting to see girls and boys she watched on YouTube or Netflix compete. Watching her eyes light up because she recognize the name of a gym that she loves to watch. Then she realizes that they all have the same dreams and goals when it comes to cheerleading. I can’t tell you how many times we have been to a competition and she goes crazy because a gym she watched is at the competition and she also gets to meet some of the athletes from those gyms. I love it.

So we as a gym have had some big things happen this season. Our Level 1 Youth team earned an At-Large bid to the D2 Summit in Orlando and our Level 3 Juniors have a fully paid bid to The One competition as well. I am excited for the connections that the teams will make with other gyms and athletes. This will be my wife and I’s first experience with The Summit competition and we are beyond excited about it. When we watched the bid reveals and our gym and team name popped up I was beyond happy I believe I actually cried when I saw my daughter crying because her team finally got to the Summit. In that moment I remembered a conversation me and her had when she was upset 4 years back when she learned that her team wasn’t able to gain a Summit bid because she wasn’t at that level yet. I remember looking her in her eyes after wiping her tears and telling her, “Someday you will get there. If you keep working hard and keep pushing through the tough times you can make it. I know you want the chance to compete at Disney World. I promise you if you stick with this and give it 100% at every competition and practices you will obtain your goal!” Now at the age of 8 she has completed one of many goals she has set for herself. She no longer just wants to go to Summit she wants to Hit that routine and she wants to place high at this competition. We are working towards that goal Daddy is here to help her where I can help.

So listen, I want to leave you with this. Do more! Now when I say do more I want you to be involved beyond just going to competitions and paying money for tuition. I am not saying go out there and get certified to coach or anything but don’t treat this like something you aren’t interested in. When you invest into something, you want to be involved. You are investing into your child. I don’t care what sport they are playing this rings true, investing in your child goes beyond just money. Investing in your child is being there as support being their number 1 fan. Watching them as they practice at home giving them feedback. Supporting the gym on facebook giving encouraging words to the athletes. You are more than just the money!

So let’s continue to do more and continue to be uplifting and encouraging of not just our gyms but of other gyms. Continue to show love and support when we are at low moments and celebrate when we are all in our high moments. Cheerleading is more than just a sport, this is a family.

Charles Michael

From Coach Mandi-The Middle Of Our Competition Season

The Middle Of Our Competition Season

As we head up the middle of our comp season, I have a few tips for our athletes: Find the moments where you can motivate yourself to push past your limits. This is what makes the difference when you're faced with adversity. Be adaptable. Yes, it's going to get harder. Yes, things will change. Multiple times. You're in a competitive sport. Being adaptable to change is key to your team's success. On the bright side, this is the one lesson that you can hold through life. Being adaptable is a life lesson. Own it. Don't rely on the the praise from others to be your motivating factor. In turn, don't let criticism beat you down. Learn to filter what you need to take away from the critique and learn to be humble during praise. You are a piece of the puzzle. Every team is a jigsaw. Every person fills a spot of necessity. Own your spot. Be great at your spot. Work on other areas and be an asset to your team. Practice outside of practice. If you only practice during practice hours, don’t complain when the result you want doesn’t happen. Greatness requires extra effort. I am not the world's easiest coach. I don't sympathize and I normally don't empathize. I've been in your shoes. I know what it takes. I won't baby you. I have expectations of each and every one of you. You may not like how hard I coach now, and that's ok. I didn't like how hard my coach was either. But I learned and I grew from her methods. The biggest stages of your season are yet to come. How will you handle the pressure? Welcome to our competitive world.... Be great Believe in yourself Don't be validated by others Push past your limits It's go time.....

-Mandi