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