50 Cheer Gyms... 50 States - Cheer Tech ( 28 of 50)

 

The twenty-eighth gym I would like to introduce you to is Cheer Tech out of Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Owners/Cheer Director:  

Amanda Brandt, Hannah Freese, Carli Jordan, Annika Larsen

Colors: 
Royal Blue, Dark Grey and Silver

Years Opened: It will be 3 years this July. July 2018-Present

What cheer competitions have you really enjoyed competing in the most?   

We like the ones that are Saturday and Sundays because it gives our teams the most time to really enjoy the experience of competing, what they work so hard for, and allows for extra bonding time with dinner out between the two days or hitting the mall. There isn’t one venue that sticks out, as all the producers do such an amazing job, but the times we spend together means the most. So when we can do a long weekend competition, we love that the best.

What championship or placement are you most proud of at your gym?  

We started off with just a Tiny, Mini, and Youth team. Only two of our athletes had ever cheered before. Grand Forks does not have a big population, so we had challenges in recruiting large numbers and experience. Anytime we hit zero, it is the biggest deal for us and  we are very proud of it. This season we are most proud of starting a Prep program and seeing them perform. Our Youth Prep team went to two competitions and placed 2nd out of 9 and 2nd out of 8.  I think that is something we are really encouraged by because they were against much bigger, more established gyms and these prep programs are the foundation and future for our gym. Our Tiny Team got 2nd and 3rd as well!

What is something you would like our readers to know about your gym? 

What we would like readers to know about our gym is it takes a lot of heart and courage for our athletes to come from a small town, with little or no experience, and go compete with well-established large gyms. Each year we get better, stronger, and in 3 seasons we have gone from hoping we won’t place last to getting top 3 finishes! What people should know is we love this sport and we will take anyone who wants to be a part of it, no matter what level of experience, and turn them into the best All Star Cheerleader they want to work hard to become. Our gym is about positivity, accountability, resiliency, and family. We will continue to work hard and be a team our community can be proud of.

Interesting way our gym came about...

Our gym is in it's 3rd season. We have an interesting story about how our gym came about. Originally, Grand Forks had an All-Star program that was connected to a gymnastics gym. Out of nowhere it was announced they were cancelling the program right before the teams were scheduled to attend nationals in Chicago. This was in April of 2018. There was nowhere for these athletes to go.

Amanda Brandt, a recently retired Colonel and pilot in the Air Force, who had some cheerleading and coaching experience, could not let competitive cheer die in this town and so in April 2018 she set out to find a place to have a gym. Two weeks later she signed a lease and then ordered a full size spring floor, full size dead floor, and 60 ft tumble track with associated mats and apparatuses needed for tumbling. She invested over 80K of her own personal money to make Cheer Tech a reality. In two short months she had a fully operational cheer gym and started recruiting for season 1. She did this with no plan, no business experience, just a really big heart and hope that if you put good out there, good will come back.

Now, at the end of the 3rd season, with the gym on solid footing, she is passing the gym over to Hannah Freese, who has so much passion for this sport and love for these athletes! When Amanda started, she knew she did not want to be a long term gym owner, as she has a full time job as a Professor of Aerospace at the University of North Dakota and has two children she wants to spend more time with. Even though it is bitter sweet to walk away from something she has made, she is thrilled that she is able to do so with the confidence that Cheer Tech will continue to grow and become a premiere gym in the Mid-West region. Being able to leave this legacy in Grand Forks will truly be one of the highlights in her life.

The website for this cheer gym is:

Website is 

www.ndcheertech.com

Pictures: