Sponsors
When most people hear the word “Cheerleader” they are taken back to a time in High School when girls chanted “Go Fight Win” and shook their Pom Pom’s as their team raced to the end zone, but in this day and age that is only one aspect of Cheerleading. Today there are over 400 Colleges in the United States that offer Cheerleaders some form of scholarship.
Cheerleading IS evolving.
Today Cheerleaders are finding themselves fighting for recognition, as cheer is not recognized as a sport, but does that mean Cheerleaders are not athletes? What is an athlete? An Athlete is defined in the dictionary as “A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts”, so by that definition aren’t Cheerleaders athletes?
At Cheerforce San Diego we DO consider our Cheerleaders athletes, all 185 of them, and we train them as such. All of our athletes, ages 3-30, not only practice 5 (or more) hours a week but they also partake in strength and core conditioning as part of our program. At Cheerforce San Diego we train our Coaches on ways to prevent injury and strengthen muscles used specifically in Cheer. At the beginning of each season we have a doctor come to the gym and meet with our parents to discuss care for their growing athletes; as well as provide training to our Coaches. At Cheerforce San Diego we offer a Chiropractor and Sports Masseuse in the gym twice a week for our athletes to receive services at no charge as well as a personal trainer to work with the athletes on their conditioning, strength and weight training. We are constantly learning about new techniques to prevent injury and help our athletes be as strong and healthy as they can be.
Aside from the physical aspects of this program, we realize that children that participate in extracurricular activities are less likely to drop-out of school, engage in substance abuse and become teen parents. Our athletes learn valuable life-lessons each time they work together; teamwork, responsibility, accountability, confidence, sportsmanship, and leadership to name a few. At Cheerforce San Diego we have seen our Cheerleaders go off to Universities across the nation, Louisville, Hawaii Pacific University, Boise State, UCLA and San Diego State to name a few. Our athletes are focused driven and passionate. Our athletes are mentally and physically capable.
Cheerleading is an expensive sport. The cost of equipment, uniforms, training, competing, education and travel can add up to over $5000.00 per Athlete per year. Our Cheerforce San Diego Booster Club works diligently to line up multiple ways for our families to fundraise, but that just isn’t enough.
At Cheerforce San Diego we pride ourselves on being a family. Our Coaches and Owners are in the gym every day and develop close personal relationships with these athletes. Many of the athletes grow-up in our gym and participate in our program from the time they are little ones until they are off to college. These athletes depend on us, they trust us and for some of them our staff takes the place of absent parents.
Cheerforce San Diego has a great reputation in the industry and has a team that is currently ranked 5th in the Nation and another team ranked 6th in the WORLD, we are working towards a Worlds Title this year. Our Coaches and Owners have worked for many years to build up the level of this program earning numerous National Titles. Many of our Coaches also work with High School and Youth Teams in San Diego.
We are always looking for sponsors who want to be a part of what we do, support our athletes and the community and believe in what we stand for.
If you would like to set up a meeting or come by the gym and see what we do our doors are always open. Competition season is upon us, if you would like to come see us in action it would be our pleasure to have you as our guest.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sincerely,
Jennifer Long and Casey Popp
Owners – Cheerforce San Diego