All-Star Cheer Extreme Questions And Answers From Courtney

[kisscheer18]

so when maddie graduates SE, have you given any thought to who would step in as point flyer? im thinking cute little kenley, but thats just me:)
serious question though, whats your least favorite part of the season?

 

[cheer4us]

Are you planning to have two junior 5 teams as you did last year? One all girl and one coed?

 

[newcheerdad]

I think this is a trend that will not slow down any time soon. The bottom line is the cost of running a program and paying great coaches is best distributed over more athletes. With the demands at each level going up and hitting a new standard of excellence each season coaches with experience are in short supply. It is a concerning trend, however most of my friends who have incorporated this model are doing a great job offering their services to new customers within a radius of their "mother ship". Starting a satellite gym is comparable to what someone told me while I was pregnant with Kenley. Having one child feels like one child having the second doesn't double the responsibility it feels like it triples. The same can be said with adding facilities. That said I think during the recession this model kept a great deal of athletes cheering as gyms struggled to keep their doors open. With the help of Jambrands and Varsity in their business partnership with gyms of all sizes I think we will see a surge smaller gyms growth.

My hope is that we see the rise of the smaller gym. As I said in the CA thread, other local gyms mean (if nothing else) that you have teams to compete against in your area and aren't always forced to travel long distances for competition. From a business owner's perspective, I can certainly understand why you'd want to have more facilities (within a reasonable geographic range) to service more athletes.

 

[caa10]

Firstly I wanna say, I've been a SE fan since 2007 - I found someone, to take away, your jackets ;)
Secondly, hopefully since we have the same name that one day I will have greatness like you :)

And for my actual question! I know that just being a fan I still get chills when I watch routines like SE's Worlds Finals 2008 and Prelims from 2010, how do you react when you go back and watch past routines that have paved the path that you stand on today? And that includes any team, and any year leading up to right now.

 

[StarshipTrooper]

Having been around for awhile and knowing them pretty well, I must say there are some really good questions. I think getting NCA pinned down was worth the price of admission.

 

[tumbleyoda]

My hope is that we see the rise of the smaller gym. As I said in the CA thread, other local gyms mean (if nothing else) that you have teams to compete against in your area and aren't always forced to travel long distances for competition. From a business owner's perspective, I can certainly understand why you'd want to have more facilities (within a reasonable geographic range) to service more athletes.

So how do we truly see the rise of the smaller gym if everytime they become viable or competitive they are assimilated, bought out or taken over by larger gyms or corporations like Premier/Varsity? I am not talking about the ones that are trying to get out of the business, I am talking about the ones trying to survive. The more that they are bought out the less competition that there is locally, the less meaningful local competitions becomes. One of the main complaints is no competition at locals or regionals. In implementing this type of strategy are we in effect sentencing local competitions to be undesirable to attend if we have pretty much bought and cornered the local talent pool? Just wondering.

 

[WorkToWin]

I think Hollywood should make a movie of Cheer Extreme's success and Courtney Cox can play Courtney :)

 

[SareyLovesCEA12]

Absolutely...stop by anytime...just remember our gym's only 6000 square feet :)

Thanks, can't wait till August!(:

 

[Sharkie]

First of all congrats on being such a wonderful and inspiring coach, I really look up to you. And all my kids look up to the SR Elite girls. I often hear them talk to themselves "think youre on cea, think your maddie" before they try to do a stunt they dont really master yet:)

My Question for you: I'm a beginning coach, starting an entire gymprogram by myself. What advice do you have for me to keep letting it all work out? How would you advice to overcome any struggle/problem? What would you say each coach should always keep in mind and how to keep yourself motivated day after day?

<3

 

[bburke1]

When an athlete has to quit your program how do you prefer them to confront the situation? Email? Phone call? In person?

Also, will you write an autobiography one day? Please? :)

 

[newcheerdad]

So how do we truly see the rise of the smaller gym if everytime they become viable or competitive they are assimilated, bought out or taken over by larger gyms or corporations like Premier/Varsity? I am not talking about the ones that are trying to get out of the business, I am talking about the ones trying to survive. The more that they are bought out the less competition that there is locally, the less meaningful local competitions becomes. One of the main complaints is no competition at locals or regionals. In implementing this type of strategy are we in effect sentencing local competitions to be undesirable to attend if we have pretty much bought and cornered the local talent pool? Just wondering.

It's always to going to be a challenge, just like being a fast-food burger joint is always tough when McDonalds and Burger King are on every street corner. My hope is that small gyms that survive do so by finding a niche, whether it's focusing on lower levels, being more economical, or some other "hook" that maybe the mega-gym hasn't figured out how to do or doesn't want to do.

I recognize that gym consolidation is not the best thing in the world for cheer from a competitive standpoint. It's actually pretty bad. But what I don't want to do is impose some arbitrary limits on how big a cheer gym can get, or refuse to allow a cheer gym to assimilate another one.

 

[CApantherSmallSenior90]

Your Gym is awesome!
I Love Senior Elite!:D
Do you think that senior elite will come back really strong this year?
How is it looking?

 

[tumbleyoda]

It's always to going to be a challenge, just like being a fast-food burger joint is always tough when McDonalds and Burger King are on every street corner. My hope is that small gyms that survive do so by finding a niche, whether it's focusing on lower levels, being more economical, or some other "hook" that maybe the mega-gym hasn't figured out how to do or doesn't want to do.

I recognize that gym consolidation is not the best thing in the world for cheer from a competitive standpoint. It's actually pretty bad. But what I don't want to do is impose some arbitrary limits on how big a cheer gym can get, or refuse to allow a cheer gym to assimilate another one.

I will pm you later as I have some definite thoughts and experiences. I want to let the thread get back to the OP.

 

[Cheeranamo]

Love this thread and that you are so real about it, "honesty is the best policy" and you are truly inspiring once again through this thread.
Questions:

1. I have heard some "rumors" Jay is moving and not going to be doing CEA videos anymore. Any truth to that?

2. How does it make you feel to know your little seed (one CEA gym) has grown into an field of wildflowers (multiple gyms) and do you ever have times where you think you just can't do it anymore ( like completely overwhelmed)?

3. How did Kelly ( your sister) become involved in CEA? When I first was learning about CEA I associated it with just you and Ben. Now I am starting to hear about how much Kelly is invloved and Betsy ( more behind the scenes but def. a huge part) and I just LOVE the family aspect of it all. However, does Kelly ever get jealous of your noteriety with CEA?

4. I have heard SOOOO many things about how one coach of CEA this past season abruptly left ( or was fired ) bc he wanted to start his own cheer gym. What are your true feeling about that situation and situations like that ( which happen in other gyms as well).

 

[Ariel]

I debated asking this question for a long time, don't want to sound like I'm questioning your abilities as a coach, that would just be ignorant of me.

I haven't intensely studied any score sheets and would not call myself an expert what so ever, but to the best of my knowledge & as far as I'm aware if something is not done by the majority, it is not going to "up" (or shouldn't) your difficulty score. That being said, why was the decision made to put in such a risky stunt (Maddie's "highlight" stunt on SE) if it's not going to be done by majority (5+), therefore, (again as far as I'm aware) it wouldn't really impact the score more than if she did the same stunt everyone else did. It seems like in this situation (to me anyways) the risk is greater than the reward. Now maybe I'm wrong and it can significantly help your score, or maybe it's just for the wow factor?

This isn't meant as an attack, I often wonder this, not just about CEA but any teams that have an extremely "risky" element in their routine that isn't done by the majority. This was well known example.