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Varsity All Star Teams Up With All Star Cheerleaders to Support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

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New Initiative Aims to Pay for One Day’s Operational Costs of the Hospital – $2 Million

Varsity All Star LogoMEMPHIS, Tenn. (Sept. 16, 2014) – Beginning this October, Varsity All Star will be joining the Team Up for St. Jude campaign to help raise enough money to run St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® for a day – $2 million. Varsity Spirit created the campaign three years ago to help St. Jude find cures and save children battling cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Varsity Spirit has raised more than $1.5 million since 2011 through a similar program with the cheerleaders and dancers who attend Varsity summer camps. In July 11 All Star gym owners and athletes were invited to Memphis, Tennessee, where they served dinner at St. Jude Target House, a long-term living facility for St. Jude patients and families; toured the hospital and helped brainstorm ways the All Star industry could help pay to operate St. Jude for a day.

Thanks to the collaborative effort of the St. Jude Advisory Panel and St. Jude staff, Varsity All Star designed a program to encourage athletes to support this goal and help make it a success. The All Star community is energized to invest and commit their time to the effort to help St. Jude increase overall cancer survival rates.

“From the gym owner perspective, I think it’s important that we get involved with St. Jude,” said Brett Hansen, owner of Spirit of Texas, an all star program in Arlington, Texas. “We have to teach our athletes from a young age that they’ve got to give back. It’s important for the all star gyms to get involved with St. Jude because we are a tight community and this is a new way to work together to try to get some kids who aren’t healthy back on their feet and healthy again.”
More than 2,000 All Star gyms across the country will be encouraged to Team Up for St. Jude through fundraising efforts organized by their coaches, athletes and parents within their gym. All Star gyms that register will receive a free fundraising kit that includes table tents, balloons, posters and an exclusive “Our Gym Proudly Supports St. Jude” banner. They can track the money they raise on an online fundraising website provided by St. Jude. Gyms have been encouraged to kick-start their Team Up for St. Jude Spirited by Varsity All Star program by hosting a Parents Night Out in their gym on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014.

“We are excited to further our partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital by inviting All Star gyms from across the country to join us as we continue our commitment to help fight childhood cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. We share a common goal with St. Jude, centered around our mission to make a difference in the lives of young people. This is an ideal partnership and we are thrilled to work hand-in-hand with St. Jude,” said John Newby, General Manager of Varsity All Star. “Together with All Star gym owners and coaches, we believe we have created a unique fundraising platform to speak to the competitive nature of All Star athletes and ultimately provide more financial support for St. Jude and its families.”

“Varsity All Star’s support and spirit are invaluable to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital,” said Richard Shadyac Jr., president and CEO of ALSAC/St. Jude. “In addition to the more than $1.5 million Varsity cheerleaders and dancers have raised to help St. Jude find cures and save kids, their visits and pep rallies at the hospital have helped lift patient and parents’ spirits as they face some of the most difficult times in their lives.”

All donations will be tracked online through each All Star gym’s page and on www.stjude.org/VarsityAllStar. Teams will be rewarded as they reach certain donation levels throughout the 2014-2015 competition season. More information about this award scale will be released soon.

If you are a gym owner or coach and would like to participate in this program, please fill out this form.

Press Release – Varsity All Star Teams Up With All Star Cheerleaders to Support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Spirit Holding and Cheersport Join the Varsity Family of Brands

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Cheersport LogoMemphis, Tenn., (December 28, 2012) Varsity and Spirit Holding have announced that they are merging, effective immediately. Based in Matthews, N.C., Spirit Holding is the parent company of CHEERSPORT, CheerLogistics and Universal Spirit, and hosts more than 30 competitions each year.

CHEERSPORT’S signature Nationals event, held in Atlanta each February, is the single largest cheer and dance competition in the United States, attracting more than 900 cheerleading and dance teams from around the country.

“Our goal has always been to produce exciting events that are organized and positive for all participants,” said Jeff Fowlkes, President and General Manager of Spirit Holding. “And by teaming up with Varsity, we know that we are partnering with the best in the cheer community. No organization takes better care of its athletes and their safety or cares about their competition experience more than Varsity, and we are proud to be their partner.”

Varsity All Star LogoJohn Newby, Executive Vice President of Varsity and General Manager of Varsity All Star, said, “We are excited to welcome the Spirit Holding team and look forward to working with their entire organization as we continue to focus on producing the best cheer and dance competitions in the world for the athletes and parents we serve.”

Athletes and gym customers should expect enhancements in the future as a result of the merger, including a larger pool of experienced judges and consistent logistical and operational support.

Regarding the new arrangement Fowlkes added, “Perhaps the most exciting aspect about our merger with Varsity is that CHEERSPORT will be able to retain its uniqueness,” added Fowlkes. “Varsity has always allowed its brands the independence they need to retain what makes them special, and that is extremely important to us and to our customers.”

Fowlkes will continue to manage and direct the Spirit Holding operations. Kevin Brubaker will serve as Vice President and Brand Manager of CHEERSPORT, and Adam Thomas will continue to manage Universal Spirit as its Vice President and Brand Manager. Spirit Holdings headquarters will remain at its current location in the Charlotte, N.C. area.

For more information, please contact Sheila Noone, 901-251-5959 or [email protected]

On the Eve of Title IX’s 40th Anniversary, the Age Old Question Might Finally be Answered

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As Title IX celebrates its 40th Anniversary and counts its wins for women’s sports, a new sport is ready to join the ranks.

Memphis, Tenn., June 19, 2012 – Cheerleading, which predates Title IX by roughly 60 years, has long been an athletic outlet for women. Once primarily a men’s activity, female cheerleaders quickly took over the sidelines during World War II, and never left.

USA CheerIt’s a question as old as Title IX itself – Is Cheerleading A Sport? Every year, the physical abilities of cheerleaders are showcased on ESPN and CBS Sports, and now a new sport, STUNT, is vying for Emerging Sport Status from the NCAA. STUNT is about to launch its third season, with a roster that has averaged 22 teams in the last two years.

As a more athletic and challenging style of cheerleading developed, the need for a new form emerged, one that would allow the talented athletes of cheerleading to take their place among the top athletes in the country.

“STUNT has evolved out of a need to develop a format derived from traditional cheerleading that fulfills all requirements of Title IX,” says Bill Seely, Executive Director of USA Cheer, the governing body for cheerleading and the creator of STUNT. “It’s important to ensure a clear distinction between the various athletic disciplines of cheerleading and the roles they play. Traditional cheerleading provides such great value for the institutions they serve and we want to protect that, while at the same time continue to grow cheer’s newest sport, STUNT, which will provide more opportunities for young women and help institutions meet the criteria of Title IX.”

STUNT has been well received by pioneers of women’s sports, who applaud the efforts of USA Cheer to create more opportunities for female athletes to compete. “The Women’s Sports Foundation welcomes the new sport of STUNT into the women’s sports tent, along with other aesthetic sports like gymnastics, diving and some skiing and snowboarding events,” says Nancy Hogshead-Makar, Senior Director of Advocacy for the Women’s Sports Foundation.”STUNT is developing to ensure girls and women are being provided the same educational experience that boys receive, with comparable numbers of competitions, squad sizes, scholarships, and a standard competitive format.”

More information about USA Cheer and STUNT can be found at http://usacheer.net. If you have further questions, please contact Sheila Noone at 901-251-5959.

About the STUNT format

Each STUNT game will comprise four quarters in the following categories: Partner Stunts, Pyramids and Tosses, Group Jumps and Tumbling, and Team Performance. Within each quarter, teams will perform skill sequences of varying levels of difficulty, technical execution and synchronization. Anyone who follows sports will be able to follow STUNT. Teams compete simultaneously, and the head-to-head format simplifies the scoring process, allowing fans to track the results of the competition as each round is completed. Because of the new format, teams will have records and national rankings, which will determine their post season play, much like other sports. In addition, post season play can be tracked by the fans, much like “March Madness.” For more information on STUNT, visit http://usacheer.net.

About USA Cheer

The USA Federation for Sport Cheering is a not-for profit organization and is the national governing body for all disciplines of cheerleading. USA Cheer exists to serve the entire cheer community, including club cheering (All Star), traditional school based cheer programs and the new sport of STUNT. USA Cheer has three primary objectives: help grow and develop interest and participation in Cheer throughout the United States; promote safety and safety education for cheer in the United States; and represent the United States of America in international cheer competitions.