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Lisa Welsh
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By Lisa D. Welsh
www.CHEERMaD.com
Get On Deck with The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp
OK CHEERMaDs! It’s been quite a season and now it’s your turn to win! The two last Certifiably CHEERMaD winners will be announced this week! If you haven’t sent your 500 word entry, go to the CONTEST page for all the info about submissions. One Grand Prize Winner will receive accommodations for The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp:
The Cheer Cruise: Norwegian Sky
July 27-30, 2012
Friday, July 27: Sailing out of Port of Miami at 5 PM
Saturday, July 28: Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 8 AM – 5 PM
Sunday, July 29: Nassau, Bahamas 8 AM -5 PM
Monday, July 20: Port of Miami 7 AM
So many great stories wish we could choose them all…what a rocking ship of CHEERMaDs that would be!
From the six finalists, three (3) First Place Winners will be announced on April 1. The Grand Prize winner will be announced Friday, April 27 at the Parent Reception during The Cheer and Dance Expo at Walt Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin Resort.
For more information about The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp visit www.thecheercruise.com
The final two finalists will join Certifiably CHEERMaDs from Cheer Athletics, Maryland Marlins, NEO Allstars, Maryland Twisters and American Elite Allstars chosen during the last four months:
Maryland Marlins Tori and Cheer Athletics Kalee at The Majors
The fourth Certifiably CHEERMaD finalist is actually two CHEERMaDs who formed a special cheer mom relationship 10 years ago when their daughters started Allstars.
Laura Dougherty and Lisa Garvin met at Capital Cheer in Burke, VA. They didn’t know it at the time but cheerleading was about to play a huge part of their lives. According to Laura’s daughter Tori Krugh, “they do everything to support (my) and Kalee Garvin’s cheer obsession.”
Their daughters no longer cheer for the same teams: Tori cheers for Maryland Marlins and Kalee for Cheer Athletics, but the friendships endure.
Finalist 4: My name is Tori Krugh, a current member of Maryland Marlins Riptide and Tsunami. I am writing to recommend that two of my favorite cheer moms be recognized because they definitely fit the definition of being CHEERMaD.
About 10 years ago, my mom, Laura Dougherty, and Lisa Garvin met at Capital Cheer in Burke, VA. They spend countless hours from the beginning of the season not only with the normal tasks of a cheer mom preparing their own daughters for the mat but everyone else as well. They run car pools for other athletes, race around finding those forgotten uniform pieces for competition, helping with make up and hair, making cheer bows, designing door signs and bag tags, filling goody bags and more.
This is their last cheer year together as Kalee is graduating. Somehow even after we both graduate I don’t think their cheer madness will end.
Our moms joke that they spend all the time together or over the phone solving cheer problems. Their joke is a reality though. They have amazing ideas that are often times great solutions to many of the day-to-day problems faced by cheerleaders, coaches and gym owners.
After leaving Capital, our moms followed our hearts to All Star Legacy. It was there that their cheer madness really became more evident. They joined forces with the parent/athlete booster club as very active officers. They scheduled auctions, community service events, pep rallies for over 500 athletes, picture days, movie shoot productions. They fundraise for other cheerleaders to take that floor beside us on the mat. They work concessions to help reduce our cheer bills.
Laura and Tori
They also became team parents that served as the coaches right hand communicating with parents and athletes, making sure that entire teams were game day ready and arranging team celebrations. It wasn’t long (before) they both became part of the All Star Legacy staff. Keep in mind, through it all they had other children, full-time jobs and still managed to be Kalee and my number one fans!
Just when you thought the madness was enough…our moms joined the All Star Legacy Parent Team. Lisa and my mom have competed three consecutive years – winning national championships each time at Battle at the Capital. There weren’t enough hours in the day to add yet another block of time to their schedules to practice but they made it happen. Sometimes remaining in the gym until as late midnight to polish their own routine. From sun up to sun down, cheerleading is on their mind.
Kalee and I supported their madness. It was amazing watching them go out on to the floor to perform. But it also made them realize to some extent what Kalee and I do to prepare for the blue mat.
Kalee and Cheer Athletics Panthers
The hardest moment was saying goodbye to the Garvins in January 2010. Kalee’s dad was relocated to a new position in Texas. Our moms wouldn’t be partners in crime in Virginia anymore. But even separated by hundreds of miles and cheer gyms apart they still are simply CHEERMaD. They still create door signs, design T-shirts and swap ideas for both Cheer Athletics and Maryland Marlins.
It has been a difficult adjustment but they made it work. Now we room with one another when our competition schedule aligns in Dallas, Atlanta and at Cheerleading Worlds.
Tori, far left, and Maryland Marlins’ Tsunamis
These ladies support both programs loud and proud. For example, both mine and Kalee’s teams were invited to compete at the Majors but Lisa was unable to attend Majors with Kalee. My mom and Lisa “watched” the team’s perform while talking on the phone and texting as Lisa watched the live feed from home and my mom was in the Hall D. Even though they were apart… they were still together. My mom and I were there to give Kalee that much-needed hug after the Panthers won the All Girl division.
Not only did our moms support our Allstar Cheerleading addiction, they fully joined forces to support our high school teams. They were in the stands at every game and performance. Shuttled us to and from high school practice then raced us to Allstar practices, which were NOT right around the corner because Kalee and I both chose gyms that were 45 minutes to an hour away from our homes. Our moms still made bows, locker tags and anything else that we needed on a whim’s notice.
Our moms are very special ladies who have made cheerleading another extension of our family. Cheerleading has brought our families together. Our moms are full of heart, passion and dedication for the sport of cheerleading and deserve to be officially recognized as being CHEERMaD.
Finalist 3: I thought my mom was Certifiably CHEERMaD when she scheduled her destination wedding around MY cheer competitions and practices. I KNEW she was Certifiably CHEERMaD when she scheduled her brain surgery around them.
When my mom was getting married and picked a date during Thanksgiving week knowing that we didn’t practice that week and wouldn’t compete that weekend. So, we had it all planned: the family would drive to Florida Friday, get married on Monday and return the Friday after Thanksgiving. This plan was great until my team added a competition the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We changed plans and my mom, sister and I bought plane tickets and flew down Saturday night after the competition. Who does that?? Who is late to their own Wedding weekend? My mom, that’s who.
Fast forward two years, my mom has been pretty sick almost daily. She has gone to numerous doctors before finding a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins. By the time they figured out that the brain surgery was necessary for relief of her daily pain it was competition season. MY mom has NEVER missed a competition (she scheduled her wedding around them, ok?) and refused to change that now. I had a competition on December 3rd and we don’t compete again until January 7th. Mom scheduled surgery for December 7th (the Wednesday after my first competition) knowing that she had a full month to recover. Why on a Wednesday? Because of course I couldn’t miss my Tuesday practice and my next practice wasn’t until Sunday.
Funny thing is, my coaches weren’t even surprised when they found this out. They just laughed and said “Of course she did!” Mom’s surgery went well and we are all very excited and ready for my competition next weekend.
My mom is the best, most dedicated mom in the whole world and she would do anything for me if it meant helping me with my cheer team. I love my mom to death and she deserves any prize that you are giving away.
Finalist 2: You would always know who my mom is, because she is always fully dressed in my gyms colors and being as loud as she can be. The kids on my team all call my mom “mom.” She would do whatever she had to do to help these kids out. My entire team last year spent most of the summer at my house bonding and becoming so close we were literally like a family of 20 sisters and brothers. When we’d travel to competitions, if a teammate didn’t have a room to stay in my mom was the first to offer our room for them and when we traveled to cheerleading Worlds last year my mom even helped with airfare for my teammates that couldn’t afford it. My mom is probably one of the longest running Certifiably CHEERMaDs that there is. My older sister started competitive cheerleading 18 years ago and that is when it all began. My mom has not missed a single competition in 18 years. She is always in the very front row cheering us on and is the first one to congratulate us when we come off the floor.
She will do whatever it takes to make sure my team stays a team through the entire season. She was my teams “team mom” last year and when we went to Worlds she made sure that the entire team was fully equipped with all our team clothes that matched for our entire stay, for the guys and girls, trading pins to trade with other gyms, hair bows for all the girls and sweatbands for the guys. We would not have been able to afford it without my mom doing it for us.
This year I am at a new gym, and it was probably the hardest decision we have ever made. My mom had made some very close friends and was like a mom to my teammates. My mom did a lot at the gym that we were previously at so it was extremely hard on her to leave. She even goes as far as still going to as many of their competitions as possible. That is if I am not competing that weekend, so that she can still cheer those kids on. I was ready to move on and she ended up taking me to my new gym and I absolutely love it. I am pushed even harder than I have ever been and my mom is such a huge supporter of me.
This year my older sister, she is now 26 years old, is also going to be competing on our new gyms International co-ed team and my mom is so excited to be able to cheer both of us on once again. I know my mom will be in the front row once again cheering us both on at every competition all the way to cheerleading Worlds. Please pick my mom to be one of the Certifiably CHEERMaD finalists. I know if you ask anyone that knows her, they would all tell you that yes she is beyond Certifiably CHEERMaD and couldn’t think of anyone more deserving.
Finalist 1: I am a male cheerleader for NEO Allstars in Canton, Ohio. My mom is the biggest supporter of what my sister and I love to do.As a male cheerleader I get a lot of slack for what I love, my mom defends me to the end and embraces what I love. She is the team mom, helps with booster club and just never misses a comp. She really struggles to pay for us to cheer, I’d love for her to get something in return.
Thanks, McKulley Meek, NEO ALLSTARS
Panthers Senior Co-ed, Bengals Senior Open Co-ed, Bobcats Senior 2
Mattison Meek, NEO ALLSTARS
Wildcats – Youth Level 3, Supercats Junior Level 4, Thundercats – Youth Level 2.
*Government taxes and fees not included~ visit www.thecheercruise.com/faqs for more information
3 First Prizes
Three (3) First Prize winners will receive $250 cheer travel voucher good for a year, and become eligible for Grand Prize.
Finalists
Other prizes include select pieces from The CHEERMaD Collection of cheer jewelry, CHEERMaD apparel and merchandise and other cheer products. Six (6) Finalists will be selected to become eligible for one (1) of the three (3) First Prizes.
To WIN:
Submissions accepted in the submission box at CONTEST page: Include CHEERMaD’s name, cheerleader’s name, age, address, gym or school and team name, email address. Finalists and First Place awardees will be announced on the Certifiably CHEERMaD blog at www.CHEERMaD.com.
Go ahead, “My Mom/Dad was Certifiably CHEERMaD when…” only at www.CHEERMaD.com.
For more information about The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp 2012 visit www.thecheercruise.com or email: [email protected]
A complete list of rules can be requested by emailing [email protected]
By Lisa D. Welsh
www.CHEERMaD.com
Get On Deck with The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp
OK CHEERMaDs! It’s been quite a season and now it’s your turn to win! The two last Certifiably CHEERMaD winners will be announced this week! If you haven’t sent your 500 word entry, go to the CONTEST page for all the info about submissions. One Grand Prize Winner will receive accommodations for The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp:
The Cheer Cruise: Norwegian Sky
July 27-30, 2012
Friday, July 27: Sailing out of Port of Miami at 5 PM
Saturday, July 28: Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas 8 AM – 5 PM
Sunday, July 29: Nassau, Bahamas 8 AM -5 PM
Monday, July 20: Port of Miami 7 AM
So many great stories wish we could choose them all…what a rocking ship of CHEERMaDs that would be!
From the six finalists, three (3) First Place Winners will be announced on April 1. The Grand Prize winner will be announced Friday, April 27 at the Parent Reception during The Cheer and Dance Expo at Walt Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin Resort.
For more information about The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp visit www.thecheercruise.com
The final two finalists will join Certifiably CHEERMaDs from Cheer Athletics, Maryland Marlins, NEO Allstars, Maryland Twisters and American Elite Allstars chosen during the last four months:
Maryland Marlins Tori and Cheer Athletics Kalee at The Majors
The fourth Certifiably CHEERMaD finalist is actually two CHEERMaDs who formed a special cheer mom relationship 10 years ago when their daughters started Allstars.
Laura Dougherty and Lisa Garvin met at Capital Cheer in Burke, VA. They didn’t know it at the time but cheerleading was about to play a huge part of their lives. According to Laura’s daughter Tori Krugh, “they do everything to support (my) and Kalee Garvin’s cheer obsession.”
Their daughters no longer cheer for the same teams: Tori cheers for Maryland Marlins and Kalee for Cheer Athletics, but the friendships endure.
Finalist 4: My name is Tori Krugh, a current member of Maryland Marlins Riptide and Tsunami. I am writing to recommend that two of my favorite cheer moms be recognized because they definitely fit the definition of being CHEERMaD.
About 10 years ago, my mom, Laura Dougherty, and Lisa Garvin met at Capital Cheer in Burke, VA. They spend countless hours from the beginning of the season not only with the normal tasks of a cheer mom preparing their own daughters for the mat but everyone else as well. They run car pools for other athletes, race around finding those forgotten uniform pieces for competition, helping with make up and hair, making cheer bows, designing door signs and bag tags, filling goody bags and more.
This is their last cheer year together as Kalee is graduating. Somehow even after we both graduate I don’t think their cheer madness will end.
Our moms joke that they spend all the time together or over the phone solving cheer problems. Their joke is a reality though. They have amazing ideas that are often times great solutions to many of the day-to-day problems faced by cheerleaders, coaches and gym owners.
After leaving Capital, our moms followed our hearts to All Star Legacy. It was there that their cheer madness really became more evident. They joined forces with the parent/athlete booster club as very active officers. They scheduled auctions, community service events, pep rallies for over 500 athletes, picture days, movie shoot productions. They fundraise for other cheerleaders to take that floor beside us on the mat. They work concessions to help reduce our cheer bills.
Laura and Tori
They also became team parents that served as the coaches right hand communicating with parents and athletes, making sure that entire teams were game day ready and arranging team celebrations. It wasn’t long (before) they both became part of the All Star Legacy staff. Keep in mind, through it all they had other children, full-time jobs and still managed to be Kalee and my number one fans!
Just when you thought the madness was enough…our moms joined the All Star Legacy Parent Team. Lisa and my mom have competed three consecutive years – winning national championships each time at Battle at the Capital. There weren’t enough hours in the day to add yet another block of time to their schedules to practice but they made it happen. Sometimes remaining in the gym until as late midnight to polish their own routine. From sun up to sun down, cheerleading is on their mind.
Kalee and I supported their madness. It was amazing watching them go out on to the floor to perform. But it also made them realize to some extent what Kalee and I do to prepare for the blue mat.
Kalee and Cheer Athletics Panthers
The hardest moment was saying goodbye to the Garvins in January 2010. Kalee’s dad was relocated to a new position in Texas. Our moms wouldn’t be partners in crime in Virginia anymore. But even separated by hundreds of miles and cheer gyms apart they still are simply CHEERMaD. They still create door signs, design T-shirts and swap ideas for both Cheer Athletics and Maryland Marlins.
It has been a difficult adjustment but they made it work. Now we room with one another when our competition schedule aligns in Dallas, Atlanta and at Cheerleading Worlds.
Tori, far left, and Maryland Marlins’ Tsunamis
These ladies support both programs loud and proud. For example, both mine and Kalee’s teams were invited to compete at the Majors but Lisa was unable to attend Majors with Kalee. My mom and Lisa “watched” the team’s perform while talking on the phone and texting as Lisa watched the live feed from home and my mom was in the Hall D. Even though they were apart… they were still together. My mom and I were there to give Kalee that much-needed hug after the Panthers won the All Girl division.
Not only did our moms support our Allstar Cheerleading addiction, they fully joined forces to support our high school teams. They were in the stands at every game and performance. Shuttled us to and from high school practice then raced us to Allstar practices, which were NOT right around the corner because Kalee and I both chose gyms that were 45 minutes to an hour away from our homes. Our moms still made bows, locker tags and anything else that we needed on a whim’s notice.
Our moms are very special ladies who have made cheerleading another extension of our family. Cheerleading has brought our families together. Our moms are full of heart, passion and dedication for the sport of cheerleading and deserve to be officially recognized as being CHEERMaD.
Finalist 3: I thought my mom was Certifiably CHEERMaD when she scheduled her destination wedding around MY cheer competitions and practices. I KNEW she was Certifiably CHEERMaD when she scheduled her brain surgery around them.
When my mom was getting married and picked a date during Thanksgiving week knowing that we didn’t practice that week and wouldn’t compete that weekend. So, we had it all planned: the family would drive to Florida Friday, get married on Monday and return the Friday after Thanksgiving. This plan was great until my team added a competition the Saturday before Thanksgiving. We changed plans and my mom, sister and I bought plane tickets and flew down Saturday night after the competition. Who does that?? Who is late to their own Wedding weekend? My mom, that’s who.
Fast forward two years, my mom has been pretty sick almost daily. She has gone to numerous doctors before finding a neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins. By the time they figured out that the brain surgery was necessary for relief of her daily pain it was competition season. MY mom has NEVER missed a competition (she scheduled her wedding around them, ok?) and refused to change that now. I had a competition on December 3rd and we don’t compete again until January 7th. Mom scheduled surgery for December 7th (the Wednesday after my first competition) knowing that she had a full month to recover. Why on a Wednesday? Because of course I couldn’t miss my Tuesday practice and my next practice wasn’t until Sunday.
Funny thing is, my coaches weren’t even surprised when they found this out. They just laughed and said “Of course she did!” Mom’s surgery went well and we are all very excited and ready for my competition next weekend.
My mom is the best, most dedicated mom in the whole world and she would do anything for me if it meant helping me with my cheer team. I love my mom to death and she deserves any prize that you are giving away.
Finalist 2: You would always know who my mom is, because she is always fully dressed in my gyms colors and being as loud as she can be. The kids on my team all call my mom “mom.” She would do whatever she had to do to help these kids out. My entire team last year spent most of the summer at my house bonding and becoming so close we were literally like a family of 20 sisters and brothers. When we’d travel to competitions, if a teammate didn’t have a room to stay in my mom was the first to offer our room for them and when we traveled to cheerleading Worlds last year my mom even helped with airfare for my teammates that couldn’t afford it. My mom is probably one of the longest running Certifiably CHEERMaDs that there is. My older sister started competitive cheerleading 18 years ago and that is when it all began. My mom has not missed a single competition in 18 years. She is always in the very front row cheering us on and is the first one to congratulate us when we come off the floor.
She will do whatever it takes to make sure my team stays a team through the entire season. She was my teams “team mom” last year and when we went to Worlds she made sure that the entire team was fully equipped with all our team clothes that matched for our entire stay, for the guys and girls, trading pins to trade with other gyms, hair bows for all the girls and sweatbands for the guys. We would not have been able to afford it without my mom doing it for us.
This year I am at a new gym, and it was probably the hardest decision we have ever made. My mom had made some very close friends and was like a mom to my teammates. My mom did a lot at the gym that we were previously at so it was extremely hard on her to leave. She even goes as far as still going to as many of their competitions as possible. That is if I am not competing that weekend, so that she can still cheer those kids on. I was ready to move on and she ended up taking me to my new gym and I absolutely love it. I am pushed even harder than I have ever been and my mom is such a huge supporter of me.
This year my older sister, she is now 26 years old, is also going to be competing on our new gyms International co-ed team and my mom is so excited to be able to cheer both of us on once again. I know my mom will be in the front row once again cheering us both on at every competition all the way to cheerleading Worlds. Please pick my mom to be one of the Certifiably CHEERMaD finalists. I know if you ask anyone that knows her, they would all tell you that yes she is beyond Certifiably CHEERMaD and couldn’t think of anyone more deserving.
Finalist 1: I am a male cheerleader for NEO Allstars in Canton, Ohio. My mom is the biggest supporter of what my sister and I love to do.As a male cheerleader I get a lot of slack for what I love, my mom defends me to the end and embraces what I love. She is the team mom, helps with booster club and just never misses a comp. She really struggles to pay for us to cheer, I’d love for her to get something in return.
Thanks, McKulley Meek, NEO ALLSTARS
Panthers Senior Co-ed, Bengals Senior Open Co-ed, Bobcats Senior 2
Mattison Meek, NEO ALLSTARS
Wildcats – Youth Level 3, Supercats Junior Level 4, Thundercats – Youth Level 2.
*Government taxes and fees not included~ visit www.thecheercruise.com/faqs for more information
3 First Prizes
Three (3) First Prize winners will receive $250 cheer travel voucher good for a year, and become eligible for Grand Prize.
Finalists
Other prizes include select pieces from The CHEERMaD Collection of cheer jewelry, CHEERMaD apparel and merchandise and other cheer products. Six (6) Finalists will be selected to become eligible for one (1) of the three (3) First Prizes.
To WIN:
Submissions accepted in the submission box at CONTEST page: Include CHEERMaD’s name, cheerleader’s name, age, address, gym or school and team name, email address. Finalists and First Place awardees will be announced on the Certifiably CHEERMaD blog at www.CHEERMaD.com.
Go ahead, “My Mom/Dad was Certifiably CHEERMaD when…” only at www.CHEERMaD.com.
For more information about The Cheer Cruise and Beach Camp 2012 visit www.thecheercruise.com or email: [email protected]
A complete list of rules can be requested by emailing [email protected]
