The Cheerleading Junkie: Recent Episodes
Jill Markley
The podcast for anyone who loves cheerleading! Jill Markley is a cheer addict, coach, and gym owner. Each week she interviews an expert who shares insight on a cheer topic - anything from tumbling instruction to fundraising to choreography etc.
Jill talks about the need to have staff trained and ready in the event of injuries at the gym.
Jill talks all things choreography. She gives her take on choreographing routines for other organizations, working with choreographers on her own teams' routines, gives advice on working choreographers, and advice on how to prepare the athletes for choreography.
Jill discusses what she learned at Score Tour, put on by Deep South Spirit:
How scoring is done
Tips on how to grow a Cheer Gym
Jill talks about her experiences being an adult cheerleader and coaching adult cheerleaders.
NCA announced that College Nationals will remain at Daytona until 2030. Jill talks about why she loves the Nationals at Daytona.
SAS coaches went to Brandon Allstars for a weekend training program. Jill talks about the experience, the benefits of the training, and the takeaways.
Jill talks about whether parents should watch cheer practice, and about whether coaches/gym owners should allow it.
Jill talks about how to balance priorities when doing evaluations and placing athletes on teams.
Supernatural All Stars switched from the United scoring system to the Open Championship Series(OCS) three years ago. Jill discusses the reasons why she switched and why OCS is better for her gym.
Jill talks about the Let Them Theory and how it can be applied by gym owners, athletes and parents. This is a great tool to help people accept anything outside of their control and to move forward in a positive, constructive way.
Link to the Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins:
https://www.melrobbins.com/book/the-let-them-theory/
Jill discusses Open Houses: Why should a gym run an open house? Why should prospective cheerleaders go to one? What are the benefits from everyone's perspective.
Jill talks about how athletes should decide on being Prep vs Elite, and how to prepare for evaluations.
Jill talks about her process for awarding scholarships, and then goes on to discuss how she decides on team placements.
Jill discusses themes for naming teams. Her gym chooses a different theme each season rather than having team names carry over season after season. Why does she do this? Listen to find out.
Jill also talks about why she believes it is important to do annual evaluations for all athletes.
Jill tells a story about one of her favorite team-building games and how it had a transformative effect on one of her teams, and particularly on one of her athletes, this season.
Jill talks about frustrations with best-day scoring at 2 day comps. She also talks about challenges with using social media to communicate with parents and athletes, and challenges with their use of social media.
Joanna Cuthbert is a coach, former program owner, and she also coached the Team England Adaptive Abilities team to Worlds in 2016 and 2017. She is currently the chair of the National Governing body for Cheer in England and she is the owner of Squad Safe. Check it out at www.squadsafe.org
Jeff Benson is the owner of Mind Body Cheer, a sports performance company that empowers athletes to achieve excellence.
Injuries are a huge concern in our sport. Cheer District has the solution to ensure cheerleaders can prepare themselves physically to perform at the highest level, and to minimize the chance of injuries at the same time.
Alexa Gibbons was a professional cheerleader for the Seattle Seahawks and has recently started a Youtube channel to help cheerleaders prepare for auditions. Her channel is called The American Cheerleader.
Proactive Coaching is about establishing a culture and strong relationships among coaches, athletes, and parents. Rob Shares his wisdom on these topics.
Arvid Tenney is the co-owner of Solid Ground Stunts. He and his wife, Brooke, run camps every year that are known for being particularly fun, and a great experience for the athletes.
Nessa Warrington has cheered since she was 3 years old and coached since she was in high school. She has a wealth of experience both as an athlete and as a coach. Jill talks to Nessa about tryouts. How should you prepare for tryouts and what can you do to succeed. They also talk about how coaches can conduct tryouts to improve their results..
Ashley is a very successful coach at Stingray Allstars. She is not only highly competitive but more importantly, she coaches in a positive way, to make cheerleading enjoyable for the athletes. 9qrp3bM9bnphKAM6BEC5
Many families and cheerleaders at all levels rely heavily on fundraising to make the sport affordable. Fundraising is very important and many programs couldn't exist without it. Ellen Richard is an expert at running fundraisers. She shares her insights and advice.
Antwan Bethea has taken his cheerleading career to a lot of places, doing just about everything you can do as a cheerleader. He started out on his high school team and continued through all stars and two college teams. He has also been an NBA cheerleader, performed in the stage version of Bring It On, and has even been an announcer at cheer comps. Check him out at https://www.twanbringiton.com
Javis Borgh has incredibly creative solutions for many problems related to cheering. He has invented the T3 air track so athletes can practice tumbling at home and he has started a YouTube channel to teach parents how to help their kids advance their tumbling skills.
As a coach and gym owner it is important to be aware of, and sensitive to, the concerns of the parents. This week Jill gets a cheer parent's perspective on various cheerleading topics, and Jill provides answers to some of those questions a parent always wanted to know but didn't get a chance to ask.
I worked with highly acclaimed choreographer Shakeem Soanes for the first time this season and was thrilled with the results. The routines were unique, with lots of movement and excellent use of the floor. Shakeem shares his insights. Subscribe to The Cheerleading Junkie today!
Tumble Chef is an incredible tumbling coach and he offers the industry a lot of free knowledge through his social media presence. He proves that you can be successful at tumbling without skipping progressions and he has a unique approach to overcoming mental blocks. This was a great interview and Tumble Chef has some remarkable perspectives that he shares here. Please join us and please subscribe to The Cheerleading Junkie today!
Ginger Ferraro has been the Cheer Director of Central Mass Pop Warner for over 20 years. She has an enormous wealth of knowledge about what it takes to run a successful youth cheer program, and much of this is relevant to developing successful cheer programs at any level. Ginger shares her wisdom with us. Subscribe to The Cheerleading Junkie today!
Jill Markley has cheered in high school and all stars. She has coached winning teams at all levels, and she now owns an all star gym. Jill is a cheerleading addict! If you are too, this is the show for you. Listen in as cheer experts share their insights on topics such as choreography, tumbling, fundraising, and so much more. Look for new episodes each Monday and subscribe now.