Testimonial Series – All About Emily

We’ll be starting a new blog series, all about testimonials from current and previous athletes! We plan to look at the program from the athlete, parent and staff perspectives! Up first is Emily! She just completed her first season on our paid D2 Summit team, Hailstorm. Her coach, Amanda said that “Emily is an outstanding athlete, who is always ready to work, and benefited the team with her strength and positive attitude!”

Here is what her mom, Brenda, had to say about Emily’s involvement with our program:

Emily joined ICE (Ideal Cheer Elite) in the summer of 2015. Since joining the cheer team I have watched her bloom. According to the US Department of Education, “Young teens often feel inadequate. They have new bodies and developing minds and their relationships with friends and family members are in flux. They understand for the first time that they aren’t good at everything.” http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/adolescence/part8.html

As a mom of an early teen I worried that, like many girls, Emily would become self-conscious and start to doubt herself. However, at Ideal she seems to have done the opposite. Learning how to do complicated tumbling passes, cheer jumps, pyramids and fun dance moves has greatly improved Emily’s strength, balance and timing. Having learned all of this in the supportive positive ICE environment seems to be the key to her success.

Emily’s confidence and newly acquired skills have snowballed, improving everything she does. In addition to being an honor student, I am proud to say that, Emily has been able to utilize the strong team ethic she learned at ICE, to improve her skills and sportsmanship as a Junior Olympic Volleyball player. It’s a joy to watch her jump higher, block and spike more, all while successfully communicating with her teammates during highly stressful championship games.

I know Emily would tell you she loves cheer because it’s fun, but I can tell you there’s way more to it than “fun”. Emily’s successful, confident and adventurous spirit is strong today with the help of the awesome dedicated Ideal Cheer Elite coaches and staff.