April Newsletter - Camps, Comebacks and Competition Updates
Hello Hellcats!!
Well, when we said goodbye to you all at our last sessions before Christmas, we didn't really expect it would be for this long! We've missed you all so much as we are so excited to be heading back to the gym in a couple of weeks! Full details of our roadmap back to 'normal' training can be found at the end of this email.
Our most exciting update is that we have a change of venue! When we return to classes, all classes (with the exception of Tumble classes) are moving to Central School in Chichester (those of you who have been with us for a while will remember we have trained at Central before!) Tumble classes will continue at TAG as normal.
With this location change comes a couple of time changes as follows:
STREET DANCE will now be starting at 4:30pm
FELINES (LYRICAL) will now be starting at 6pm
BOBCATS will now be starting at 4:30pm
THURSDAY REC will now be starting at 4:30pm
KITTENS will now be starting at 9:15am
SUNDAY REC will now be starting at 10am
We hope you have all somewhat enjoyed the break and are itching to get back to training! We will be maintaining our Covid-19 policy that was in place prior to this closure and we ask that you continue to follow this to keep our coaches and athletes as safe as possible and to continue training so we can finish the season off properly!
Covid-19 Policy
To recap, as per our Covid-19 policy:
- All athletes are to stand on socially distanced markers on the ground while waiting outside the gym for their session.
- Please arrive ON TIME (not early) for your class and we ask that parents stay in your car during pick up and drop off rather than congregating at the door. A coach will escort younger athletes from the gym and will wait with them at the end of the path to ensure they are collected by a parent/guardian.
-Athletes must wait to be called into the gym by a coach and go directly to their allocated spot on the floor, taking their belongings with them.
-Athletes and coaches must use hand sanitiser on entering AND exiting the gym.
-Athletes are reminded that there are no facilities available to refill water bottles at the gym so please make sure you bring enough water to last the whole session.
-Athletes and coaches are to maintain social distancing when inside the gym at all times.
-Athletes and coaches are required to bring masks to training to be worn when working on formations in close proximity to one another. Please note that recent government guidance states it is not required to wear a face-covering during physical activity (this includes stunting and tumbling). Given the nature of our sport and the physical closeness our athletes have to maintain in stunting, if you or your child would prefer to wear a face-covering while stunting this is of course fine and a matter of personal preference. If you have any concerns about this please do not hesitate to reach out to us.
-Coaches will ensure they wear masks whenever working on stunts or spotting tumbles. This includes Junior Coaches.
- We are awaiting confirmation from SportCheer England and DCMS regarding stunting when we return. We will let you know as soon as we have more information on whether or not we can stunt.
Easter Choreography Camps
All our competition teams have been given information regarding choreography camps during the second week of the Easter Holidays. These are 3 or 4-hour intensive workshops aiming to set out all choreography ahead of our end-of-season performances. These sessions are mandatory for all competitive athletes and please note that even one person's absence will have a big impact on the rest of the team so please ensure your athlete knows when to attend. We have a lot of ground to cover to make up for lost time this season and we want to put out our best routines possible to end our season properly.
Please send your athlete with enough water and snacks for the 4-hour session as we do not have access to facilities to refill water bottles at this time.
The choreography camp times are as follows:
THURSDAY 15TH APRIL
9am - 1pm = Cheetahs
2pm - 6pm = Pumas
FRIDAY 16TH APRIL
9am - 12pm = Bobcats and Thursday Rec
Half Term Camps
Speaking of Camps, we are excited to be offering Half Term Camps in the May/June half term!
Our half-term camps are open to anyone aged 5+ and we are excited to work on lots of new skills with you all!
Our Chichester Camp will be held on Tuesday 1st June from 10am-1pm. The Camp costs £15pp and is open for bookings now by clicking this link! Spaces are limited so book soon to avoid disappointment!
Merchandise
Returning to the gym is the perfect opportunity to stock up on new merchandise!
We still have lots of items in stock and available to order so if you are looking for a little treat to celebrate our return to training, head to our website and have a look!
Cheer Shoes
We would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that your cheerleader requires a team bow and white cheerleading shoes for competition. (If you are a rec athlete, these are not essential for you but cheer shoes are a great benefit to training and we have Rec bows available too).
Until now we weren't able to stunt so shoes weren't so important but in order to help our athletes get the best out of their training sessions now we can stunt again, we will be requiring all cheerleaders to have cheer shoes when they return to training. Outdoor shoes will no longer be allowed to be worn on the mats and if your child does not have shoes, they will not be able to participate in stunting. Further information about cheerleading shoes and options at different price points can be found further down this newsletter.
New Athletes
We are so excited to be recruiting new members! We have spaces in our recreational team for anyone aged 5+ who is interested in cheerleading.
Do you know someone who would love to cheer or dance? Invite them along to a free trial to give it a go. If they decide to sign up, we will give you a £5 voucher for our pro-shop! There is no limit to the number of friends you can refer, just make sure they say your name when signing up!
We have FREE Trials available in all our classes.
Competition Update
Competitions have been a source of great debate here at Hellcats HQ and we are so disappointed to say that our Chichester teams will be unable to compete this season.
We were hoping to attend ICE Blast in Crawley and unfortunately, this competition will not be going ahead this season.
We understand this is disappointing but we promise the wait will be worth it. We cannot wait to see Cheetahs, Pumas, Bobcats and Cougars finally take to the competition floor in 2022 and we are so excited to share this experience with you. You only get one first competition, it's going to be a great feeling.
However, we can confirm that our annual end-of-season showcase fundraiser will be taking place on Sunday 18th July. Please ensure you keep this date free as we would hate for any of our athletes to miss out. All athletes (including Rec, Street Dance and our After School Clubs will be performing at showcase) and we can't wait to see them finish the season in style!
Raffle Tickets
While our Travel Team sadly cannot travel this season, we have high hopes for them for 2021-2022. You may remember that before Christmas (wow, that feels like forever ago!) we were selling raffle tickets to raise money for Wildcats. We have put the raffle on hold until we can all be together again and we are looking forward to finally being able to draw it once we are back at training!
We still have tickets available and the proceeds will go directly into the club to help towards the expenses of competing abroad. If you would like to purchase tickets, please message Coach Rachel or Coach Laura or bring cash to the gym when we return. Tickets are £1 each or a strip of 5 for £4.
Try-Outs & Try-Out Prep Camps
The past two seasons haven't been anything close to normal and we are so excited to be heading back to more familiar territory for the 2021-2022 season.
We just know that 2021-2022 will be our best season yet and we are excited to be holding Team Placement Try-Outs towards the end of the Summer Holidays. Don't worry - everyone who wants to compete will still be able to and everybody who tries out will make a team.
As coaches, we believe that the best way for our athletes to be successful is for them to be competing in divisions that are appropriate for their age and skill level. This helps keep things fair at competitions and allows our athletes the best opportunities to progress safely and at their own pace.
This summer, we will be holding a series of Try-Out Prep camp days. These camps are designed for our athletes to maintain their strength and stamina ahead of the new season as well as an opportunity to work on new skills ahead of try-outs.
During these sessions, we will be looking at Stunts, Tumbles, Jumps, and Dance as well as general strength and conditioning. We will also be throwing some fun extra activities in there too! They are going to be a great opportunity to catch up on some of the skill progressions we have missed out on this season and also for new cheerleaders to get a feel for the sport ahead of try-outs. Do you have a friend who wants to try competitive cheer? Get them to come along with you!
These will be full-day camps and will be held on the following dates. Further details are currently TBC and we will let you know this information as soon as possible. You can attend any and/or all of these dates.
Camp 1: Monday 26th July
Camp 2: Monday 2nd August
Camp 3: Monday 9th August
Camp 4: Monday 16th August
Keep your eyes peeled on our social media platforms for more information and for the announcement that registration is open! We will have limited numbers of spaces for each camp and we expect them to fill up fast so don't miss out if you would like to attend!
If you would like to pre-register your interest in attending the Summer Camps and receive priority access to sign-ups, please send us an email at hellcatscheerleaders@gmail.com stating your athlete's name, age, and which dates you would be interested in attending.
Please note, this does not commit you to sign up for the camps or guarantee you a spot on them. Pre-registering your interest means we will send you an email with the link to register and secure your spot 24 hours before we open registration to everybody else!
Phew! That was a lot of information! We would just like to thank you all again for sticking by us through this crazy couple of seasons. We cannot wait to get back in the gym with our incredible athletes and get back to doing what we do best! Thank you for all your support, it means more to us than you will ever know! Here's to the next chapter...
See you at training!
Rachel, Laura & Annie x
KEY DATES:
15/16 April: Cheer Teams back in the gym for Choreography Camps 18th April: All classes resume for Under 18s. Training as normal, complying with Covid-19 Policy. 17th May: Classes resume for Over 18s. Training as normal, complying with Covid-19 Policy. 18th July: Chichester Showcase Fundraiser. 26th July: Try-Out Prep Summer Camp #1 2nd August: Try-Out Prep Summer Camp #2 9th August: Try-Out Prep Summer Camp #3 16th August: Try-Out Prep Summer Camp #4 August (Date TBC): SEASON 9 TRY-OUTS!