Gifford Middle School, Vero Beach, Florida Cheerleaders Win the National Middle School Championships. Why Did the Local Media Miss This?

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32 GIFFORD MIDDLE SCHOOL CHEERLEADERS WON THE NATIONAL MIDDLESCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP AT CHEERSPORT ATLANTA DURING THE FEBRUARY 13 AND 14, 2016 CHEERLEADING COMPETITION.

The event was held at the Georgia World Congress Center.

They also won last year.

Although these were their first two out-of-state cheerleading competitions, they haven’t lost an in-state Florida competition in five years.

According to Competition Head Coach Tina Barrett, at CHEERSPORT Atlanta, the Gifford Cheerleaders competed against “the most amazing teams from across the County.”

Then, we asked Tina, “why hasn’t the local media picked up on this? We’ve googled and googled and no one has written it up.”

Tina replied that: “They don’t seem to care about us too much.”

CHEERSPORT was founded by all star coaches who loved competitive cheerleading/dance and who believed they could conduct competitions that would be better for the kids, the coaches and the spectators. They utilized their experiences (and frustrations) at other competitions to design CHEERSPORT.

Creating LevelPlay to offer multiple divisions based on skill level, using spring floors at every event, giving every team a banner or trophy to recognize their efforts… many of these things, while widely practiced now, were innovations in their day. CHEERSPORT continues to be a leader and innovator in the cheer industry.

CHEERSPORT has grown substantially since its first Nationals in 1997. Its first National Championship consisted of a competition between 32 teams. Since 2010 its National Championship has included over 900 teams! This growth is due to the support of the coaches, teams and families who attend their events and they continue to work hard to offer family-friendly, quality competitions.

Coach Barrett said any cheerleading team in the country is allowed to go to CHEERSPORT if they feel they are up to it. She said its pricey. It costs the team $ 5,000 to participate plus each cheerleader has to pay their own travel expenses. In Atlanta there was an Omni Hotel adjacent to the World Congress Center.

The team raises the funds necessary and of course parents help out.

We have two YouTube videos for you. The first is the teams’s competition in 2015, below.

(Publisher’s Note: We tried to upload the YouTube video of the 2016 competition but it contained a virus.)

We took this other video on March 8, 2016 when the team was practicing for their team photographs at Vero Beach’s South Beach Park. Coach Barrett has her back to us.