Confident Cheerleading wins a SITA award!
I am taking the liberty to hoot and holler here as I announce with pride and delight that Confident Cheerleading won a SITA award this past weekend!!
SITA, a major cheerleading industry organization known as the Spirit Industry Trade Association, held its annual conference and awards dinner last Friday night. I had hoped to attend but had to change my plans at the last minute because my dear father is gravely ill. So instead of getting all dolled up in my gown (the dinner is a fancy affair – black tie, formal wear) I was sitting with my family at my father’s bedside in the hospital.
The SITA event is known as the cheer industry’s own academy awards. Companies and individuals in the industry are nominated by their peers and then a vote is taken and tallied and the winners are announced at the dinner. I was thrilled and honored to be nominated for “Best Service by an affiliate company.” I really didn’t think I would win but lo and behold – I did!
The honor is meaningful to me in so many ways. First – it suggests that the cheer industry is publicly embracing sport psychology as a viable part of cheerleading and secondly, it means that my hard work is paying off!
There are many people in the cheer world who have been especially encouraging and supportive of me. Here are several who immediately come to mind:
Gwen Holtsclaw of Cheer Ltd. saw my blog a while back and invited me to speak at her award winning coaches conference – CheerCon. As you will see, that changed everything for me!
When I was there I had the good fortune to meet Chris Korotky of Inside Cheerleading Magazine who asked me to write for his magazine. That resulted in my regular column called Mind Games for that magazine.
Also – it was at CheerCon that I met Heather Portnoy, publisher of Cheer Coach and Advisor Magazine who introduced me to Valerie Ninemire, editor of the magazine. Valerie immediately adopted me as a member of her CC & A family (along with Zach and Megan Ninemire) and also asked me to write for her wonderful magazine.
Debbie Bracewell, editor of Entirely Cheer, the online cheer magazine, also asked me to write for her periodical. And where did I first meet Debbie? You got it – CheerCon!! And – I also met the ever helpful Todd Kopp – the great inventor and owner of Core Athletics at CheerCon, too!
Later, I met the lovely and insightful Cindy Villarreal of Cheer Channel who offered several valuable tips and ideas for my business.
All of this is to say that I am eternally grateful to everyone who has expressed an interest in Confident Cheerleading. I feel I have a responsibility to continue to earn their respect and support.
So – to all of you – my readers, my supporters – thank you for your vote of confidence. I am truly grateful.
Tags: Cheer Coach and Advisor Magazine, cheer ltd, Cheerleading, Entirely Cheer Magazine, Inside Cheerleading Magazine