Core Staff

Summer is here!

Time for cheerleaders across the country to round up their new cheer squads and head to camp. But before camps start for the summer, UCA wants to ensure its instructors are prepared. Each UCA instructor has to go through 60 hours of pre-camp training before they start teaching. They receive their pre-camp training at two different sessions, ‘pre-work week’ and ‘work week.’

To train the instructors UCA brings in the best of the best from across the country, for a weekend of preparation before they train the remaining 1500 UCA staff members. This group is known as the ‘Core Staff.’

The 2009 Core Staff arrived in Memphis, TN last weekend and got straight to work learning the responsibilities of training the rest of the UCA staff. Friday morning they met up to discuss the new summer material and programs that will be taught at camps across the country. Some of those programs include, Heroes Rally, 5 Star Coaches Program and Safety Stunt Progressions.

Once the fundamentals of summer camp were covered, they headed to the gym to perfect the summer material. This material is taught to 1500 staffers and the ultimate goal is to have every staffer look exactly the same while performing.

Bill Ahern, VP of Staff Development, over sees the training. He says, "It’s so important to train the core staff on all aspects of the UCA staff responsibilities and to also cover new parts of our program for the upcoming summer. They are the ones who will set that initial example to all our staff and we want to be sure the message follows UCA's philosophy and also is consistent throughout the 6 regional staff training weeks."

Despite all the hard work, during the Core Staff’s visit to Memphis, it wasn’t all work and no play. At night they got a chance to kick up their feet and relax. On Saturday night they were able to hang out at a UCA sponsored barbeque.

Don’t forget to check back with us in June to see how the staff training across the country went; also be on the lookout for new episodes of the Tim and Ashley Show!