An all-star cheerleading gym that began in Collingwood has returned after a two-year, long-distance relationship with the town.
CheerCore has a new home on Raglan Street and its members are flipping over the new space — or rather in the new space.
The teams used to practice at the Collingwood Regional Airport, but lost their space there about one year ago. Since then the team has been practising at the other CheerCore gym in Barrie.
Samantha Thomas is co-owner of the gym and all-star cheerleading school. She helped form CheerCore 11 years ago in Collingwood, where she grew up. She began cheering at Jean Vanier Catholic High School and continued all-star cheerleading competitively while attending York University.
After losing the space at the airport, Thomas said she and CheerCore co-owner Sahil Mulla looked around for something else to rent in Collingwood, but supply was low and it was hard to find a space that suited their needs.
All-star cheerleaders require a ceiling with 18 feet of clearance at minimum in order to accommodate overhead tosses safely.
Eventually, Thomas met the owner of the building at 360 Raglan St. He had plans already drawn up for an addition to the back of the building, and the size suited CheerCore’s needs.
The new space has a ceiling with enough clearance and room for the spring floor, which is nearly as big as a standard competition floor.
“I’m excited to be back,” said Thomas. “And I’m a little bit scared. We lost our recreation and prep programs … we need the beginner programs to feed into the competitive program.”
The teams have been practising in the new Collingwood space for about two weeks.
Before work could begin at 360 Raglan for Thomas to get a practice space, the building’s owner required an exemption to reduce the setback on the property. Thomas went to council to petition for the exemption.
In her presentation she raised the issue of available industrial space in town, saying there was a shortage and pushing council to encourage such development.
“Having looked for spaces, the cost of commercial space in this town is astronomical,” she said, adding an industrial space often offers a lower-cost alternative for local business. “Not everyone needs storefront, we just need a space to operate out of.”
She said though she has her space now, she would support more efforts to grow the town’s industrial development.
Thomas said CheerCore has about 95 competitive athletes on six teams, four of which are based in Collingwood.
Thomas said she likes to make sure a team has at least 16 athletes and her biggest team is 24 athletes.
She has an open division team currently preparing for nationals in three weeks, and worlds at the end of April.
To celebrate the new space, CheerCore is hosting an open house featuring live skill demos, a meet-and-greet with the owners and athletes, games, prizes, and more on what cheerleading can teach your son or daughter.
“What’s unique about all-star cheerleading is it’s a team sport, but everybody on the team is genuinely important and fills a roll,” said Thomas. “If even one person is missing that’s a whole section that doesn’t go.”
The open house takes place March 28 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
You can RSVP to the event online here.
