by Radina Gigova
V d 1 W o rll he 201 d in g tth
l h o ld Sykes O r s o n s h ip tr o p h y Champ
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www.edmondoutlook.com
isit Twist and Shout Training Center in Edmond and you’ll likely find owner and coach Orson Sykes on his feet and speaking at the top of his lungs. H He’s nothing if not enthusiastic. He likes to coach eevery student individually, forming winners and ccheerleading champions. At the cheer gym, Sykes eexpects the same hard work from the team that he p puts into teaching. “I love what I do; I love teaching yyoung people,” Sykes says. “I love to help them find w who they are and help them reach their goals. That is tthe most rewarding thing.” Those goals were reached ffar beyond expectations this spring. In April, the Twist and Shout All-Star team eearned the gold medal in the Large Limited Coed D Division at the USASF World Championship in O Orlando, Florida. Earning the gold medal at an international event featuring 10,000 athletes from
380 teams representing 45 countries is akin to winning “the Super Bowl of cheerleading – it gets no bigger than this,” says Sykes. “It’s an honor itself to earn a medal, but now to win the whole thing? It was a surreal feeling. Last year, we won the bronze medal. In 2009 and 2008, we won the silver medal, but this is the first time to win the entire event.” With a winning team comes dedicated coaches, and Sykes was awarded Coach of the Year. “To win that title was humbling,” he said, “because it’s not something you can nominate yourself for. Other coaches and industry people nominate you.” Sykes didn’t start out in the cheer world. From 1989 to 1993, he was a gymnast at the University of Oklahoma. The cheer squad needed tumblers in order to compete at a higher level, and Sykes was among the few males asked to join. “Honestly, I saw a lot of cute girls and said, ‘OK.’ I didn’t think we’d
