WORLD CHAMPIONS OF CHEER

from Edmond Outlook - June 2011

MAN FAVE'S

Orson Sykes holding the 2011 World Championship trophyOr o son Sykes holdin t gt g the he 2011W 1 W l orld d Championship trophy V isit Twist and Shout Training Center in Edmond and you’ll likely fi nd 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 every student individually, forming winners and cheerleading champions. At the cheer gym, Sykes expects the same hard work from the team that he puts into teaching. “I love what I do; I love teaching young people,” Sykes says. “I love to help them fi nd who they are and help them reach their goals. Th at is the most rewarding thing.” Th ose goals were reached far beyond expectations this spring.

In April, the Twist and Shout All-Star team earned the gold medal in the Large Limited Coed Division at the USASF World Championship in 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 e medal. In 2009 and 2008, we won the silver medal, c but this is the fi rst time to win the entire event.” With e a winning team comes dedicated coaches, and Sykes p was awarded Coach of the Year. “To win that title y was humbling,” he said, “because it’s not something w you can nominate yourself for. Other coaches and t industry people nominate you.” f Sykes didn’t start out in the cheer world. From 1989 to 1993, he was a gymnast at the University e of Oklahoma. Th e cheer squad needed tumblers in D order to compete at a higher level, and Sykes was O among the few males asked to join. “Honestly, I saw a lot of cute girls and said, ‘OK.’ I didn’t think we’d

by Radina Gigova

Twist & Shout Allstar Team World Championship at the USASF win; I just wanted to hang out with the girls. But lo and behold, we won.” In 1993, Sykes helped the

OU Cheer Team win the National Cheerleading

Association National Championships. “After that,

I fell in love with cheer, so I got a job in a local cheer gym,” he says. “I liked to teach kids how to tumble.” He made an impact on his students, and after fi ve years, a local businessman off ered to fi nancially back Sykes so he could open his own cheer gym. “I coached his daughter, and I guess he saw something in me,” Sykes says. Although he didn’t have a lot of cheer experience, Sykes studied ed videos of competitions and learned how to put ut together award-winning choreographies. He learned ed to become much more than just a coach to his team m … he became a mentor. “I want these kids to learn rn that whatever they decide to do or decide they want, nt, they’ve got to work hard and be committed to it,” Sykes says.

Tara Beall, of Edmond, a fi ve-year member of the team, said Sykes “knows what to say to get us to do what we need to do. I think the most important thing I’ve learned from him is that no matter how hard things get, you’ve got to keep trying. If you don’t give up, you will eventually succeed.”

Twist and Shout trains youths from age 4 and older in tumbling and cheerleading. Gyms are located in Edmond, Midwest City and Tulsa. For more information, visit www.shouterspirit.com.