Staff Training

There are 6 official training sessions for the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) staff at the beginning of every summer! Instructors from across the country are gathering at their region’s Summer Training to learn the fundamentals of being a UCA instructor. The training sessions are held in various locations across the country: Alabama, Texas, Wisconsin, South Carolina, California and Pennsylvania.

More than 1500 instructors make up the UCA summer camp staff. The staff is selected based on skills, personality and their ability to teach.

At their Summer Training, they perfect cheers, dances and sidelines, they learn the most efficient way to private coach, and master the UCA stunt technique and progressions.

At the Summer Training, one of UCA’s goals is to make sure the staff members are camp ready, especially their material.  Staff need to be in synch with each other, making sure their arms are in the correct positions and that their motions sharp.

“It’s important for us to get the cheers down perfectly, so when we go out and teach the campers, we can concentrate on their words, motions, and crowdleading. We also want to teach the campers the primary goal of the cheer is to draw attention to the cadence of the cheer or chant, and give the crowd a decisive ‘beat’ on which to yell in unison,” says UCA instructor, Katie Prechter.

Stunts are also a fun and athletic part of cheerleading. Staff works perfect their stunt technique and knowledge of progressions. Most importantly, they learn HOW to teach proper stunt technique and progression to campers. 

The teaching staff at Summer Training, known as the "Core Staff," provide leadership and training to instructors. One major focus throughout their week together is learning how to private coach cheers, sidelines and the Xtreme Routine. Private coaching represents the building blocks of UCA. At some Summer Training sessions, staff has the opportunity to develop their private coaching confidence with local teams.

Jeff Webb, the CEO and founder of UCA, attends Summer Training to teach the instructors the history  and philosophies of UCA and the impact they can have on campers’ lives.

Tennessee State Director Kristin Funston says, “Jeff’s presence always has a huge impact on our staff. Having Jeff at our Midsouth Summer Training is great because he interacts with and helps train the staff. They really learn what the company is all about and what it stands for.”

To get more information about the camps these instructors will be teaching this summer, click here.