Uh, No wrote:

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No, we didn't find out who the "best" high school teams are in Nor Cal, and I don't think you will in Southern Cal either unless you have a competition like Worlds that really determines the top teams. What we got was a list of high schools others have seen perform who they like, and plugs for teams that have been coached by so and so. I imagine you guys in Southern CA will get the same kind of list, for what it's worth.

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If you follow any type of cheerleading (college, all star, high school, youth or pop warner) then its pretty easy to narrow down the schools that are in the top 5 or 10 in some partciular regions. Cheerleading teams go up and down so fast its hard to have anyone really be consistent.

So. Cal (In No particular order)
Esperenza
Santa Margarita
Ramona
Granite Hills
Mater Dei
Aliso Niguel
Trabuco Hills

Nor. Cal (no particular order)
Granite Bay
Folsom
Clayton Valley
Oakmont
Woodcreek
Tracy (powerhouse in novice)

There are some other programs that do well at a particular event, but I think these programs do well consistently and have solid coaching staffs.

Watch for Mission Viejo High School. It's the high school that puts out football players such as Matt Leinart (sp?) from the AZ Cardinals (formally USC), Brett Johnson with the Miami Dolphins and Buffalo Bills..... and there are many more....

This school's cheer program is now under the direction of OC All Stars and so far the the teams are doing CRAZY stuff!!! Keep your eyes open. Here they come!

PS This school allows the kids to cheer on HS and All Stars unlike the other local schools. So you could imagine what kind of kids they have this season!

I hear a lot about OC in these posts (mostly from OC themselves). They are entertaining, no doubt. I hope they can put together some older advanced teams this coming season, or maybe put together a junior team for Worlds? Their younger teams certainly have the talent.

I thought I had read that there will now be a Junior level at Worlds (sorry if I'm mistaken). In that case, if you have a level 5 Junior team, OC, you should have a shot at getting a bid, no?

How far is OC from San Marcos or where CA Bullets gym is?

I think they meant the same team. No, I don't know of anyone who personally would make that drive. The 5 is bumper to bumper at that time of day, and at 3.50 a gallon down here, you would be NUTS to do it. It's quite far. Let me think of a comparison for the Nor Cal people.... It's like going from San Jose to Sacramento everyday. Then put the 6 o'clock traffic in the mix. Traffic here starts at 3 or so. That's a bit far.

OC Mom

I have a question. I am from Southern CA too and I was wondering why you guys have so many cheer teams? Did the other gyms close down or something? What happened?

Well, it's kinda tough to answer that one without tell you what we see INSIDE the gym really. The coaches are GREAT GREAT GREAT and that helps A LOT. You don't hear yelling or belittling at all. And even though I know other gyms are the same as well, here it's pretty obvious that the coaches are especially kind to the kids. AND on top of that, you won't ever ever ever find one of our coaches yelling or complaining while we are out at a comp or whatever. I have seen other local coaches and directors doing just that and it was EMBARASSING for their gym and kids. I also have personal experience of other local gyms and their coaching. It's not pretty. Plus, OC encourages the older kids to assist coaching younger ones. It gives them a sense of pride, commitment and responsibility. With 320 kids in the gym, almost EVERYONE knows EVERYONE. They make it so that older kids practice later than the younger ones, but things overlap so everyone gets to see everyone at one point or another. Sometimes it's so nuts in here when everyone is together but it's also cute cause you will see the 4 year olds climbing all over the senior girls. And they want it that way.

The gym is the largest in the state (if I'm not mistaken) and the facilities are kept so clean and up to date. Just yesterday they installed a new office for the dance director and redid the entire store. Our money is ALWAYS being spent on upgrades. It's also run like a large corporation in the fact that they have different people running different aspects of it. For instance, the owner doesn't run the cheer or dance part of it. And even cheer and dance are run by different people. But we do have a board who governs it all and everything is checked and rechecked so that nothing is overlooked or run poorly. The owner is so incredibly nice and it's funny cause if you ask the kids who he is, they will tell you he's the vending machine man. They don't know he's the owner. He's the guy who gives you popsicles and snacks. It's so cute.

The staff is from all over the country. So you don't get just the CALIFORNIA way or the east/south way. It's really refreshing. Everyone does things differently but everyone is encouraged to bring their ideas to the table. We also have 3 people on just the photo staff. Our parents don't have to buy photos at competitions. They get BETTER ones for A QUARTER of the price. It's 60 bucks to have a photographer follow your kid around for the entire YEAR. Then it's 50 bucks for the CD of all of the photos. And I'm taling hundreds of photos. Stuff like that makes OC All Stars a bit different than the others.

Now I know that alot of this will sound like other gyms in one way or another. But for some reason, they have made it work and it's so obvious when you walk in the gym how nice it is. We had 9 girls come from another gym in the middle of the season last year. Two of the moms told me," We are in cheer heaven." One mom literally cried at our showcase cause she said she couldn't believe how happy her daughter was even though they had changed gyms in the middle of the season. This season we have so many girls that have come from other gyms locally and they say the same thing.

So I guess on the whole, it's working. It has to be cause even though tryouts are over, we still see a steady flow of new kids. Just last night we got a new boy. We might be hitting the 330 mark here but we haven't counted in a few weeks. It could be more. On top of all of that, we get support from all of you out there with the kind words and support at comeptitions. And for that we are forever grateful. The cheer world has treated us well. And we will continue to support all of you as well.

Well, OC was answering one of the questions, the one about why they have so many teams. Good luck to you guys this year! I'd also like to know what other gyms are in your area. Are there a lot? Closeby or spread out?