ACADEMY STAFF & TUTORS
Pioneers of sports performance and fitness for cheer
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Since 2008 our team of experts has dedicated every waking hour to the understanding and education of cheerleading as a sport, conditioning and fitness. With our panel of industry specialists, we bring you choreographed cheer conditioning workouts, team conditioning, workout plans, skill drills, sports physiology, nutrition, sports performance seminars and articles, visual guides, fun fitness ideas and sideline choreography.
Our online training membership is open to everyone: whether you are a cheerleader, a coach, parent, looking for a fun workout or if you want learn the basics of cheerleading. We have video, image and article content for all ages, levels and backgrounds.
We have come a long way since 2008, the year that Jessica Zoo had a big idea in a small dance studio. We started off by launching Cheerobics: a fun fitness workout with pompoms, capturing the imagination of thousands of participants worldwide, including some big names like Dr. Oz and countless TV shows and fitness magazines.
Fast-forward 10 years and the name "Cheerobics" no longer represented who we fully are as a cheerleading fitness community - we have become so much more than that. In 2017 we relaunched as the CheerConditioning.Academy - an online community and education centre dedicated to providing high-quality cheer conditioning videos, articles, support, sideline choreography, and tons of free workouts brought to you by our panel of experts.
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ACADEMY STAFF & CONTRIBUTORS:
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JESSICA ZOO CHRISTENSEN | ACADEMY DIRECTOR
USCCE accredited education specialist, author of
best-selling industry book: BODY BEFORE SKILL: Sports Performance for Cheerleading
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JUSTIN SCHNEIDER | CERTIFICATIONS TUTOR
USASF Coach, Movement Correction Specialist
JOANNA GAMPER | OUTREACH & COMPLIANCE
B.A. Hons Dance & Visual Art, Postgrad. Dance & Community
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HOLLY CAMMELL | BBS PROGRAM TUTOR
B.Sc. Hons Biokinetics, B.Sc Sports Science
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LARRY C, CHERRY M, AIZA G | MEMBER SUPPORT TEAM
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CURRICULUM CONTRIBUTORS:
COREY STONE | M.Sc. Biomechanics, U. of Kansas Cheer Coach
JEFF BENSON | USASF Judge, M.Sc. Psychology, B.Sc. Kinesiology
DEBBIE LOVE | USASF Strength & Conditioning Chair, Board Member
SAHIL MULLA | Certified Nutritionist, Cheer & Tumbling Coach
ELISE WILSON | Personal Trainer, USASF Coach, Movement Specialist
FOUNDER, ACADEMY DIRECTOR. Jessica has poured over 12 years of study and applied research of sports science & fitness into creating CheerConditioning.Academy. Having coached cheerleading and fitness in the UK & Europe for 14 years. Jessica specialises in body and skill optimisation, creating the BODY BEFORE SKILL Training Method, the curriculum, workouts and training programs for CheerConditioning.Academy
OUTREACH & COMPLIANCE A figurehead of the UK Cheerleading community, Joanna has been involved in cheerleading event producing, coaching, safety and safeguarding practices since 2005 after graduating in Dance and Community practice. Joanna is a consultant in safeguarding, and her role at CCA is to ensure best practice and compliance, as well as being the outreach point of contact on behalf of CCA.
Editor, Tumbling expert, Youth Sports & Movement Correction Specialist with the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). Justin has coached cheerleading for over 12 years from tinys all the way to Worlds athletes.
BBS PROGRAM TUTOR Holly is a B.Sc. Hons Biokinetics and B.Sc Sports Science graduate has been working with CCA since 2016, assisting with the development team with curriculum and content. After leading Member Support operations, Holly now focuses on training and development of the BODY BEFORE SKILL syllabus and resources.
SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY & SKILL DEVELOPMENT | Jeff, founder and CEO of Mind Body Cheer, holds a masters degree in counselling psychology and an undergraduate degree in Kinesiology. For almost 20 years, Jeff has been involved in cheerleading as an athlete, coach, choreographer, program director, judge and consultant.
Contributor and quality assurance for our BODY BEFORE SKILL Training Syllabus. Involved in cheerleading, dance, and gymnastics for over 40 years. Currently serves on the National Advisory Board for the USASF and am the Strength and Conditioning Chair for the USASF.
CCA's MISSION: CheerConditioning.Academy is committed to quality coaching education for the sport of cheerleading and beyond. Whether you are a recreational, sideline, school or all-star cheer team: our mission is to maximise your potential through quality education, cheer-specific sports performance and conditioning.
BBS's MISSION: The BODY BEFORE SKILL Training Method brings a holistic approach to fitness combining the love of movement and holistic sports sciences. Our courses, educational material and media productions focus on training using a holistic approach to movement optimisation, flexibility, physical ability, awareness, and skill.
Accreditation through USCCE
United States Centre for Coaching Excellence
We are proud to announce the world’s first officially accredited Continued Professional Development Courses for cheerleading education via online learning.
Through the United States Center for Coaching Excellence (USCCE), Cheer Conditioning Academy has successfully accredited its coaching education program under the USCCE’s National Committee for Accreditation of Coaching Education (NCACE) receiving Domain Specific Level 3 accreditation for Physical Conditioning and Teaching and Communication.
The NCACE accreditation reviewers noted that the program was “very comprehensive and thorough”, provided “quality on-line instruction for coaches”, and delivered “positive and proactive training”. Through this accreditation process, NCACE ensures that the program adheres to the characteristics of excellence as prescribed by SHAPE America’s National Standards for Sport Coaches.
THE BODY BEFORE SKILL PHILOSOPHY & METHOD
#BodyBeforeSkill is the philosophy and coaching method we have developed at CheerConditioning.Academy to ensure the body is ready as a solid foundation before skills are build upon it, to ensure the safety and prolonged success of cheerleaders. The aim of #BodyBeforeSkill aim is to set a strong foundation for building more resilient, trainable and high-achieving athletes through better body awareness. OUR OBJECTIVES:
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ENGAGING EDUCATION: Education is not only necessary for the welfare and successful of athletes: it’s an opportunity to broaden our minds.Our focus is on creating an engaging learning experience that helps athletes and coaches directly apply sports performance theory into practice.
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INTERNATIONAL INCLUSIVITY: Cheerleading is a sport that counts 4 million participants worldwide, with a majority of female athletes. Most cheer teams are in remote areas with little access to guidance, expertise and education. Our focus on an enriched e-learning community enables cheer coaches and teams from even the most remote areas, to access the same level of education as top-level teams from big “cheer cities”.
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PEAK PERFORMANCE: Sports performance and conditioning knowledge is not a current requirement of cheerleading coaching education. Our training materials help athletes and coaches achieve peak performance by applying concepts of sports science
FROM FITNESS TO SPORT: OUR STORY
2005 As captain of the RH Tomcats Cheerleaders at University of Royal Holloway, Jessica Zoo starts a weekly fitness class to improve the squads' muscular strength and endurance, and general fitness level.
2007 A year after graduating from university, Jessica founds a new cheer team in London (now Zoo Riot London Cheerleaders) and created a weekly fitness class for its members, under the name of Cheerobics.
2008 Jessica opens Richmond Dance school, and adds her Cheerobics class to the timetable to add a new & fun fitness class to the schedule and to make cheerleading accessible to everyone regardless of their age or skill level. Jessica quickly discovers that Cheerobics is becoming one of the most popular classes at the dance school!
2009 Jessica adds more Cheerobics fitness classes at Richmond Dance, and starts to develop the instructor training syllabus.
2010 With increasing demand and popularity, Jessica trademarks the name Cheerobics in the UK. Jessica creates the Cheerobics Instructor Training programme.
2011 Cheerobics receives a fantastic response and media exposure within its first few months of launch. We produce the Cheerobics DVD Home Experience, for September release.
2012 Cheerobics is all over the media being dubbed as 'the next big thing' - cream of the crop' - 'trend of the year'. Jessica is invited to present the programme at various national fitness events and on a number of TV shows.
2013 We expand our range of classes by offering cheerleading dance classes for adults and children. We introduced the CHEER PRO™ cheerleading choreography videos on demand and courses for dance teachers, new coaches and fitness instructors who want to learn more about cheerleading dance and sideline.
2014 We train a team of Master Trainers, who helped us spread more cheer fitness around the world! Our #CheerTipTuesday articles start going viral and we grow our online community of followers.
2015 We revolutionise our mission, focusing more on the cheerleading industry to help athletes reach their full potential and be less prone injury. INTENSITY™ Cheer Conditioning is born: to push athletes to the best of their abilities, develop their motor skills, power, speed and endurance.
2016 We recruit and train a team of INTENSITY™ Master Trainers stretching across 5 continents, based in LA, Austin, New Jersey, London, Cairo, Manila, Sydney and Santiago. With the release of Jessica Zoo's book: Body Before Skill: Sports Performance for Cheerleading, we launched the Cheerobics Coaches Academy to mentor and train coaches online.
2017 We look over at the past 10 years and realise that what we have accomplished goes far beyond pom-shaking and fitness. We make the big jump by rebranding to CheerConditioning.Academy as an online education centre and community: a one stop shop for everything related to cheer fitness, conditioning and sports performance.
2018 We go fully digital! After a 6 month transition, we wave bye-bye to our online store of products and DVDs to offer a truly digital online experience that has no limits of international borders!
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2019 We launch our brand new online e-learning centre and renovate our members' area for coaches, cheerleaders and enthusiasts.
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2020 We CCA received Accreditation from USCCE (United States Centre for Coaching Excellence) becoming the first worldwide accredited education provider for cheerleading, and one of only 30 sports coaching accredited educational programs in the United States.
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