Dear Friends and Community Members,
Today, more than ever, we are relentlessly committed to our mission of building strong children and protecting, guiding, and empowering them in a safe and positive environment. As independent business owners who lead and manage our own programs and gyms, we never forget for a moment that we are entrusted by parents with the welfare of the most cherished people in their lives—their amazing kids.
We have and will always take that responsibility seriously, and that will never change.
In recent days we have been dismayed to read reports emerging from Greenville, South Carolina, involving a suicide, as well as heinous allegations of harm to children in that cheerleading program.
While the facts have yet to fully emerge, we all condemn—in the strongest possible terms—any behavior of any kind that exploits, endangers, or harms children. Such actions run completely counter to our mission of nurturing strong and healthy kids.
As a group of like-minded program owners previously brought together under the Rockstar name, we are standing together collectively to express our unwavering support for our kids and their parents, and to reiterate our commitment to ensuring a safe and positive cheerleading community.
To be clear, all of our gyms have always operated our individual businesses with full independence and with zero management, franchise relationship, or direction from any other gym or program, beyond sharing the Rockstar brand and name, which we each previously paid a licensing fee to use.
As for the brand and name, they will both be changing, effective immediately. While our tie to Rockstar was always in name only, we are making this switch to clearly and totally disassociate our kids, their parents, and our instructors and staff from any association with behaviors that have absolutely nothing to do with who we are, or how we run our programs.
What we ultimately call ourselves remains to be seen; the signatories to this statement will each need to determine the best course of action for their unique circumstances. What we do know today is that moving forward, whatever we ultimately call ourselves is far less important than how we continue to conduct ourselves.
Introducing new branding will take time, and there are many moving pieces we will be forced to address in a condensed timeframe, from uniform orders to legal documents and other paperwork to website updates, and many other details.
We want to thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as we do what is best to exemplify the values we hold dear. Who we are, what we do, and who we do it for—your kids—is far more important than whatever we decide to call ourselves.
Thank you for the trust you have placed in us through the years, and rest assured that we will never compromise when it comes to providing the protection, care and instruction that has earned us your loyalty.
Together, united by our unwavering commitment to our kids, we are optimistic that our community will continue to take care of one another and ultimately emerge stronger than ever before.
Respectfully,
Kimberly Shafer Michelle Ford & Austin Cross
Cheredia Blacketer Emily Baddour
Cory Wooten Aimee Nicewarner
Jayme Wither Shannon & Frank Furfari
Carolyn & Glenn Garrison Carla Wingfield, Chaz Gaston & Marco High
