Cheerleading

General Info:
Participation in the Orange County Pop Warner (OCPW) cheerleading program provides girls an opportunity to perform in an organized, supervised, safety-oriented environment.  The OCPW program emphasizes teamwork, hard work, and sportsmanship while it builds confidence for all participants in a positive atmosphere. Pop Warner has no tryouts or cuts. All adults involved from volunteers to coaches must pass annual background checks.

Practices:
We practice at the field at Cane Creek Baptist Church Activities Center in Hillsborough, NC.   For the first 3 weeks in August, practices are Monday through Friday from 6-8pm to fullfill Pop Warner conditioning requirements.   Starting the week of August 25th (start date for traditional school year), we will practice from 5:45 to 7:45pm for the rest of the season.   Practice days are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays (Tiny-mites practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays with possible make-up on Mondays).  If practices are canceled due to weather, there may be a make-up on Wednesdays.  Cheerleaders must bring a water bottle and towel to practices.   For safety purposes and Pop Warner rules, no jewelry and/or nail polish can be worn during practice or games.

Games:
The cheer squads are assigned to football teams and accompany them to ALL their home and away games, INCLUDING post-season playoffs or championships (for Jr Peewee squads and older).   The cheerleaders cheer during the games and perform during half-time.

The regular season starts on August 1st and runs through November with post seasons running from November to mid-December.   All regular season games are scheduled to be played on Saturdays which usually start on the last Saturday of August.   Once OCPW receives the schedule, it will posted to the website.

Football teams in the Jr Peewee division and older are eligible to compete in post-season competition (that includes bowl games and/or regional and national championships which can run November to mid-December).   Cheerleaders are required to accompany their team to all games in uniform.

Uniforms:
Cheerleaders will be issued a uniform and set of pom poms (which will need to be returned at the end of season). They also receive spirit pack that includes a spirit pack shirt, shorts, hair ribbon, and socks which is kept by the cheerleader at the end of the season.   They will need to be dressed in uniform prior to every game.   Please note that we do our best to accommodate each child’s size but we must work with the inventory we have.  Parents will be required to purchase white tennis shoes (more information provided after the start of the season).

Competitions:
There is a league cheerleading competition (Junior Peewee and above) during the season in which squads are required to participate.   Winning teams advance to Mid-South regional competition to vie for an opportunity to go to the national Pop Warner cheer competition at Disney World in Orlando, FL.  The national cheer competition is usually held the first full week in December.

Tiny-mites and Mitey-mites cheerleaders participate in the CFF League’s Cheerleading Exhibition during the season.  The exhibition provides an opportunity for the squads to perform routines in a competitive atmosphere.

Volunteer Information:
This program is run by volunteers and is available to your children because of parents’ willingness to volunteer their time.   As many of you know, the program will be as successful as the parents make it for our children.   The association must count on the help from every family.   As you can imagine, with an all-volunteer organization, parent participation is essential.   We require volunteers in the following areas: coach, team parent, gate attendance, concessions, merchandise sales, field set up & maintenance, and fundraising.