What it Takes to be a VCA Coach

            As you may have noticed, there are a number of coaches that come from all over America to teach cheer and cheer dance here at VCA! When a new pool of coaches arrive have you ever wondered what these coaches have done to get here or what their background is? With each new instructor comes different qualities, but rest assured that all of the coaches hired to work here at VCA are the top coaches in America!

            All of the staff that is chosen to come to China to teach at VCA posses unique qualities that make them suitable to teach across the world! Our coaches may all have different cheer and cheer dance backgrounds, but one thing that remains the same in each coach is the goals and aspirations that they have for their athletes when they come to VCA. All VCA coaches are hand selected and from the moment each coach arrives they have the drive to teach, grow, and inspire all of the athletes that attend the gym, as well as the other coaches and staff members.

            Traveling across the world to teach cheer and cheer dance is something that all of our staff members take pride in, and everyday is a great day to be a coach! Majority, if not all of our coaching staff has been a cheerleader or dancer since the age of two or three years old. It was that love for their sport that allowed them to continue up until now! Coaches are trained to learn, teach, and correct athletes in order for them to be the best that they can possibly be, and our coaches know exactly what that is like because they have all been a part of a team at one point in their lives. All of our coaches have been athletes in the past and have all won multiple national championship titles and they come from the top cheer and cheer dance programs in all of America! How cool is it to know that your instructor has a national championship title?

            Although the titles and glory is an amazing aspect of our coaches careers, coaches here at VCA have way more than just talent! Talent is part of the reason why certain coaches are selected, but an even bigger reason why coaches are selected is because before they even come to China they show that they are dedicated in their sport, work hard day in and day out to do their best, and the coaches are constantly showing a passion for what they love to do.

            All of the coaches that get the opportunity to come to China are young men and women who are driven, enthusiastic, open minded, and educators in their field. Our coaches are excited to try new things, experience a new culture, and most importantly our coaches want to give the athletes the best experience possible while they are working hard at the gym! They all also posses great leadership qualities that allow our athletes to leave their class with a sense of pride and accomplishment.

            The selection process for VCA staff is very detail oriented and the managers only select the best staff that there is to come to China to teach and educate their students. In America a potential staff member attends a try out and from there they usually make the cut to teach summer camps from June till August. International staff is a very different process that is held to a very high standard and managers only select staff who exceed and excel in cheer or cheer dance. The process to be selected to teach internationally is a much higher honor and only about 5% of American staff are even considered to travel internationally to teach. All of our staff who comes out to VCA to teach are in the top 5% of the hardest working, most dedicated staff that there is in all of Varsity.

            Our coaching staff is very open minded and able to adapt to any situation. When the new staff arrives and the current staff leaves there is a small transition period for everyone. Although the athletes and parents will be seeing new faces in the gym, the new staff is able to jump right in and pick up where the old staff left off allowing classes to run very smoothly.

            All of our coaches love trying new things with the athletes in order to get them excited and energized about what they are doing! Having new staff arrive in China is a great chance for the athletes to keep working on their skills but in a different way! Not all coaches are the same, and they may go about teaching a skill differently than the previous coach. That is truly one of the greatest things about taking classes at VCA because our athletes are constantly changing up their learning styles, and they are being exposed to different methods of learning skills! So instead of our athletes getting into the same routine class after class, the new staff will re light our athletes energy and they will find new ways to execute the skills that they already know while advancing them to more difficult skills in the future.

            Rest assured that VCA has top notch coaches from all over the United States of America who are willing and eager to get into the gym and teach our athletes new and exciting skills in both cheer and cheer dance! Expanding to China and sharing our love for cheer and cheer dance are things that all of our coaches cherish and take pride in. Talent is one factor of being a coach at VCA, but more importantly sharing our knowledge and teaching our athletes different aspects of their sport is our main priority. We love to educate athletes, expose them to new skills and teaching styles while at the same time allowing them the opportunity to express themselves through dance or tumbling for a few hours each week!

 Author

Taylor Amerson was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada.  She graduated from The University Of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) in May of 2015 with a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Communications.  While attending UNLV, Taylor was on the dance team known as the Rebel Girls for four years.  In 2013 she was ranked a National Champion in the UDA Hip Hop Division 1A category and ranked third place in the UDA Pom Division IA category.  From then on, UNLV has been one of the top 3 schools in both Division IA Hip Hop and Pom.  Along with dancing on a college team, Taylor also became an instructor for UDA in 2013.  Over the past three summers she has taught many camps at the high school and collegiate level teaching different styles such as Pom, Jazz, and Hip Hop.  She just returned home from Chile where she was teaching in Santiago and Antofagasta.