WELCOME TO THE NEW BEGINNING

As I sit today, working on the website, I have done a lot of reflecting how this program came to be and why we are so adamant that our culture is a culture that we can be proud of, each and every day. I suppose, the best way to do this is to start "In the beginning."

In the beginning, there were two cheer moms that were unhappy their children's coaches were no longer going to be coaching their children. Three children of said cheer moms were also very unhappy. One evening, over drinks, the moms asked three coaches if they could set up a boutique program, ran out of someone else's space, just for their level 1 kids, would the coaches come and coach. Not a lot of overhead, not a lot of fuss, just a single team, kids learning and competing for a year or two,  until we found our kids another home. The coaches said they could do that so, Leise and I went to work.

Leise and I worked in the background, looking for space to use, scheduling Meet and Greets, coordinating designs, social media, trademarking the logo, and creating websites. Some other moms heard about the plan and we now had athletes that would require more than the one team we planned. This became a thing. An actual program that we now have to execute. Change of plans, get our own space, our own equipment, and every single aspect of an allstar cheerleading program that needed to be done, quickly. Schedule a Meet and Greet to explain our plan, our vision and our hope to the parents and athletes that have signed up, and we are almost ready. Did I mention we looked for space? Do you know how hard it is to find a building with 20 foot ceilings and spans that will hold a 54x42 foot spring floor without interruption? VERY. But, we looked at space on March 29, and an offer was made on the lease the next week.

The funny thing is, I say Leise and I went to work but really, so did our husbands. In April, while the world was on Spring Break, I found a set of mats for sale. I sent Sav a text and said "Hey, Derek is going to South Carolina to get those mats." About 5-10 minutes later, I received a response that brought goosebumps to my arms. "Those are the mats we won Worlds on." I knew we had to have them. Off Derek went to South Carolina, the first of several gym equipment trips. Brian, Leise's husband gave his full support to the gym and used his community contacts to try to secure a permanent space.

Those three coaches, what were they doing while we were working? They were working at their previous program, preparing kids for end of season events, and maintaining their commitment to the USASF Code of Conduct of no recruiting. Truly, none of us recruited. People heard about the program from a mom that overheard a discussion. When we were asked, we didn't give details, we didn't give the name of the gym and we didn't recruit. But somehow, this boutique gym was now supposed to be a full fledged program based upon the number of registrations that were received through the middle of April.

Mats secured, no response on the lease offer so we did more building searches. After telephone calls, site visits and another offer made on a building, off we go to The Summit. While sitting beside the pool, Leise received a counter on the original lease. Another floor plan, another counter, and we figured we better get a spring floor. We see a spring floor go on sale, money wired, and the floor is ready: in South Dakota.  After the return home from The Summit, my husband hits the road again. Floors secured, mats secured, tryout location secured, Meet and Mingle larger venue secured, catering secured, holy moly, we somehow secured almost everything in 6 weeks. Except the building.

The big announcement is made and Genesis Athletix is official.  Within hours, we have had over 10,000 hits on our website, our text messages and personal social media is blowing up with well wishers, and we can wholeheartedly say that this is A THING! And enrollments. When the announcement was made, enrollments doubled. At the Meet and Mingle, we greeted more people than we expected. We had food catered for 150 and there were no leftovers. We laughed, talked, hugged, and ate with these wonderful people that wanted to come to Genesis.

So, the beginning is pretty easy. Some unhappy moms and unhappy kids found a way to convince some amazing coaches to trust them and their idea of a boutique gym that has turned into a program that has over half a million social media views since May, a couple of imposter instagram accounts, a brand new building, five allstar teams and 65 allstar athletes in five months. FIVE MONTHS!!

The beginning is pretty exciting and the first season: there will never be another like it. Our culture is one of positivity, pursuit of excellence and welcoming all athletes and families. Our families and athletes believe in this program and hold each other accountable to the culture. So to all of the moms, dads, grandparents, aunts, uncles, athletes and coaches that have trusted the five of us, and helped us create this amazing program: Welcome to the New Beginning. We Are GENESIS!