Season: Competitive Season: Spring (March-June).
Email: cheerleading@somdmontgomery.org
Additional Email contacts for JOY Executive Committee at the bottom of this page.
Overview: SOMO’s JOY Cheerleading program is divided into 4 squads: Sparkles, Rising Stars, and YAP JOY, our cheer program for young athletes aged 3-7. JOY Cheer coaches assign cheerleaders to squads based on their skills and abilities.
Each season begins with a Mandatory Parent’s Meeting where JOY Coaches explain the requirements, schedule, and athlete expectations for the upcoming season.
| Coaches | – Head Coach |
| Season Dates & Times | Practices: Saturdays Starting March 16, 2024. No practice March 23rd and 30th, 2024, and May 25th, 2024. Time: 9:00am to 10:00 am until mid-April then 9:00am to 10:30am. Qualifiers: May 11, 2024, Urbanna High School, Ijamsville, MD State Games: Friday June 21, 2024 |
| Medical & Volunteer Expiration Date | Sport’s State Games competition date June 21, 2024 The expiration date on an athlete’s Medical form, or a Volunteer’s certification, must be after the above date to participate in the upcoming season. Check athlete status here. Check volunteer status here. |
Special Olympics Resources for Cheerleading:
- Special Olympics Competitive Cheer Rules
- ICU Special Ability Rules
- ICU Team Cheer Rules
- Score Sheet
- Skills Reference Sheet
- Reference Sheet
- Game Day Reference Sheet
Equipment: SOMO provides cheerleaders with Poms.
Uniform Requirements: SOMO will provide athletes with the cheer uniform. All uniforms must be returned after competition at Summer Games. All athletes will need white cheer shoes (tennis shoes) that are not worn outside and white no-show socks.
Practice Overview:
Location: Cheer Extreme DMV, 8340 Beechcraft Ave, Gaithersburg, MD.
Timing: Cheer practice occurs on Saturdays. The first Cheer practice is a Mandatory Tryouts where coaches assess athlete skills and abilities to determine squad placement. Be sure to show up – athletes that miss Tryouts are not eligible for placement on a competition team for SOMD’s Summer Games. After Tryouts, regular Cheer Practice occurs on Saturday mornings.
Activities: Practice starts with warmups…..then moves to working on routines.
SOMO Community Outreach / Sideline Cheer Program Special Events: SOMO’s Sideline Cheer program, Beyond JOY, offers our athletes opportunities to demonstrate their cheerleading skills in front of an audience. Sideline Cheer events also help to promote our Special Olympics programs here in Montgomery County. Beyond JOY is a separate team with practices starting in September.
Qualifiers: All cheerleaders must participate in at the mandatory Qualifier date TBD in order to be eligible to compete at Summer Games.
State Competition: Special Olympics Maryland Summer Games are held at Towson University in mid-June. The Cheer competition is a full-day event on a Friday which requires volunteers, cheerleaders, and their parent or chaperone to miss school or work. It is an excused absence for MCPS. Note: Our YAP JOY program does not have a State Competition.
Eligibility for State Competition: All athletes must commit to attend at least 80% of practices, and participate in the Mandatory Qualifier, in order to be eligible for State Competition. Tryout attendance at the season’s start counts as practice attendance for State Competition eligibility.
Participation in other SOMO Sports: Athletes participating in Cheer may also participate in Dance and the Friday evening conditioning program.
Athlete Participation Contract: Parents/Guardians and athletes will need to sign an agreement at the beginning of the season committing to JOY Cheer.
Communication: Email
The SOMO JOY Cheer team also has a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/somojoy
Housing Requirements for State Competition: None. Cheer’s state competition is a “day-of” event with no requirement for Housing. Cheer athletes are welcome to attend the Summer Games Block Party and Opening Ceremony on Friday night after the Cheer competition.
SOMO JOY’s Executive Committee:
| Head Coach | cheerleading@somdmontgomery.org | |
| JOY Team Manager | Khadra Ayorinde | JOYmanager@somdmontgomery.org |
| BEYOND JOY Manager | Khadra Ayorinde | beyondjoy@somdmontgomery.org |
| Communications | Sandra Toledo | JOYcommunications@somdmontgomery.org |
| Treasurer | JOYtreasurer@somdmontgomery.org | |
| Uniforms & Accessories | JOYuniforms@somdmontgomery.org | |
| Volunteer Registration & Athlete Medical Forms | JOYregistrar@somdmontgomery.org | |
| Social Media | JOYsocialmedia@somdmontgomery.org |