Season: Competitive Season: Spring (March-June).
Email: poms@somdmontgomery.org
Additional Email contacts for JOY Executive Committee at the bottom of this page.
Overview: SOMO’s Poms Cheerleading program is a competitive cheer team. All athletes must be willing to fully commit to practicing with the team and attend qualifiers and State competition. The team will be divided into multiple squads depending on the number of athletes that sign up. Coaches will assign athletes to squads based on their skills and abilities.
Each season begins with a Mandatory Parent’s Meeting where Coaches explain the requirements, schedule, and athlete expectations for the upcoming season.
| Coaches | Savannah Showman – Head Coach Kim Showman – Assistant Coach |
| Season Dates & Times | Practices: Mondays Starting March 4th, 2024. No practice March 25th, April 1st and May 27th, 2024. Farquhar Middle School Dance Room, 17017 Batchellors Forest Road, Olney, MD. Time: 6:00pm to 7:00pm Qualifiers: May 11, 2024, Urbanna High School, Ijamsville, MD State Games: Friday June 23, 2023 |
| Medical & Volunteer Expiration Date | Sport’s State Games competition date June 23, 2023 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 Poms/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: Farquhar Middle School Dance Room, 17017 Batchellors Forest Road, Olney, MD.
Timing: Pom practice occurs on Monday evenings. The first Poms 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 poms Practice occurs on Monday evenings.
Activities: Practice starts with warmups…..then moves to working on routines.
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 Poms competition is a full-day event on a Friday which requires volunteers, athletes, and parent/chaperones to attend.
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 |