Cheerleading center gets its own gym

SPIRIT SQUAD—Members of the Cal-Storm cheer squad are all smiles as they celebrate the opening of their new training facility, The Superstars Cheer Training Center, in Westlake Village. The center offers cheerleading and tumbling classes for athletes of all ages and skill levels. There will be plenty to cheer about when The Superstars Cheer Training Center has its grand opening next week.

Before the center opened its doors last December, the elementary, middle and high school cheerleaders who now call the center home trained in Chumash Park, their practices at the whim of the weather which did not always cooperate. Now, as they prepare for the Jamz All-Star National cheerleading competition in Las Vegas next month, the young athletes will train in style in their new permanent facility.

The cheer and tumbling gym represents a dream come true for coach Kim Andersen.

“I have always wanted a place where anyone could come to learn—no matter what their level,” said Andersen, a Westlake Village resident who has been coaching both school and competitive club cheer teams since 1986.

“This is a place where I can teach them cheerleading and life lessons as well, like ‘when you fall down, get up!’” she added.

The gym offers tumbling and cheerleading classes to all ages and all levels in addition to being home to the Little Rumblez and Black Thunder squads of CalStorm. Cheerleading and tumbling classes are offered from noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, with open gym times for competitive cheerleaders from 8 to 11 a.m. on Saturdays.

Andersen also teaches a class called “flight school” which specifically addresses the skills of the girl at the top in a stunt—the team daredevil who gets tossed in the air. Flight school is from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturdays and is open only to flyers on competitive or high school teams.

The gym is also available for birthday parties and Friday Night Fun, a weekly parents’ night out. “Each week we will teach a dance and watch a movie,” Andersen said. “We have sock hops, karaoke night, hip-hop night, a Britney Spears night, even an American Idol night!” Kids’ night is from 7 to 10 p.m.

Andersen, who began cheering in middle school herself and has run cheer camps since 1994 in Agoura Hills, Calabasas and Thousand Oaks, will run half-day summer camps, as well as camps during winter and spring breaks.

The studio’s grand opening, at 11 a.m. on Feb. 11 will feature performances by kung fu hall-offamer Gus Gates and National Partner Stunting champion Carl Phillips. In addition, the first three members of the “Back Handspring Wall of Fame”—Sadie Duff, 7, and Lexie Katzman, 11, both of Agoura Hills and Heather Clare, 12, of Thousand Oaks— will place their handprints on the gym wall for mastering a standing back handspring.

Superstars Cheer Training Center is located at 31125 Via Colinas, Suite 908, Westlake Village. Call (818) 879-9068 for a class schedule and other information.