WILLIAMSBURG— For former Lafayette High School cheerleader Kendall Pickett, the love of cheer has never left.
“I’ve been cheering since I was 7 years old, and I’ve been coaching on and off now for 14 years, and I continue to enjoy this sport to this day,” Pickett said.
It was a trip to a brewery in Norfolk that made her want to start a fun clinic for kids to learn the basics of cheer.
“I live in Norfolk, and you can literally turn in a circle and point and you’ll find a brewery. Those places are always doing events for kids. I was at this place and saw how much fun the kids were having doing the activity while the parents were all kind of just sitting around. I just remember thinking that it would be such a cool idea to teach a cheer class at a brewery so that the parents could have something to do instead of just sitting around,” Pickett said.
On Aug. 16, Pickett will be at Frothy Moon Brewhouse from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. for a “Community, Cartwheels, and Coffee” pop-up cheer clinic.
During the clinic, Pickett will go over cheerleading motions, teach cheers and chants, and talk to the kids about the importance of being a good teammate. She will also have pompoms available for purchase.
Pickett, who now coaches for AIM USA, hopes to instill the fundamentals of being a good cheerleader during the clinic.
“Cheerleading helped my confidence a lot. I struggled a lot as a kid with getting bullied, and I think cheerleading, it’s a team sport, but you have to have a lot of confidence in yourself to be successful. It helped me grow so much as a person that I want the kids who come to the clinic to leave feeling that way too,” Pickett said.
The clinic is $15 and includes the class and a post-clinic coffee or soda. To register, visit aimusainc.com.