What's New in Cheerleading Uniforms

I Am an Athlete

Cheerleading is My Sport

 
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GK was listed #3 among the topp 50 Cheerleading Blogs by OnlineChristianColleges.org

As Stated in their listing:


Cheerleading has gone from an American pastime to a cutting edge sport that requires as much athleticism and competitive fierceness as football or basketball. Even in middle school, girls are trying their best to become cheerleaders for the age-old allure of wearing the uniform and being among the popular crowd.

Of course it isn’t all fun and games, as these blogs on cheerleading point out. For aspiring cheerleaders, health and mental preparation are crucial to becoming part of the squad.

Top Cheerleading Blogs

Need to learn the ropes of cheerleading before making the squad? Get in gear with these cheerleading blogs that can help you prep for practices and routines.

GK Elite is expanding its sales force for Cheer & Dance
Territory Account Managers!

Alicia Whatley, National Sales Manager, Cheer Division

With over 25 years experience in manufacturing we are committed to providing our customers with the ultimate in quality, service, design, selection, value, and integrity.

 We are looking for:

•   Individuals ready to represent GK Elite and to sell its Cheer & Dance products with enthusiasm, professionalism, and passion

•   Commitment to excellence in customer service and relationship building

•   Team players with industry experience and a strong sales background

•   Career minded individuals who want more than just a sales rep position

We offer:

•   Competitive commission structure and opportunity for growth

•   Full time customer service team and support department

•   Commitment to open communication and teamwork

•   Quality products with a reputation of excellence delivered ON TIME to your customers

E-mail your resume and letter of interest to:

Alicia Whatley, National Sales Manager – Cheer Division

resume@GKELITE.com

GK Elite Sportswear is expanding its cheerleading sales division and is proud to announce the addition of Alicia Whatley as National Sales Manager. Alicia comes to GK with over 12 years experience in the cheer and dance industry. She brings a vast knowledge of cheer and dance background including NCA staff, national adjudicator, and former NDA Director. A graduate from the University of Oklahoma, Alicia was a dance major and on the OU Pom squad. 

“We are extremely excited to have Alicia join our team,” said Carter Cheskey, Executive Vice President of Sales at GK Elite. “Alicia brings a wealth of industry experience and passion to our growing cheer division.”

Alicia seeks enthusiastic and passionate sales professionals to bring the GK message to cheerleaders and cheer teams across the United States. Interested sales professionals can email their resume and letter of interest to: resume@gkelite.com.

GK Elite Sportswear is the world’s leading supplier of gymnastics apparel and is recognized around the world for superior variety, quality, fit and service. Based in Reading, Pennsylvania, Elite Sportswear, L.P., the company behind the GK brand, continues its commitment to American-made quality and continuous innovation in design for Gymnastics, Cheerleading, and Dance apparel.

GK Elite Sportswear has designated October 10, 2010 (10-10-10) as Cheerleading is a Sport Day. In doing so, GK is recognizing the 400,000+ athletes involved in the sport of competitive cheerleading. To commemorate 10-10-10, GK is offering a new T-Shirt boldly proclaiming:

I Am an Athlete

Cheerleading is My Sport

“The long-running debate over whether or not competitive cheerleading is a sport has intensified this year, culminating with a judge’s ruling in July that it is not a sport under NCAA Title IX guidelines,” said Kelly McKeown, EVP of Corporate Relations for GK.  “We strongly believe that competitive cheerleading is a sport, especially given the athleticism and hours of training required of today’s cheer athletes.  We wanted to recognize all of their hard work and dedication and spread the message that they are athletes and cheerleading is their sport.”

Shirts are available online from GK for $9.95.

 
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GK-Elite Sportswear is the world’s leading supplier of gymnastics apparel and is recognized around the world for superior variety, quality, fit and service. Based in Reading, Pennsylvania, Elite Sportswear, L.P., the company behind the GK brand, continues its commitment to American-made quality and continuous innovation in designs for Gymnastics, Cheerleading, and Dance apparel.

Hagerstown Heat cheerleader wore her GK Uniform for her senior pictures...

They are finishing sizing this week for their order and will be getting matching Cheerleading warm ups!

Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Announce Newest Team Member is GK Elite Sportswear

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders announced today that GK Elite Sportswear, L.P. has been selected as the official provider of workout, rehearsal and appearance attire for the world famous squad!

They will wear GK’s tops, shorts, warm-ups and jump suits for practices and personal appearances, including final auditions and rehearsals for the hit Country Music Television series, “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.”

“Being a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader is active, demanding work that requires full range of motion and athleticism.  We wanted to partner with someone known for superior quality, great fitting, and stylish performance apparel.  GK Elite Sportswear was the perfect fit!” said Kelli Finglass, Director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

“We are so excited to be partnering with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders!  We have outfitted the world’s top gymnasts for nearly 30 years, including a number of Olympic teams and athletes.  We entered the cheerleading market less than two years ago, and it’s truly an honor to now be outfitting the world’s most famous cheerleading team,” said Kelly McKeown, Executive Vice President of Corporate Relations for GK Elite Sportswear, L.P.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders have grown from their 1972 beginnings into the most famous cheerleaders in the world.  While best known for their trademark high kicks and routines during Dallas Cowboys football games, the group has reached well beyond the sidelines.  Just a few examples of the diverse and worthwhile activities of America’s Sweethearts include nationally televised halftime shows, “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Making the Team” on Country Music Television (CMT), annual clinics, camps and competitions for kids, hundreds of personal appearances and performances all across the country, personal visits with patients and residents of children’s hospitals, veteran’s hospitals and nursing homes and more USO overseas trips in support of America’s Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Guardsmen than any other entertainers over the last quarter of a century!

GK-Elite Sportswear is the world’s leading supplier of gymnastics apparel and is recognized around the world for superior variety, quality, fit and service. Based in Reading, Pennsylvania, Elite Sportswear, L.P., the company behind the GK brand, continues its commitment to American-made quality and continuous innovation in designs for Gymnastics, Cheerleading, and Dance apparel.
 

The Story Behind the GK Cheerleading Uniform

How Revolution Began

Since entering the all-star cheerleading market a little over a year ago, we, at GK, are frequently asked, “How did you decide to get into cheerleading?”  While we’d love to say we had some special foresight, it was really a right place, right time situation. 

We had been supplying warm-ups to the Maryland Twisters Cheerleading for a few years prior.  The Twisters (who have a reputation for being innovative) were looking for something different to wear.  They were familiar with our position as the market leader in outfitting gymnasts worldwide and wanted something similar to what our Olympic athletes wore.  So we set about engineering a cheerleading uniform that would fit great, be comfortable to wear, and look amazing under the lights.  The result was the original F5 uniform.

We received such overwhelmingly positive feedback on this one uniform that we decided we better take a closer look at this all-star cheer industry.  What we found amazed us!

On the one hand, the progression of all-star cheerleading routines over the years was phenomenal, with stunting and tumbling skills being much more complex and requiring a lot more athleticism.  It was immediately apparent to us that cheerleading is a sport……and cheerleaders are real athletes!

On the other hand, when we started researching the cheerleading apparel side of things, were less than impressed with how little the cheerleading uniforms had kept up with the advancement of the sport.  They still resembled the sideline variety your mom wore when she was a varsity cheerleader for the football team.  They were predominantly made of heavy 100% double-knit polyester, were covered with restrictive, non-stretch binding, and even had zippers! 

So here’s what we did.  We took our 30 years of experience outfitting Olympic athletes and created the next generation cheer uniform:

·         We used four-way super-stretch fabrics developed exclusively for GK and our proprietary pattern technology to engineer a garment designed for maximum performance, fit and comfort.

·         We eliminated zippers, binding, buttons, or anything else that would restrict movement while practicing or competing.

·         Finally, we designed a cutting edge look that would set our teams apart from the others on the competition floor.  Our styling included an athletic cut, a wide range of performance fabrics in eye-catching colors, funky backs, crop tops and design lines, and lots of bling!

And that is how the revolution began.