Second Flipz team earns bid
For the first time in its relatively short history, Imperial Valley Flipz is sending two teams to the D2 Summit at Walt Disney World next month.
The local cheer gym opened about 10 years ago and last month celebrated Supercells earning a bid to compete at the summit.
Last week, after a stellar performance at Encore Championships in San Diego, Rage, the gym’s Junior Level 3 team, was also awarded a bid and will be traveling to Florida with the Supercells on May 12.
“It’s just nice to see all their hard work pays off,” said Desi Dewbre, gym owner and coach. “They were all just so excited, jumping, screaming and yelling. It hasn’t been easy. The season started out rough, so to see them come this far and pull it together is awesome.”
While Flipz is a yearround program, the gym’s three teams have been attending competitions since December and working on their two-and-a-half routines for more than six months.
“They’re a tough group,” said Dewbre of Rage, which has 16 athletes between the ages of nine and 14. “They’re very close-knit and they all got on the same page and were ready to go. Something just clicked.”
Leading up to Encore, Dewbre said she saw a change in the team that carried onto the floor the day of the competition for a strong routine.
Between now and the summit, Rage has one final competition in Anaheim, where the members will continue to work on improving their stunts and skills.
“Even though they practice, there’s nothing like performing and getting out there again,” Dewbre said. “We’ve made a few changes to get ready for summit, just making things more difficult and adding little changes before we go.”
In addition to her athletes’ dedication, Dewbre expressed her thanks to the team’s coaches including Megan Griggs and Brandon Smith, as well as the many parents and supportive community members.
“The bids show all the hard work and dedication of the coaches, kids, parents and whole family,” Dewbre said. “It’s a lot of work and it’s paid off. It’s amazing because it’s just not teaching them to flip, it’s also about team work, dedication, determination and having what it takes to succeed. I think that is what is most important to me. Building character, learning to succeed and knowing what it is to fail … get back up and keep going.”