Preparing for Louisville

The Mane 5 Coed team will be competing in Louisville on December 14-15.  There will be teams traveling from all over the country for the competition.  This will be the first main competiton of the season so the training is a little more intense and time consuming.  Updates will be posted on the teams trip and the outcome so stay tuned.

Athlete Injury

Mane 5 Coed had an athlete recently experience an ankle injury, so she will be unable to practice or perform until further notice.  The team will work around the injury and continue to perfect their skills.

Adding More Difficulty

To enhance the difficulty in the Mane 5 Coed routine, we have decided to make a section of the stunt sequence more challenging.  For the first competition, we had two bases lifting a top girl (the person being held in the air).  For the second competition we are working to have only one base hold the top girl in the air.  This stunt is extremely difficult because only one person has the weight of another individual above their head.  This stunt is usually only performed by males, but the team does not have enough males to have the whole squad perform this skill.  To add one female holding another female in the air is far more difficult to accomplish and Mane 5 is doing a great job so far at the attempt.  The goal is to perform the skill at their next competition on December 8th and hopefully have all five stunts ready for the sequence.

New Advanced Skill!

Ryan mastered his new skill of a punch front through to roundoff back handspring double full twist.  This is not only a level 5 skill but it is recognized as an advanced or "specialty pass" on the score sheet.  This will help add difficulty points to score sheet and help the team gain a higher end score.

Mane 5 Coed Brings Home 1st Place!

Mane 5 Coed recently competed against the level 5 coed team, Fire and Ice, on November 17th.  Along with Pittsburgh Pride, Fire and Ice is a highly competitive team and compete at The Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, FL every year.  Mane 5 Coed started the season off on a good note taking home the first place title.  This was a huge accomplishment for the team and Pittsburgh Pride could not be more thrilled with their success.

Expanding the Business!

As annouced at the showcase on November 3, the Pride Cheer Gym will be adding a second location in Cool Springs located in Bethel Park, PA.  The brand new complex will also have the Bianco School of Baseball connected to the building as well as many other facilities such as tennis courts, a golf driving range and mini golf, an outdoor hockey rink, a crossfit center, an upper level track, outdoor baseball fields, and even a restaurant.  We will be co-owning the complex and could not be more excited to share the news about the expansion!  The building is predicted to be done in about one year so please stay tuned with updates.

Showcase Success!

Thank you to all of those who attended the showcase this past Sunday.  All of the teams really appreciate all the support they were given and how many people were there.  Mane 5 Coed was thrilled to perform all their new skills and stunts they have mastered along with the other Pride teams.  We hope to see you all in 2 weeks for the first competition!

New Skill Video

Ava got her arabian through to a roundoff back handspring full twist!  This skill will help the Mane 5 Coed team place higher in the difficulty section for tumbling on their score sheet.  Way to go Ava!

Showcase!

The Pittsburgh Pride All Stars will be hosting an event on November 3, 2013.  All of the teams within the program will be performing their routines for friends, family, fans, etc.  All are welcome to come to the event to support Mane 5 Coed and all the other teams! I hope to see you all there.  Updates will be posted soon for further information about the event.

New Skills Mastered!

The Mane5 Coed team has been on a roll the past few weeks with having more athletes getting new tumbling skills.  We have had 4 new athletes master a roundoff back-handspring full twisting layout (inverted flip with a twist) in the past 3 weeks.  We also have had 2 athletes working specialty tumbling passes into a double full (flipping multiple times in a row while performing a double twisting flip at the end).  The team has been making great progress so hopefully they can continue to add even more difficulty in their routine before their season officially starts.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Ali Bianco and I am the gym owner and head coach at the Pittsburgh Pride All Stars.  I coach the Mane 5 Coed team at Pittsburgh Pride and look forward to the 2013-2014 season with some of the most talented athletes I have yet to work with.  I hope to keep all the viewers of my blog up to date with what is happening with the team on their journey to success!

                     *Ava Bianco (left), Ali Bianco (right) awarded a Bid to The 2012 Cheerleading Worlds*