Carolina Spirit Athletics Chooses Rebel Athletic

Shark Bites & Great Whites in North Carolina

Carolina Spirit Athletic in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, likes to think of themselves as "a small gym family with a large competitive style."

Owner Jennifer Wall's gym opened in 2004. Today, Carolina Spirit head coach and social media director Katie Munn is one of the true heartbeats of the business. She's a 16-year coaching veteran who grew up in All-Star cheerleading.

"We average around 100 kids each season in our All-Star program," explained Katie.

CSA's teams start with two-year-old kids (Shark Bites) and go all the way up to 18-year-olds (Great White Sharks).

"We pride ourselves on having consistently competitive teams in different divisions," said Katie, "We won D2 Summit in 2018, and this past season had two top-three finishes. We were headed for another good season (before the pandemic)."

As far as the gym's successful track record, she credits the coaching staff, who go "above and beyond" to find new and fun ways to help their athletes enjoy the hard work.

Two of the coaches grew up in the program, cheered, and then became coaches, and three have been with CSA since 2008. "We really have a lot of legacy investment in our staff," said Katie.

She sees the sport of cheerleading continuing its impressive trajectory, especially where overall creativity is concerned.

"The pandemic handed us a few setbacks, especially financially," said Katie.

But it's also resulted in some unexpected positives. While athletes have observed shelter in place guidelines, coaches have worked diligently behind the scenes, continuing training with Zoom activities, and online practices and conditioning.

"As a coaching staff, we thought we were creative with our practices during the season (before the pandemic). But when you go exclusively to 'virtual' practices, that level of creativity goes up to a whole new level!" she said.

Over time, Katie believes the "theatrical" elements of cheer performances, in addition to athleticism, will help drive the sport even further with teams all over America are pushing new boundaries, and inspiring others with their imagination, and outside-the-box thinking.

For Katie and the staff, Rebel plays an important role, especially due to their account manager Stormy Smith, whom she calls "amazing," and among the reasons CSA is such devoted fans.

"We have a Rebel practice wear set, and we just got new uniforms this season," she said.

As for Rebel's new virtual sizing app, Katie's a fan without having ever used it.

"We're waiting to see it when we can get back in the gym. But we're definitely fans. I haven't seen anyone else offer that service. It's so innovative!"

BY DAVE MUSCARI