Misty Hodges

Q&A with the co-owner of Louisville Cheer & Dance Co. (home of the GymTyme All-Stars) in Kentucky.

By Jennifer Renée Smith
photo credit Jamie Christian Photography

CBN Feb/Mar 2009

The cheerleaders she coaches—and even those she doesn’t—have such an awesome level of respect for her and even a small level of fear. She’s someone to look up to and she has many little girls dreaming of becoming just like her.” —Cindy Becton, GymTyme staff member

Gymnast-turned-cheerleader Melissa “Misty” Hodges makes up the second-half of the dream coaching team behind the 16-year-old GymTyme All-Stars and the über-successful University of Louisville spirit program. The other half, longtime U of L coach, James Speed, coached Hodges while she was a student and a cheerleader there herself. The pair teamed up to open their first facility in 1992 to better accommodate athletes within the two programs.

Together Hodges and Speed have created a legendary cheerleading hub in Kentucky, attracting some the best cheerleaders and coaches in the U.S. who are all eager to become a part of a family with a strong tradition of winning. Hodges personally coaches their Senior Black team, which competes in Large Senior Limited Coed Level 5, and their Large International Coed Large Level 5 team. These teams have earned five World titles in the past three years.

CBN caught up with the busy mom (her second daughter Carsyn was born in September) as she was putting the final touches on GymTyme’s new uniforms and simultaneously watching her 4-year-old daughter (and cheerleader-in-training), Caroline, bounce around at practice inside their brand new, facility which officially opened this past fall.

CBN: Let’s talk about the brand new gym you moved into in September. How long did it take to become a reality?

Misty Hodges: We’ve been leasing a couple of different facilities for a while now and decided to build our own gym from the ground up about a year ago, which we now own. The planning stage took about nine months, but then once everything was approved, it went up pretty quickly. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. We love the location. It’s in a whole different area of town, so we have a lot of new clientele.

CBN: What are some of your favorite features of the new space?

Hodges: Well, we have a whole wall of windows, so that when people drive by they can pretty much see the kids in here practicing. Because of this, we’ve been getting a lot of people coming in and wondering what kind of facility it is, and wanting to bring their kids in to start, so that’s been really good. We also have a large parents’ viewing area and room for a lot more equipment, including in-ground pits, tumble tracks and rod floors that we didn’t have before.

CBN: Can you tell us a little about your first brush with cheer and how it’s evolved into a full-time career?

Hodges: I started gymnastics when I was 3 or 4 years old and began cheering in the fourth grade when I made my elementary school’s team. I cheered for Louisville for five years and started coaching all-stars my first year there in 1992, which is the same year we started leasing space for Louisville Cheer & Dance Co. We needed a facility for the few all-star teams we had and for the U of L team to practice in. We wanted to be able to provide the right training equipment and have a place to hold classes for the little kids in the community.

CBN: Do you recall your first exposure to the all-star cheerleading competition scene?

Hodges: I sure do. Most of the members who were on our first senior-level team weren’t able to do all-stars year-round, because they also cheered for their high schools. So we put them together for the second half of the year and took them to UCA and NCA Nationals. They didn’t win their first year. It was kind of an eye-opening experience. We had great kids who could tumble really well, but we had a lot of work to do in terms of putting the routines together right.

CBN: Were there certain teams you looked to for ideas during your program’s infancy stages?

Hodges: There was a gym located about an hour away in Lexington called Cheers Incorporated, and we kind of watched them develop. They were really good in the younger divisions and we watched how they were getting better every year. We kind of shaped our youth program off theirs. A lot of all-star teams developed around the time we started. That’s when it started becoming big. All of the Texas teams were really good, too.

CBN: Flash forward to the 2008-09 season and now GymTyme is the program many coaches are modeling their own all-star teams after. Why do you think your teams are so successful year after year?

Hodges: I think we work really hard year-round, season-to-season. I don’t think success is something that comes and goes for us. I think it’s a tradition that we’ve built upon. We try to have consistency with our teams and how we train athletes. Pretty much, if a kid starts on our Tiny Tot team, they’re going to know what to expect year after year, so they can go from 3 years old all the way through college and know what our values are and that things are going to remain the same.

CBN: There’s been quite a bit of talk about lowering the tumbling requirements in order to retain the interest of older athletes. What’s your take on this?

Hodges: I think it’s a little bit easier to teach stunts, pyramids and Baskets, but tumbling takes a lot longer. Adjusting the tumbling requirements could help gyms out, especially smaller gyms. Tumbling isn’t something that you can usually walk in and learn quickly. It’s something that has to develop. Tumbling is where a lot of gyms struggle.

CBN: Will GymTyme have a Level 4.2 team this year?

Hodges: No, we pick our teams in April, so they’re pretty much set for this season. We’re still a regular Levels 1 to 6 gym. It could change for next year, but as of now we’re just dividing up teams using the regular divisons.

CBN: The competition season seems to get longer every year. How have you adapted to this extension in order to help curb athlete burnout in your program?

Hodges: We’re actually doing fewer competitions overall this year, more one-day competitions instead of two-days, and are preparing more for the bigger two-day Nationals. This is the first year that we didn’t have teams attend earlier competitions. We didn’t start competing until October, which is late for us.

CBN: GymTyme and U of L have a specific look and style to them. How much of an influence do you have in creating this image?

Hodges: Quite a bit. I spend a lot of time developing their overall look from their uniforms and teamwear to their bows, makeup, warm-ups and bags. We ask our kids about the things they’re looking for and what they like, and then we try to create it in the summertime to get it ready for the competition year. We changed all the makeup for our seniors, where we’re not using as much glitter and sparkles. It’s more about the smokey eyes. We also have brand new uniforms this year. It’s taken us a really long time to design those. We had one of the guys who works for us help design them and ordered them through Ozone. We also took a really long time picking out and creating our teamwear this year.

CBN: Coaching multiple teams within U of L and GymTyme takes a driven, organized and energetic person. Can you share some of your secrets of success with our readers?

Hodges: Use your time wisely. When you’re in the gym, your goal should be to get things done. Instead of wasting the kids’ time and having them come in for a long period of time, I try to only schedule them for short periods and get more done [in that time]. I have everything planned out before practice rather than trying to do it while they’re here.

The parents appreciate that, too. We did something different with our practice schedule this year. My senior teams have an optional skills day once a week and then they have routine days once during the week and once on Sunday. This really

allows the people who travel far to maximize their time. And if they can’t make that optional skills day, they only have to come two times a week.

CBN: Do your athletes typically have to commute far to get to your facility?

Hodges: Most of them have average commutes, but the furthest athlete is on one of our senior teams and lives four hours away. He comes as much as he can (at least once a week), and we’re really flexible with his schedule.

CBN: Over the years, GymTyme has racked up some impressive titles. Is there one in particular that holds the most meaning to you?

Hodges: I would say the first time our senior team won The Cheerleading Worlds three years ago. It was such an accomplishment after everything we’d been through with that team.

CBN: Is there a specific team your kids tend to drop everything at a competition to watch?

Hodges: The number one team our kids want to watch is Top Gun’s Large Coed. We all really admire their coach, Victor [Rosario], and they help give us something to work for and spark our own creativity.

CBN: Several of your former athletes are still in the business, either running their own gyms, doing choreography or coaching at your gym or in another state. Why do you think this is?

Hodges: I think that when they’re here at Louisville or GymTyme, we’re together so much that it becomes such an important part of their lives, and when they finish cheering, they’re not necessarily done with coaching or being involved with cheerleading. They become driven because they’ve been doing it for so long, it’s become a habit to want to help kids and be involved in the industry.

CBN: Do you still remain in close contact with them?

Hodges: They still call frequently asking for advice about what to do with their teams, what kind of uniforms to buy or how to coach a certain kid—whatever it may be. They’ll call me on my cell and ask, “Hey where are you taking your teams this year?”  “What are you teaching your teams this year?” “What divisions are you doing?” so they know before their own program’s tryout. I enjoy having some sort of communication with them.

CBN: Who do you turn to for comfort when you’re having a stressful day at the gym?

Hodges: My husband. We’ve been married for 12 years, and we dated all through college—he also went to the University of Louisville. He’s been there since I was a cheerleader and every year that I’ve coached. He’s seen the ups and downs, and even though he’s never had anything to do with cheerleading, he’s a fan now, helps out and is supportive with the kids.

CBN: How important is it to you that your athletes follow a disciplined conditioning regimen?

Hodges: Very important, because it helps prevent injuries. They’re very disciplined athletes. They’re here all the time, because they have to keep up with their skills or they know they’ll fall behind. We definitely make sure that their skills are up-to-date and that they’re physically ready to compete with them before they hit the mat. We always make sure that they master their skills before they are put into a routine.

CBN: What qualities do you most value in a staff member?

Hodges: Loyalty and respect for the kids. Our kids look up to our instructors so much, whether they’re current or former U of L cheerleaders, they watch every move that they make. So it’s really important to me that they’re role models.

CBN: What about in your cheerleaders?

Hodges: Dedication and the ability to honor their commitments. We need to know that they’re going to be there for their teammates and we can count on them.

CBN: What methods do you use to help improve your team’s performance from competition to competition?

Hodges: In addition to always reviewing the videos from each event, we look at the score sheets to see what we did well and what we need to work on. We also have staff meetings to discuss each team and figure out what’s going to make each one successful. We also do a lot of moving around. Our routines are never the same by the end of the year. We really try to work year-round at bettering the individual and the team, and by the end of the season, it’s a whole different look.

[bf: CBN: You’ve been working with James Speed for almost two decades. Why do you think the two of you make a good coaching team?]

[bf: Hodges:] I think we have different personalities. It works because we work well together, and the teams and our staff know whom to come to for certain things. Overall, we have the same vision and philosophy for our programs. Our approaches are just different.

CBN: What do you anticipate being some of the most popular trends in the all-star community this year?

Hodges: I think programs will continue to want to look different and stand out. That’s why a lot of people have started custom-designing their uniforms. The makeup will also be different than it used to be, and I think we’ll be seeing a lot more creativity and variety in routines.