Blue Wahoos Stadium Provides Marvelous Vista For Cheerleading Championship

About five years ago, Vaughn Sterling pivoted from his business career in Kansas to enter the nomadic world of producing national cheerleading competitions.

His daughter was a cheerleader. That’s how it started. Sterling sensed he could find a niche in a crowded field of cheer promotion companies.

“I’m sort of an outside the box thinker,” he said, laughing.

That approach brought him to Pensacola where the Global Cheer Worlds were staged April 17-19 for the first time inside a ballpark at Blue Wahoos Stadium. The event attracted 64 teams, nearly 700 cheer athletes ranging from 5-to-18, giving the bayfront stadium another breakthrough event that wowed the attendees.

The teams ranged from one in California to another in Maryland. From a team in Illinois to teams on the Florida Gulf Coast. It featured a first time “Friday Night Lights” experience at the stadium, a fashion show and a 30-minute, post-competition dance experience with all the cheer squads on stage. Twelve division winners were crowned as “world champions” receiving jackets and rings and clever designed trophy that was in shape of a massive championship ring with artificial diamonds.

“We’re a little different than other event producers,” Sterling said. “We give a lot more awards. We try to be a lot more personable. We just try and do more. We started from nothing and have grown this every year.”

A year ago, the Global Cheer Worlds were held at The Hangout, part of the massive Broadway at the Boardwalk complex in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Sterling said 108 teams participated. But he wanted to further grow the event and gain more room.

He began exploring other options. He remembered in 2021 when he first looked at Blue Wahoos Stadium. That was back when the ballpark had a grass playing field. Logistically, it would have been a major challenge to set up a stage, concert sound equipment and have needs for three or four days on a grass field in the middle of a baseball season.

This time, however, he learned from Blue Wahoos events manager Shannon Hannah the field now was a synthetic playing surface with durability to weather. The two began exchanging a plan for the Blue Wahoos to host this year’s event.

“I was looking a venue outside of Jacksonville, another possibility of one in Tampa, but those weren’t going to work, so one night I was thinking, hey, Pensacola! I love Pensacola,” Sterling said. “I’ve come down that way every year.”

Blue Wahoos Stadium presented a unique setting with the waterfront as the backdrop, the Gulf in the distance, the easy access parking areas in front of the stadium. Plus, having the event at the ballpark meant having fans roam in a seating bowl, plus the wide open spaces of the concourse.

The three-day event was faced with two weather delays. The first on Saturday morning pushed back competition four hours, so the competition that day finished again under the lights. T

The second rain delay occurred during Sunday’s championship round, causing a scramble to get the equipment covered. But after the rain passed, the skies parted and the event finished under a clear blue sky.

It even included a flyover from the Blue Angels, who return each Sunday to their home base at Naval Air Station-Pensacola before sunset when they have national shows.

“We spent all year advertising it (the three-day event) the right way and we got (the cheerleading community and teams) sold on it,” Sterling said. “We were able to give them everything we promised and so they have absolutely loved it;

“There were great comments posted on a cheerleading industry (website) page about how the communication has been great, the event has been great.

“The pictures we posted… I have gotten great feedback from other (cheerleading) gyms who weren’t here. Gyms here have been loving it. The rain was a pain, but everybody understands it’s an outdoor event… that is the chance you take.”

Sterling has received inquires from cheerleading teams in Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean seeking to come to Pensacola in the future. Sterling is hoping to return next year with up to 300 teams.

“I think we can really grow this event here,” Sterling said. “We lost a lot of teams from last year in Myrtle Beach, simply because we didn’t make the change until July and most of cheerleading teams and organizations begin booking next year events in May. So we would be ahead of that. I think the event here can really get to where I would like it to be.”