The JAM Brands
 | |
| Founded | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Founders | Aaron Flaker and Emmitt Tyler |
| Headquarters | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Website |
www |
The JAM Brands, headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, provides products and services for the cheerleading and dance industry.[1] Competitions, camps, uniforms/apparel, conferences, and choreography are the services and products found at the company.
History
Aaron Flaker and Emmitt Tyler were part of a cheerleading team at the University of Louisville when they decided that they wanted to create a competition that was better, in their eyes, than the events that they had been competing in. In 1995, they held their first event at Kentucky Kingdom, which was host to about twenty-five teams.[2] In the following year, the event drew in 135 teams. Aaron and Emmitt held only that single event every year until 2000, when their company started adding more competitions.[2] In 2001, as the number of events were increasing, Flaker and Emmitt welcomed a third partner, Dan Kessler, who had cheered with the two of them at the University of Louisville. By the 2006-2007 season they held sixty five events in thirty states.
The events at that time were produced under JAMfest Events, their subsidiary, and were branded with the JAMfest name. JAM Brands now produces competitions all over the country, and more than 175,000 cheerleaders and dancers competed at these events in the 2009-2010 season. The company now has about eighty team members who have cheerleading, dance, and mascot experience. Offices are in Baltimore, Maryland, Dallas, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky[1]
Producing events
The JAM Brands season is from September to April, during which they host dance and cheerleading competitions.[3] The competitions cost somewhere between fifty and one hundred dollars per athlete, depending on the level of competition and how many teams will be in attendance. They own a warehouse that holds event equipment such as backdrops, banners, and special flooring that is needed in order to host an event. The company buys trophies and other prizes, including banners and ribbons, for competition winners, and they hire professional judges from across the country for each event.
Companies
JAM Brands is made up of companies that produce everything from competitions and camps to uniforms and apparel. The companies include JAMfest Cheer and Dance, COA Cheer and Dance, America's Best Championships, Coastal Corporation Cheer and Dance Events, Game Day School and Rec Championships, Great Lakes Championship Company (GLCC), LIVE!, JAMcamps, COA Camps, Spirit Innovations, Spirit Ready Sportswear, Studio Dance, JAMwear, JAM U, and United Cheer Expo.[1] JAMfest, COA, America's Best, Coastal Corporation, Game Day, GLCC, and LIVE! are all companies that host events.
JAMcamps and COA Camps are programs at camps that allow cheerleaders and dancers to learn new skills. Spirit Innovations is a company that creates cheerleading uniforms, and Studio Dance is a division of the company for dance uniforms and accessories. JAMwear is a merchandise provider that sells T-shirts, sports bras, pants, shorts, and novelty items for sports at JAMfest, LIVE!, America's Best, and other events.
The Worlds Events
Some JAM Brand events give teams qualifying bids to the Cheerleading Worlds and the Dance Worlds. If a team receives a bid from one of these events, then the team will represent the JAM Brands at the Cheerleading or the Dance Worlds. Teams must earn a bid in order to compete in the Cheerleading or the Dance Worlds.[1] There are two separate JAMfest Super Nationals events, one is for dance and the other for cheer. A list of the competitions hosted by JAM Brands can be found on their official website.
Judging
In 2009, JAM Brands created a unified scoring system which is used at all JAM Brand events.[1] The scoring grids and sheets are now identical across all JAM Brands.[1] The scoring and deduction sheets for cheerleading and dance can be found on their official website. The creating of this scoring system is the "c" in the "C.O.D.E of Ethics" formed by the company. The C.O.D.E stands for consistency, objectivity, dedication, and education. The education portion is fulfilled by certifying every judge through video training sessions and testing prior to putting them on any judging panel. They also update their judges week to week with industry news, or JAM Brand updates that will affect the scoring system, and the ethics mentioned are held up by a contract that each judge is bound by.