Cheerleaders find new home base

After a yearlong quest, the Schaumburg Athletic Association's cheerleaders have finally found the first practice facility that completely meets their needs.

After losing the use of a warehouse space where one parent had owned a business, the cheerleading program, which includes kindergartners through eighth-graders, nearly moved to Streamwood before finding a new home back in its native Schaumburg.

SAA Cheer will celebrate the opening of its 5,400-square-foot facility at 1076 National Parkway at 4 p.m. Sunday, when Mayor Al Larson will help cut the ribbon.

The search for affordable space took the program to Streamwood this spring. But its hopes of using an industrial park building in the village brought a negative recommendation from village staff and obvious reluctance from the village board.

Trustees expressed concern that an industrial park wasn't the right place for a recreational use for children, as well as for the unusual amount of traffic from parents dropping off and picking up their children.

SAA Cheer gave up on that option even before it came to a vote, program secretary Sheryl Callison said.

But this setback led the group to find a facility that was even better and closer to most families' homes, she said.

"This is the first one we're building out to our specifications," she said of the new facility.

For the past month, parents and contractors have been working around the clock to customize the facility. It will consist of two gyms, able to house both cheer squads simultaneously, as well as new bathrooms and storage facilities.

The size of most previous practice facilities had been less than desirable, requiring some of the girls to practice outside where weather, insects and other factors created problems.

Callison said the cheer program has been around for at least 20 years and has never had use of such a customized practice facility. Because the program operates only from July to November, the association hopes other athletic programs it runs will find a use for the facility the rest of the year.

SAA Cheer will host its annual Spirit Spectacular cheerleading competition Nov. 9 at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. The competition is the largest of its kind in Northern Illinois for its age level, and a major facility is needed just to accommodate the spectators alone, Callison said.