LETTER FROM JENNIFER ALKA

**Screaming out in my legendary, “WOOOO!! WOOOO!!!”**

Can you feel my excitement? This is actually happening! Dreams do come true! This has been my lifelong dream of having a national cheer competition for our deaf young athletes, and it is finally here!

Before I ramble on though, let me introduce myself. My name is Jennifer Alka and I am the Co-Director and founder of this event which is called The National Deaf Cheer Competition (NDCC).

Coming from a very small deaf school while growing up, cheerleading had been a huge part of my life. It gave me something to look forward to every day. In many senses, cheerleading truly saved my life. It gave me the confidence, sense of belonging, motivation, and drive to be a better person. My coach played a very pivotal role in my life and she became someone I truly admired and respected so much When I graduated from Rochester School for the Deaf, I told myself that I will “pay it forward” by becoming a coach and making a difference for other cheerleaders someday

Fast forward many years later and I was given an opportunity to coach at Indiana School for the Deaf I was there for 12 years and then spent the past two years with Texas School for the Deaf. I was blessed with many cheerleaders who have touched my heart. My favorite part of being a coach watching them evolve from meek, “squeaky” team members into confident leaders! Thank you, ISD and TSD, and all of my former cheerleaders, for creating who I am today. <3

I promised myself, once I step down as a coach (when my daughter graduated from high school) that I would establish a competition for all deaf schools. This competition would have a heavy focus on small deaf schools. As I always tell everyone, I'm truly married to cheerleading and cannot divorce from it! I cannot fathom sitting back and no longer being part of the cheer world. This is where NDCC came to fruition! As a coach, I always struggled to keep my squad motivated after having only one cheer competition every year As a sports team, they are often ignored or forgotten. With NDCC, I feel this will fuel their motivation throughout the cheer season by having an additional competition to look forward to Due to the COVID pandemic, so much was made possible by means of virtual technology which then created a pathway for us to try this new concept of having a virtual cheer competition

I was shocked to learn that Levi Mathis from Oklahoma had the same vision as me We were introduced to each other, and from there, NDCC came alive! We have 12 schools participating in this historic event for our first year! We are ecstatic with the schools that are able to join us! We are looking forward to expanding this competition in the future!

We want to thank Indiana School for the Deaf for making it possible for us to host virtually from their school Also, kudos to our amazing committee and co-chairs, Peter Leccese and Zamica Gage, the judges, Rydrea Walker for his savvy live streaming and tech support, ISD Print Shop for making our t-shirts, ISD Woodworking for creating our awards, our private donors, interpreters, and Kalena Bumbala for all of her hard work on Public Relations I want to thank my family, too I apologize in advance if I forgot someone here, but please know you all are greatly appreciated by your generosity!

Can I scream one more time?! WOOOOO!!!! WOOOOO!!!! Here's to our very first NDCC!

GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL!! SHINE BRIGHTLY!! Show off your beautiful pearly white teeth!! Cheer your hearts out!! Dance as if no one is watching!

BE CONFIDENT, but most of all…Have fun!!

RAH RAH Yours, Jennifer Alka