By Kiara Doyal, The Seattle Medium
Areyonna Jackson, the Cheer Director at HEIR Sports Academy, continues to channel her passion for cheerleading and dedication to her young athletes into building a standout program.
With a background rich in leadership and coaching experience, Jackson’s journey to HEIR began after a five-year tenure as Head Cheer Coach at Todd Beamer High School. After stepping away from coaching to focus on family, Jackson seized the opportunity to help establish a cheer program for HEIR, feeling as though it was the perfect next step in her coaching career.
“I have always been involved in the community as a cheerleader myself and coaching at my alumni high school,” says Jackson. “But after my second child was born, I decided it was time to step away from that position because the high school realm needs a little bit more attention than most.”
After dedicating time to her children, as her son grew older, she noticed he became increasingly interested in Reggie Jones, the founder of HEIR Sports Academy and Super Bowl XLIV Champion, and his football program at HEIR. He was very persistent in letting Jackson know about his desire to play for them.
“Around the time when my son was about seven years old, he went to school with Reggie’s kids and kept saying how much he wanted to play for HEIR,” recalled Jackson. “I had never heard of HEIR before, but at the time Reggie was looking for a cheer director, and a bunch of people had referred me to him because they knew I had let go of my cheer position at Todd Beamer.”
“It was kind of a coincidence that my son wanted to play for his program and went to school with his kids, and we decided to start the cheer program together, and it has been fun ever since,” she added.
Danielle Wade, assistant coach and Jackson’s close friend, credits Jackson’s vision for shaping the program’s unique style as the key to the program’s development.
“Areyonna is awesome,” says Wade. “She brings our community a little bit different type of style of cheer than we are used to. In the league itself, she is different because she is getting these young athletes ready to go beyond just little league, sideline cheer for rec, to where they can go to high school and cheer and learn what that competition style is like.”
Jackson says that she found a sense of family in the sport of cheer and strives to make her program as diverse and impactful as possible for young athletes, even though she feels it has impacted her more than anything.
“In the state of Washington, in dominant competitive cheer teams, there are not a lot of people of color in the sport,” says Jackson. “So, one thing that I pride myself on is our team is diverse, and I feel like we went out there last year and competed multiple times as such a diverse team, and you don’t see that often.”
For Jackson, the diversity of the team extends beyond color lines, as she believes there is space in the sport for anyone who is interested in it.
“Last year we had a boy on our team, and this year we have two,” says Jackson. “Showing kids that cheer is not just a sport you do when your son plays football, but instead showing them that it is a real, powerful sport that can give young athletes so much confidence and fierceness is important to realize.”
Jackson does not stand alone, as she says the cheer program is not just about her but is a program filled with passionate and amazing coaches. The collaboration and camaraderie between Jackson and her fellow coaches, according to Jackson, is the backbone of the program.
“My passion has grown because I have such amazing coaches and team managers,” says Jackson. “They are the most amazing people who have helped me with this program, and I can’t take all the credit for it because I have them. I have been able to keep my passion and drive to want this program to be successful because it is not just all on me, it is a team effort.”
According to Wade, Jackson’s passion and commitment to the sport are impactful, and her efforts toward advancing the sport have truly made an impact on the world of cheer.
“She is really passionate about cheer for sure,” says Wade. “We talk cheer all the time, and sometimes I have to say let’s have a conversation that doesn’t involve cheer. She is very adamant about cheer and wanting it to be seen as a sport rather than just something for kids to do while their brother or sister plays football, and that is something that is really big for her.”
As a mother herself, Jackson loves that she is able to be a role model for young athletes and provide them with a platform to learn, grow, build their confidence, and fuel their passion to do things they may have wanted to do but didn’t fully believe they could.
“I like being a part of these kids’ lives and being a mentor to them,” says Jackson. “Whether that is like a mom figure, an older sister figure, I just love being there for them and being able to mentor them.”
Jackson agrees and says it’s amazing to watch the members of the team grow into leadership roles and have fun at the same time.
“She really does love the youth and is so focused on getting them ready for the next level,” says Wade. “We brought in a competition team last year for the kids that wanted to continue past the end of the football season, which allowed kids that have aged out of sidelines to continue on.”
“My older daughter did the competition team last year, and I thought that was a lot of fun to do, [so we could] show the kids what it is like beyond sideline, football, and little league cheer.”
Looking toward the future, Jackson says she plans to expand the program to provide even more opportunities for her kids to compete at a high level.
“These next few months, I would like to take our kids to the USA nationals in California as a big goal of the program,” says Jackson. “Long-term, I would love to see our program possibly turn into an all-star program, which is more competitive and more travel-based competitions.”