All Football Teams and Cheerleading Squads are formed and filled on first-come, first-serve basis.

General Info:
Participation in the Orange County Pop Warner (OCPW) cheerleading program provides girls an opportunity to perform in an organized, supervised, safety-oriented environment. The OCPW program emphasizes teamwork, sportsmanship, and builds confidence for all participants in a positive atmosphere. Pop Warner has no tryouts or cuts and there is a mandatory rule that everyone participates at each game. Pop Warner also has an age-weight matrix that ensures kids compete with other kids of similar ages and sizes, reducing risk and reality of injuries. All adults involved from volunteers to coaches must pass annual background checks.

Practices:
We practice at the field at Cane Creek Baptist Church Activities Center in Hillsborough, NC. August 1-21, we will practice Monday through Friday from 6-8pm to fullfill Pop Warner conditioning requirements. Starting August 22, we will practice from 5:45 to 7:45pm for the rest of the season. Practice days are Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays (Tiny-mites will only practice on Mondays and Thursdays with possible make-up on Tuesdays). Cheerleaders will receive a practice shirt and shorts in their spirit packs to wear to practice and are required to bring a water bottle and towel. For safety purposes, no jewelry and/or nail polish can be worn during practice or games.

Games:
The cheer squads are assigned to football teams and accompany them to ALL their home and away games, INCLUDING post-season playoffs or championships. The cheerleaders cheer during the games and also perform at half-time.

All regular-season games are scheduled to be played on Saturdays. The regular season starts on August 1, 2009 and runs through mid-November. Once we receive the schedule, we will post it to the website. The Tiny-mite and Mitey-mite divisions conclude their season with an inter-league bowl game the weekend after the regular season ends.

Football teams in the Junior Peewee division and older are eligible to compete in post-season competition (that includes regional and national championships and/or invitational bowls which can run through Thanksgiving or into December). Cheerleaders must accompany their team to all games in uniform.

Uniforms:
Cheerleaders will be issued a uniform and set of pom poms (which will need to be returned at the end of season). Socks and hair bows (in addition to the t-shirt and shorts) are in the spirit pack. They will need to be dressed in uniform prior to every game. Please note that we do our best to accommodate each child's size but we must work with the inventory we have. Parents will be required to purchase white tennis shoes (more information available later).

Competitions:
There is a league cheerleading competition (Junior Peewee and above) during the season (date TBA) in which squads are required to participate in. Winning teams advance to Mid-South regional competition to vie for an opportunity to go to the national cheer competition at Disney World. The national cheer competition is held the first or second week of December in Orlando, FL.

Tiny-mite and Mitey-mite cheerleaders participate in the CFF Cheerleading Exhibition in during the season (date TBA). The exhibition provides an opportunity for the squads to perform routines in a competitive atmosphere.

Volunteer Information:
This program is run by volunteers and is available to your children because of parents' willingness to volunteer time. As many of you already know, the program will be as successful as we make it for our children. The association must count on the help from every family. As you can imagine, with an all-volunteer organization, parent participation is essential. We are require volunteers in the following areas to include but not limited to: coach, team parent, gate attendance, concessions & merchandise, field set up & maintenance, chain gang and fundraising & sponsorship.