For the past 35 years, Varsity Spirit has partnered with ESPN to broadcast their cheerleading competitions around the world. Webb forged the partnership and created the National Cheerleading Championships in Orlando, Florida, introducing a new style of cheerleading that emphasized athleticism and entertainment.
As of 2015, three of Varsity Spirit’s national championships were televised on ESPN Networks, including the National High School Cheerleading Championship, the National College Cheerleading and Dance Team Championship and the National Dance Team Championship. Varsity Spirit even has its own media platform, Varsity TV, that generates thousands of hours of original content annually.
Varsity Spirit camps train around 330,000 cheerleaders from colleges, high schools, middle school, and all-star programs at around 5,000 camp sessions in the United States each summer. The camps last around three to four days, running from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. The curriculum includes safety training, how to lead a crowd in many different game situations, new cheers, stunts, and routines.
Varsity Spirit puts on over 600 cheerleading competitions across the country. The company has partnered with Disney for around 25 years and has nearly 90,000 athletes at seven of the Varsity Spirit events at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
In 2011, Varsity Spirit started “Team Up for St. Jude,” a fundraising campaign to support the children’s research hospital. Each summer, Varsity Spirit asks every cheerleader or dancer attending a Varsity Spirit camp to send fundraising letters to friends and family around the country asking for St. Jude donations.
In the fall, the fundraising continues at Team Up for St. Jude Spirited by Varsity Game Day events. Cheerleaders and dancers invite their student bodies, teachers and communities to join in fundraising by hosting a spirit week. Cheerleaders and dancers have already raised millions for the organization this year.
Kylie Gray, a high school cheerleader at North Delta School, a private, nondenominational Christian school in Batesville, said she did not realize the importance of St. Jude before attending a Varsity Camp. “Camp really opened my eyes to the importance of fundraising for St. Jude,” she said. “Since then, in my school, we have organized different fundraising events to benefit St. Jude. It also opened my eyes to how blessed my friends and I are to have the ability to be able to compete in different sporting activities.”