A Message from Our General Manager John Newby

I hope this message finds you and your families safe and well. For those of you who I have not yet met, I am John Newby. I have been with Varsity for 37 years in many different roles, and today I am excited to share that I am back as the Varsity All Star General Manager for competitions and fashion. This is no small task, but as a husband of 33 years to my favorite Clemson cheerleader, Mary Rose, and as a father of 5 former competitive cheerleaders and dancers – I assure you, I am more than suited for the task. I am an intense listener, a truth teller and I love this industry and the people in it are like family to me.

Through the years I helped create some unique opportunities for our industry, like the Summit events and the Varsity Family Plan,  and I have served on the Board of Directors for the USASF for 10 years. I can humbly say that these last several months have been the toughest of my career. And, I know that is true for many of you, as well. This pandemic has greatly impacted us here at Varsity, but the older I get the more I realize that while we don’t get to control what happens to us, we do get to control how we respond.

While we don’t know exactly what the future holds, we are 100% focused on adapting to the ever-changing landscape. I know that many, if not most of you, built your business on training competitive cheer and dance teams, and that attending live events is vital to your overall success. Here’s what you need to know about that: Varsity All Star is committed to safely and responsibly hosting live events this season. I’m sure that comes as no surprise. Take a look at our myVarsity competition portal to see the full listing of events in we plan to offer, as well as those that have been cancelled to date. Safety will remain our top priority, and will not be compromised. You can expect for this list to evolve, but rest assured that our desire to bring you live events is strong – ALL STAR STRONG.

Since March, we have developed several virtual tools for our customers. From virtual consults and fittings to virtual events, we are ready to serve you. We recently introduced our Virtual Competition Series, and these events will be offered almost every weekend this fall. If your program is not yet ready to head to a live event, or if a live event that you planned to attend gets cancelled, or if you want to start your season virtually and transition to live events, we think this series is a perfect option for you. Perks include bids to our end of season events and score sheets from a full panel of Certified Judges. The best news on virtual events – we know 100% that we can run virtual events. There’s nothing holding us back. I hope you will plan to compete at a few of them. Learn more about the Virtual Competition series here.

Finally, I want you to know that we are listening, and we plan to keep in touch with you. You can expect to see biweekly updates regarding the status of our events. If you need some guidance or have questions, always know that your All Star Advisor is happy to help.

All the Best,

Newby