Athletes from the Brigham Young University Dance Team will compete in the US National Team Cheer Hip Hop Division

Bartlett, Tenn., February 15, 2019 – USA Cheer has announced the coaching staff and regional area that will represent the United States in the US National Team Cheer Hip Hop division at the 2019 International Cheer Union (ICU) World Cheerleading Championships, which takes place April 24 – 26, 2019 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World® Resorts.

Brigham Young University’s dance team, the Cougarettes, is coached by head coach Jodi Maxfield, along with Jamyn Miller and Shandon Perez. Maxfield has a forty-year history of coaching and teaching dance. She has been the head coach of the BYU Cougarettes since 1990, and her teams have won 16 NDA National titles in that time, four of them in the Hip Hop category. Maxfield was featured on the cover the Dance Teacher Magazine’s March 2013 issue. Many of the athletes represented on the US National Team are from Utah, Arizona and South Carolina.

“BYU is honored, thrilled and excited to be chosen to represent the US National Team in the Team Cheer Hip Hop Division this year. This is an incredible honor not only for our dancers and alumni, but for BYU and the community,” says Maxfield. “It’s also a huge responsibility to represent so many talented teams across the country as we compete for the USA.  We look forward to the memorable cultural exchanges that will inevitably take place through this opportunity.”

“What an honor it is to have BYU represent USA Cheer in the Team Cheer Hip Hop division at the ICU Championships in April,” says Stacy Shelton, USA Cheer Director of Dance. “BYU has such a rich tradition of excellence in competitive dance and I know they will be nothing short of incredible on this international platform. The Cougarettes bring style, strength, performance quality, and athleticism year in and year out. They are going to put on a show!”

Athlete Abbey Bench, Cougarette Team President, shares her excitement, “We are beyond excited and humbled for this incredible opportunity. It means so much to the BYU Cougarettes to be one of the few teams chosen to compete.  We are looking forward to sharing the stage with people from all around the world. Our team is ready to rise to the challenge and put our very best on the floor!”

“It is a tremendous honor to have been selected to represent the USA in the Team Cheer Hip Hop division at the ICU World Championships,” agrees coach Miller. “We are grateful for this opportunity and look forward to competing with teams from around the world.”

For more information about USA Cheer, visit www.usacheer.org, or contact Sheila Noone, media@usacheer.org.

About USA Cheer
The USA Federation for Sport Cheering is a not-for-profit organization and is the national governing body for all disciplines of cheerleading. USA Cheer exists to serve the entire cheer community, including club cheering (All Star), traditional school based cheer programs and the new sport of STUNT. USA Cheer has three primary objectives: help grow and develop interest and participation in Cheer throughout the United States; promote safety and safety education for cheer in the United States; and represent the United States of America in international cheer competitions.