South Georgia Allstars: Small Gym Doing Big Things

South Georgia Allstars: Small Gym Doing Big Things

Established in 2014, the South Georgia All Stars — the “Royals of the South” — have been on a steady rise since day one.

Oct 10, 2018 by Leanza Pieroni
South Georgia Allstars: Small Gym Doing Big Things

In the United States, cheerleading has become one of the most popular amateur sports, especially in the last two decades. Competitive cheerleading is BIG, and in the South, it’s bigger than big: it’s a way of life. 

If you look at Georgia, for example, the amount of competitive cheerleading teams is immense. You can find a gym or program just about anywhere you look. 

Way down in the deep southern part of Georgia, about three hours south of Atlanta, resides a small gym that is rapidly taking the cheerleading industry by storm. In just its fourth full competitive season, if you haven’t heard of the South Georgia Allstars yet, you’ve been missing out. 


South Georgia Allstars (SGA) has established itself as a massive competitive threat in its short few years of being open. Established in 2014, the “Royals of the South” have been on a steady rise since day one. As a small gym with only 62 full-year athletes, they have already brought home a bundle of titles that would make anyone do a double take: 

  • Eight Cheersport Nationals titles
  • Eight UCA International Championship titles
  • One Varsity Triple Crown title
  • Seven paid D2 Summit bids
  • Two D2 Summit wins.

Anyone who knows anything about cheerleading knows that that’s some serious hardware! So… the little gym that could… where did they come from?  

Owner Ariel Harmon set out to create and foster an environment of growth for athletes that they could take with them well beyond the blue mat. Competitive excellence was an important goal, but there was more to it than that. 

Harmon notes, “We wanted to offer a safe place for the kids in our community to develop and train their skills. We also wanted a gym that created opportunities for our athletes to be involved with the world around them through cheer”. 


The staff is constantly striving to have an impact that goes well beyond the training of skills. They are attempting to instill life skills such as “confidence, accountability, land leadership” according to Ms. Harmon. 

“Life isn’t always perfect. Sometimes just having a place to go and escape a bad day is what our athletes need.” 

SGA has become a genuine home for athletes to find their support system through their teammates, as well as their coaches. 

As a small gym, they have, of course, faced the challenges that you would expect any small gym to have. A lack of resources and coaches is an issue they have dealt with and had to overcome since the beginning. Additionally, a smaller amount of athletes has meant that they have had to figure out a way to form teams that will be competitive while keeping the business strong. But through a challenge comes growth and beauty, as evidenced by the main benefit of being a smaller program: the close-knit family atmosphere. 

According to Harmon, one of the main benefits of having fewer athletes is the close relationships that are formed. 

“What I love about being a small gym is the bond that we have with our athletes, staff, and parents. We are a family and we go above and beyond for each other." 

It has been through this atmosphere that the program has been able to achieve so much success so quickly. 

Long-term, Harmon sees SGA keeping on the same path that has led them to so much success already. 

“The long-term mission of South Georgia Allstars is to be a continued staple of excellence in both our community and the cheerleading industry.”

Excellence through athletics, as well as through life skills is extremely important to the staff. 

“We want our athletes to aspire to use their training in post-secondary settings.”

Competitively, while they have been extremely successful and have found their way in the industry so far, Harmon did mention that they hope to eventually build to having a Worlds team. She noted, “We want our athletes to experience the full scale of the cheerleading industry.”  

Rather than diving head first into a division before they’re ready, they have taken their time to ensure a successful foundation to build upon for the future. As for this season, the program is shaking things up a bit and taking a new approach. 

For the first time, they are doing all of their choreography in-house and trusting the success of the routines to the staff built from within. While this may create a stylistic difference for the teams, you can definitely still expect to see the fame fabulous performance style that we have come to expect from the Royals of the South. 

Harmon made sure to note, “We look forward to executing zero deduction routines all season!” 

This step in the gym’s journey speaks volumes about the faith that Harmon has in her staff, and their ability to continue the tradition of excellence they have created for the last few seasons. They will have five competitive teams this season to watch: Baby Bling (Tiny Novice), Divinity (Youth 2), Vanity (Youth 3), Prodigy (Senior Coed 3) and Legacy (Senior Restricted 5). 

In the spirit of last month’s Small Gym September, with all eyes on the small gyms in the industry, we spoke with Ms. Harmon about her overall experience as a small gym. When questioned about what she would change for small gyms everywhere, she gave an inspired answer:

“There is nothing that I would change about small gyms. They are the backbone of the cheerleading industry. Every athlete in this industry must learn to crawl before they run, just as every gym must develop their identity and spend time fine-tuning their product."

SGA is about as fine-tuned as they come, and their continued journey will be one to keep a close eye on. For lovers of quality, entertaining cheerleading, this is a gym that you need to have on your “must watch” list whenever you see them on the schedule. 

As far as any advice for other small gyms out there, Harmon simply offered this:  “Do it your way. There is more than one route to get to a destination successfully.” Creating a unique identity has been important to the program all along, and it has paid off incredibly well so far. 

We love that SGA has done things their way, and can’t wait to see what’s next for this small gym doing BIG things! 


By Thomas Parrott