History Class is now in session. The History of the PCG.

In 1998 the Galleria Mall promotions department sponsored the Western Mustang Cheerleading team in it's Daytona campaign. A year later the Mall wasn't "doing so well" but had hired a new and creative manager, who had the idea of "bringing more people into the facility", by giving away empty space to deserving community groups. Enter the Mustangs.

By March of 2000, we were pretty comfy in the Galleria when the bad news hit...They had found a tenant for "our" space. Since we were there for free...we were the first to get the boot. The spring, summer and early Fall of 2000 was an endless tour of warehouses, studios, industrial spaces and hundreds of sketches of floor plans and visits with realtors. Everytime we thought we were close, something would mess up.

Power Cheer Gym 2 (or more accurately, our first "stand alone" facility) was a former repair bay for London Transit. At the corner of King and Hewitt, it was virtually on the Dundas bus route (easy access), it was inexpensive and had lots of parking but as usual, the ceiling was only 18' high and at best, only 6 mat strips could fit in it. The King Street location was small, but it was affordable (cheap) and despite all its shortcomings, it was home. Having a set practice facility meant we could expand into other projects like "X" or have resident teams (Oakridge, Vikings and the summer Vipers).

In April of 2002, Trace put a call into the real estate guy, who now fully understood the concept of a "cheer gym". Less than a day later, a call came in from Bill Stark asking if we were still interested in the building down by the railway tracks that Trace looked at back in the summer of 2000. They had found a tenant for 1/2 of the building and remembered that the cheerleading guy liked the place but it was too big. They were installing a big wall to chop the place in two. Although we still had until October on the King St lease, 12 hours later, we signed.

The first practice was held in mid June 2002, and we have called this place home ever since. 12 years later in 2014, what was once "too big" is now "just right" as we took over the rest of the building - and now it really is our house.

Closures:

• June 16-20, 2018
• Canada Day Weekend
• July 30 - August 3, 2018 (Summer Shutdown/Western All Girl Weekend Camp)
• Labour Day Weekend (Western Home Camps)
• PCA Nationals (November 30 - December 2)