Over the last few years, the Embry-Riddle cheerleading program has enjoyed a meaningful partnership with Power Cheer! All-Stars in Port Orange. The partnership has allowed Embry-Riddle to utilize the Power Cheer! gym for team practices and work on their skills during open gym time, while current and former Embry-Riddle cheerleaders serve as coaches for some of the Power Cheer! teams.
 
Founded by Penny Howell in August 1997, Power Cheer! was the first cheerleading gym in Volusia County. Power Cheer! sponsors six competition teams, and the gym is home to Spruce Creek High School's varsity and JV teams, as well as several teams from Port Orange Pop Warner. During the 2023-24 season, all four of PCA's Summit eligible teams received bids to compete at the D2 Summit held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando.
 
"I began working in the medical field as an X-ray tech and honestly, just missed the cheerleading life and the sport itself. I called around to all the high schools and gymnastics gyms to see if anyone had any positions open for coaching and there wasn't anything. After a few months, a gymnastics gym called me back and said they had seven kids that wanted to do cheer and said 'if I wanted to do something with them, I could'. So I went in to the first practice and told them all to bring a friend, and before I knew it, I had outgrown the space. My program kept growing, so I knew it was time to open on my own gym."
 
The Embry-Riddle/Power Cheer! relationship started in 1998 when Howell became Embry-Riddle Cheerleading's head coach. Current ERAU head coach Mea Felps-Darley was a student-athlete on the cheerleading team at that time and the two formed a bond that has lasted more than two decades.
 
Felps-Darley returned to Embry-Riddle after 12 years as the head coach for the Jacksvonille University cheer team and immediately contacted Howell who she says inspired her to get into coaching.
 
"When I returned to Daytona Beach, I was excited to reconnect with her as a mentor, but also as a friend. Power Cheer! has helped us on many occasions when the ICI Center was closed due to events. April 2022 was our first time returning to NCA College Nationals after a long layoff 7 years and the ICI Center was closed the entire week of nationals leaving us with nowhere to practice. Penny graciously opened her gym for us that week. Without her help and support we would not have been able to compete that year.
 
"Power Cheer has also allowed several ERAU cheerleaders to work out there and improve on their skills. That partnership has allowed us to work with cheerleaders of all ages and some of the PCA cheerleaders have graduated high school and are now ERAU cheerleaders."
 
Felps-Darley is herself a coach at Power Cheer! and is in her second season of coaching the J2 Thundercats team.
 
"It has been so much fun teaching a junior team. It's exciting to see the growth of cheerleading as a whole and to see the love these kids have for a sport that is so dear to me."
 
Both Howell and Felps-Darley noted that the partnership between Embry-Riddle and Power Cheer! feels like home.
 
"I was the Head Cheer Coach at Embry Riddle for many years after I opened the gym. Now having some of the cheerleaders at Riddle coach teams at Power Cheer! as well as having Mea at the gym reminds me of some of my favorite years when I first opened."
 
"Penny was my coach at ERAU and being able to work with her again means the world to me. The support she provides to me as a coach and friend is so meaningful, and this year I'm coaching with her oldest daughter Riley. The partnership has helped develop relationships and reintroduce ERAU Cheer to the community. ERAU Cheer and Power Cheer! are a family."