We were lucky to catch up with Craig Callaway recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Craig, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I’ve been in the gymnastics and cheer industry for decades and lost my passion for the competitive side. I took a sabbatical for several years, traveling around the world coaching, training coaches, writing for two magazines, speaking at coaches conferences, and judging. I decided to open a skills only gym. With the magazines, my title was tumble and stunt editor and it sounded catchy, so I named my business the Tumble and Stunt Institute. I was sick of the lack of loyalty in the competition cheer industry and had been with it almost since the beginning. I loved working with the kids, so I thought this was the perfect concept. Train kids from my alleged competitors, help make them better, and let them go back to my competitors and brag about my program. We also work with a lot of kids that only cheer for their schools, so we’ve built a reputation for getting them on their teams. Now the dancers are coming to us to improve their acrobatic skills, as well as martial artists. I left cheer and dance out of my business name, so now the boys aren’t afraid to come to my gym. Was I solving a problem that no one else was solving? YES! While my competitors are focusing on the routines and winning, I’m focusing on making their kids better. For those kids that don’t want to compete, they aren’t being harassed to join their teams, as well as being treated like crap for not wanting to.
To my knowledge, I was the only one offering these services at the time. Now, others are catching on and seeing the benefits. To this day, I love what I do, and my stress level has gone down drastically!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I cheered in high school in a small town that had never heard of male cheerleaders (as well as myself). I took a competitive cheer team to a camp and was recruited to cheer in one of the top junior colleges in the country, Trinity Valley Community College. Two years there and we won the first National title for the college (they have won 12 to date and were recently featured on Cheer 2 on Netflix). I then went on to Oklahoma State University to cheer. 2 1/2 years and we won another national title. We got to perform in Japan and then Taiwan, and were treated like rock stars. Since then, I’ve own a few gyms, coached in 8 different countries, judged all over the country as well as in Canada, spoken at coaches conferences across the country as well as across Canada, and have written for two cheerleading magazines for 10 years. Recently, I was one of the talking heads on the show Cheer, season 2 on Netflix, which came out January 12, 2022. I’ve basically learned my craft from some of the best in the industry as I went along. Heck, I’ve even learned from people I’ve coached along with side by side. I’m still learning!
As far as products & services we provide, we teach kids how to flip, regardless of their sport, discipline or desire. We don’t care where you come from. We’ll make you better and your goals are our goals. We have tumbling classes, coed stunt classes, jump classes, cheer tryout classes, Camps, Clinics, and occasion do a bit of choreography.
What am I most proud of? I took the first South Korean team to the Worlds competition, and they got 15th out of 22 teams. I literally flew up and had 20 hours to train them, choreograph a routine, clean it up, and then we hopped on a plane and flew to Orlando, FL for the competition. They by no means were qualified for this level of competition, and knew it. But by going, they would attract the attention of sponsors for future years and competitions, and it did! The next year I went back, the President of the South Korean Cheerleading Association wined and dined me and asked me to move to South Korea to help them build up the sport. It was literally me, vs the Japanese Cheerleading Association, vs the Universal Cheerleading Association (the major US company). I had to decline because my triplets were born around that time.
In all honesty, I’m proud of all the kids we work with! We’ve seen kids go through some major struggles! Come on now! What idiot came up with the idea that “I’m gonna dive backwards, face first into the floor, bounce off my hands, and land on my feet!” It’s a stupid idea, and I’m making a living off of it!

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

Many years ago, I went through my first divorce. She was running the books. What I considered a friend came to me and offered to fill that void and take care of my books. They ended up embezzling over $40K from me. I owed the IRS money, I was behind on rent, and I couldn’t pay my staff. I took a big kick in the nards on all levels! One third of my clients went with the person that embezzled me. One third of my clients stuck it out with me. The other third didn’t know who to believe and went elsewhere. I buckled down and dug myself out of that hole. I paid back the IRS, got caught up on rent, and was finally to catch up on payroll. It was painful and it burned me out. I eventually sold the business and took a sabbatical.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Word of mouth helped me build my reputation within my market. I’ve tried pretty much every kind of advertising and marketing, but when the customers love your product so much that they tell their friends about you, you can’t beat that. I always joke around with the parents that I’ll pay to tatoo my logo on their kid for advertising because they are literally a walking billboard for my product! The parent’s room in other gyms are literally some of my best marketing. “Wow! Your daughter has improved her skills! Who’s she working with?”

Contact Info:

• Website: www.TumbleAndStunt.com
• Instagram: TumbleAndStunt_
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TumbleAndStunt
• Linkedin: Craig Callaway
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/tumble-and-stunt-institute-frisco-frisco?osq=tumble+and+stunt+institute+-