Best for a Carroll ISD elementary kid who wants to cheer Saturday football with their friends.

CheerTumbling
Recreational
Group classesIndoor & outdoorSummer campsSession-basedSummer seasonFall season
heatherdyc@gmail.com
Operates out of 1085 S Kimball Ave, Southlake, TX 76092
$175 - $200

$175 - $200

Registration is the program fee; uniforms and accessories are bought separately.

  • Registration: $175 during the April window, $200 during the May late window. No sibling discount for the current season.
  • The fee covers insurance, facility rentals, league operations, select team expenses, the DYC Cheer Camp and camp shirt, and end-of-season awards.
  • Uniform, purchased through DYC: $203 for Youth Cheer, $113 for Intermediate Cheer.
  • Required accessories: green and pink pom-poms at $47 each, Youth bows $12.95 each, plus a cheer bucket, briefs, white socks and white cheer shoes bought independently.
  • Optional through DYC: warm-up jacket $60 (embroidery included), warm-up pants $35.
Season dates & schedule · Class schedule

What's offered

A recreational cheer program for Kindergarten through 6th grade that cheers for Dragon Youth Football, split into two squads: Youth Cheer (K–4th) and Intermediate Cheer (4th–6th), which adds elevated stunting, tumbling and higher-level routines. Squads practice once a week for about 45 to 60 minutes and cheer at football games each Saturday through the season, which runs August through November alongside DYF; some football teams travel to nearby communities for away games and cheerleaders attend both home and away. Practice days, times and locations are set by each squad's volunteer coach from the approved DYF/DYC locations and are announced before the season starts, so there is no fixed weekly timetable published in advance. Registration opens in April for the following season, with a late window in May. Eligibility is set by the league: athletes must live in Southlake or be eligible to attend Carroll ISD schools.

2026 DYC Season

Aug 9 – Nov 22

  • Registration opensPastApr 1, 2026
  • Registration closesPastApr 30, 2026
  • Intermediate information meetingPastApr 26, 2026
  • Late registration opensPastMay 1, 2026
  • Late registration closesPastMay 15, 2026
  • Uniform fittingPastMay 13, 2026
  • Carroll Cheer Camp beginsPastJul 27, 2026
  • Carroll Cheer Camp endsPastJul 30, 2026
  • Intermediate ClinicPastAug 9, 2026
  • DYC Coaches ClinicPastAug 9, 2026
  • Community Pep RallyPastAug 13, 2026
  • DYC Cheer ClinicPastAug 15, 2026
  • NTFL opening weekendPastSep 6, 2026
  • OktoberfestOct 18, 2026
  • NTFL Superbowl gamesNov 22, 2026

Games · Squads cheer at Dragon Youth Football games each Saturday of the season, home and away; game days typically run about two hours. Season bookends are the first and last dated events the program publishes — the August 9 clinics and the November 22 NTFL Superbowl games. Several season events are published without a time or with a date still to be confirmed: DYF/DYC Night at Dragon Stadium, the DYF Championships, Homecoming, Boo Buckets, and the Carroll Cheer Showoff in January.

Camps
Dates

The DYC Cheer Camp is hosted by Dragon Youth Cheer and is included with registration — athletes get a camp shirt, meet their coaches and squad, and learn cheers and fundamentals before the season. For 2026 the DYC clinics were the Intermediate Clinic on August 9 (Carroll High School gym) and the DYC Cheer Clinic on August 15 (Spirit Xtreme). The separate Carroll Dragon Cheer Clinic, hosted by the Carroll varsity and JV cheerleaders, is optional and not run by DYC.

Cost

Included with registration; no separate camp fee is published.

Our take

Dragon Youth Cheer is the cheer side of Dragon Youth Football, a recreational program for Kindergarten through 6th grade that puts squads on the sideline at DYF games. It runs in two tracks. Youth Cheer covers Kindergarten through 4th grade and is built around learning the fundamentals in a first-time-friendly setting. Intermediate Cheer picks up at 4th through 6th grade and adds elevated stunting, tumbling and higher-level cheers and routines, deliberately shaped to line up with what the Carroll middle and high school programs do.

The commitment is lighter than a club program but it is a real season. Squads practice once a week for about 45 minutes to an hour and cheer at games on Saturdays from August into November, travelling with their football team when it plays away. Every squad is led by parent volunteers who clear the DYF/DYC background check, which also sets the ceiling on the program: how many squads exist in a given year depends on how many coaches step up. Registration opens in April for the following season, and athletes need to live in Southlake or be eligible to attend Carroll ISD schools.

Local Tips

This is a spirit program attached to a football season, not a cheer gym you enroll in year-round, so what matters is knowing what the fall actually asks of you. A few things worth knowing:

  • Practice days, times and locations are not published in advance. Each squad's coach picks from the approved DYF/DYC locations, usually coordinated with the football team's practice, and details land before the season starts. If your week is tightly scheduled, that uncertainty is the thing to plan for.
  • Saturdays travel. Some football teams play away games in nearby communities and cheerleaders are expected at both home and away, with game days running about two hours.
  • The registration fee is not the whole cost. It does not cover the uniform, poms, bows or the cheer bucket, and those are bought on top of it. Worth adding it up before you register rather than after.
  • Buying used is a real option and the program says so: it points families to the Southlake Treasures Exchange buy/sell/trade group and the DYC Facebook page for uniform items, though it does not broker the sales itself. Check the item is approved for the current season first, because requirements change year to year.
  • Kindergarten through 4th graders need a cheer bucket, decorated with the cheerleader's name. Families either do their own or order one from Fast Pitch Stitch, the vendor DYC recommends.
  • Team requests are taken at registration, but DYC does not receive the football rosters, so sibling pairings and specific-teammate requests only work if you spell them out on the form.
  • For alterations the program recommends K&C Tailor, next to Tom Thumb in the Village at Timarron.
Carroll ISD Connection

The tie is structural rather than sentimental. League rules require athletes to live in Southlake or be eligible to attend Carroll ISD schools, so the squads are drawn from Carroll families by definition. The Intermediate track is explicitly built as a feeder: the program says it aligns its techniques with the Carroll Middle and High School programs, and its information meeting was billed around middle-school preparation and integration with the district's middle schools. The season also runs on district ground: uniform fittings and clinics at Carroll High School, the Intermediate meeting at Eubanks, the community pep rally at Dragon Stadium. The district's communications office signed off on the program's own meeting flyer. Dragon Youth Cheer is not run by Carroll ISD, but a family joining it is stepping onto the path toward Carroll cheer rather than away from it.

Credentials

Dragon Youth Cheer is entirely volunteer-run and led by three directors. Heather Maddux is the Director and is in her fifth year coaching with the program; she cheered through her own school years and at Baylor University, and both her sons played DYF from kindergarten through 6th grade. Assistant Director Sasha Maykus is a Carroll alumna and former high school cheerleader, in her third year with DYC. Assistant Director Diana Sala, also in her third year, has a dance and choreography background, led dance companies from high school through college, and was captain of her high school song team.

Every squad is coached by parent volunteers who complete the required DYF/DYC background check; coaches and assistant coaches must be at least 18. Approved Carroll Dragon Cheerleaders may also assist with squads when authorized.

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