About Us
Meet Coach Dunc
Theresa Duncan is a former college cheerleader from Shorter University. During her time in college, she not only earned a B.S. in biology, but also won four college cheer national championships. Go Hawks!
Coach Dunc’s cheer career started in elementary school. While living in Okinawa, Japan, she was a member of the Kadena Air Force Base Recreational League. She had no idea that bows were the appropriate hair accessory and wore the wrong type of shoes. Coach Dunc fell in love with cheer immediately. Go Steelers!
When her father retired from the US Air Force, her family moved to Bowdon, Georgia. It was quite a culture shock from an Air Force Base in Japan to a tiny rural town that is five minutes away from the Alabama State Line. As the new kid in the hemisphere, cheerleading was common ground. Jonesville Middle School Cheerleading provided friendships, school spirit, and Coach Dunc’s first experience with competition cheerleading. Go Jaguars!
Coach Dunc made the Varsity Cheerleading Team all four years at Bowdon High School, and eventually served as a captain. She traded her tutoring services for backyard back handspring lessons with a fellow cheerleader. A core memory was her senior year competing with a standing tuck in a routine that beat the team’s hometown rivals. Coach Dunc graduated high school in 2008 as valedictorian and had no plans to cheer in college. Go Big Red!
One of Coach Dunc's former teachers told her about an opportunity to cheer at Shorter University. Shorter University was a small, private Christian College in Rome, Georgia. The 2008-2009 season was the program's first year of competing, eventually earning five national titles to their name. Coach Dunc won every year with the same program. After graduation, she began her teaching career, and coaching cheer came right along with it. After several seasons of teaching, coaching, and a global pandemic, she took time off to travel across the United States in an RV. In February 2022, she settled in Charleston, South Carolina. Coach Dunc is now the Head Cheer Coach at Charleston Southern University. Go BUCS!
HOW IT STARTED
Let’s set the tone. It’s January 2020. Pre-Pandemic. Cheer premiered on Netflix. I just became a high school cheer coach for a competition team.
I received an email from a Netflix producer who says he is looking at the Charleston area to start a second season of Cheer with a high school team focus. I lost it. I shared the news with everyone I could about the exciting opportunity and continued to email with the producer into the afternoon. I eventually received a document from the producer, opened it, and saw a photo of my now-husband's face, with a “I got you!” smirk.
The email he created was topcheertalent@gmail.com
I cried, but that is the birth of the name, TOP CHEER TALENT.
WHY IT STARTED
As a former high school coach, I was tired of small budgets and limited practice space.
As a former college cheerleader on cheerleading scholarship, I want to grow the sport and recognize cheerleaders as athletes.
As a former high school cheerleader, I did not realize the opportunities cheerleading would provide for me.
As a college coach, I want to encourage young athletes to pursue their passions, develop leadership skills, and cheer them on for their journey ahead.