Jill Hicks Blogs

One of the greatest gifts a gymnast can receive while attending college is her “voice”. Voice is defined as an instrument or medium of expression; wish, choice or opinion openly or formally expressed. Many gymnasts head off to college and have never learned how to share their feelings, emotions or opinions. Why does this happen? Think of the hours most Level 10 and Elite gymnasts have spent in their gyms. The sport itself is made for girls who are goal oriented. They quietly go about doing every assignment each day. Coaches tend to ...

      Some of you may be wondering what it is like to live on a tour bus. It is actually not too bad. We have five buses that travel together, boys, girls, Fierce Five, management and crew. Each bus sleeps 12 people with a kitchen and two living areas, one in the front and one in the far back. The Fierce Five have a bus to themselves. Included on the bus is myself, the tutor and our trainer. We typically travel through the night, so our bus is filled with mostly snacks. We of course have many Kellogg’s items. Cereal, granol...

One of the most fun parts of the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions has been the special guests that have come to watch the show.  Redfoo of LMFAO, USAWomen's Soccer Team, cast from Teen Wolf, Kenny Ortega, Mystere cast members and Carlton of Fresh Prince.   The girls have loved knowing these amazing people are in the crowd watching the shows.  They are still holding out hope that Justin Bieber might show up.  When we were in LA at the STAPLES Center, we had a crazy fun time.  The after party with Redfoo was a highl...

Call time is always four hours before the start of the show. We all walk straight to find the locker rooms and drop our bags. In the locker rooms, all the cast member costumes are hung up by name. Then, I pull out all the makeup and hair items needed for show.  Some of the cast will go straight to the training room to get treatment. After getting a feel for the venue, the cast begins to gather on the main floor to stretch and start warming up. Mary and John, who are the choreographers of the show, let the cast know what changes need to be...

You may be wondering what we do on our "off days" while on Tour.  My first priority is sleep and catching up on emails.  It is so nice to be in one place for 3 full days with little on the agenda.  Relaxing by the pool and doing all the personal things we can't get done on show days feels so good.   Many of the cast spent the day at the beach, had pedicures and went out to dinner.  You can tell that they also need some down time as well.  Several of the Fierce Five were still staying busy flying to appearances all ...

As many of you may know, last night was our first show of the Kellogg's Tour in San Jose.  It was electric!  Lots of energy, fun and overall a great night.  The Fierce Five were so pumped as we drove to the arena they had so many good memories there from the Trials.  The arena had over 8,000 tickets sold and the show was rockin.  In fact their favorite piece is the one when they are all dressed up like Rock Stars!   After the show was over and the autograph signing was complete we loaded up the buses once again. &n...

We actually got several hours off today for the first time in a week.  While most of the cast spent the day by the pool, I chose to take a long needed nap.  Ebbee, Sarah and Sabrina all arrived today to be a part of the Tour.  Loved working with them.  The show is really coming together.  I can see confidence in the performers.  They are looking like they are enjoying what they are doing and are excited to start the Tour in a few days.   Some of you may have seen the Fierce Five on Kelly Ripa today, Dodger sta...

Wake up early...workout...eat breakfast...drive the girls to the venue...watch them rehearse...eat lunch...watch them rehearse...eat dinner...watch them rehearse...drive them back to the hotel...go to bed...REPEAT!! That has been my schedule the past week.  It's been so busy and I feel like I have neglected all you readers. We are at the venue from 8:30a-10:30pm everyday! Sometimes I don't even see the sun. (Starbucks has been a life saver for all the staff) The show is coming along quickly.  They have only been together for a week. T...

Today I headed out for Ontario, CA.  The Tour is here for the next 9 days as the cast rehearsals for our trip around the USA.  We will be traveling to 27 states and 41 cities in 90 days.   About that missed flight.......after forking over an extra $100 due to my overweight luggage,  I then heard the great news that my flight was delayed.  Of course this caused me to miss my connecting flight from San Fran to Ontario.  Oh how I love spending 6 hours in an airport!!!!  There is nothing like the feeling of walkin...