"Anytime something good was going to happen, it would always rain."

Jacob Parker laughed as he reflected back on why the program is named Rain Athletics. Parker is one of the owners of the cheer gym that continues to rise near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At every point in his life, along with owner Caleigh Epolito, rain has always been a good thing. 

"It just so happened to seem like every time something good happened it was raining, and it started to become an inside joke where we were like, 'Oh, it's raining. Something good is about to happen,'" said Caleigh Epolito, Rain Athletics owner & coach.

"One day we were talking about the gym and we're like 'What do we call it?' and out of nowhere it was just torrential downpour. We were like, 'It has to be this.' There's no other option like it just has to be rain," said Parker.

The rain also signifies a fresh start, which was what they hoped to bring to the Pittsburgh market as they started their new gym. 

• Subscribe To FloCheer To Watch The Biggest Cheer Events in 2024 and 2025
• WATCH: Rain Athletics Aqua HITS at The 2023 Cheerleading Worlds
• Rain Athletics Speaks At The 2024 USASF National Conference

"For us, it became such a positive thing," explained Epolito. "Rain for us also signifies a cleansing, something new, something fresh. After the rain, the air is always a little more fresh, that type of thing." 

Rain Athletics is home of the 2x World Champions - Aqua, and are 6x Summit Champions amongst plenty of other teams in the program. 

As the program heads into season 12, they beam with pride looking back on all they've accomplished. Their drive to take the program to new heights always stems from a passion for cheerleading. 

"We all three came from very humble beginnings," said Jordan Thomas, Rain Athletics cheer & tumbling director. "We all just got together because we shared the same passion and love for cheerleading. I think eventually we all had a vision and wanted to see how far we could take this, but never in a million years did we think that, especially in such a short amount of time, that we would be as blessed as we are today." 

All the highs have also come with plenty of lows and moments of digging deep to push through adversity. In March 2023, a storm decided to give Rain Athletics one of their biggest tests yet. The program was out of town for a competition in Columbus, Ohio. But back in Pennsylvania, a storm had blown the roof off of their home gym. 

Parker was giving his team a pep-talk before being next to perform on stage when he looked at his phone. A text message left him with some confusion.

"I got a text and it said,' The roof is gone.' I thought the text was about my house, so I was like, 'Oh, okay, I'll deal with it after.' But I said, 'Can you send me a picture?' and one of the dads back home who wasn't at the event sent me a picture. It was at the gym with the roof literally peeled off," Parker explained. 

The storm came through near the end of March during a time where Rain Athletics was locking in for end of season events, including The Cheerleading Worlds. They were 30 days out from end of season events, with no gym to practice in. 

But as the staff reflects back, they're filled with pride thinking about how everyone came together to overcome adversity head on. They went back to the drawing board and came up with a back up plan. 

"At first for a week we took some dead mats to a local high school and we only did stunts, jumps, and dance," Parker said. "Then after that, we moved into another temporary space where we had no heat, no air, and it was a Pittsburgh Spring so we had some pretty cool days. We had no bathrooms, so we had to have portable bathrooms brought in. It was the craziest 30 days I think we've ever been through." 

But remember, rain can always turn into a good thing. 

Just a few weeks later, Rain Athletics Aqua huddled up at their awards ceremony at the 2023 Cheerleading Worlds. It was down to two teams - Aqua and Cheer Express Miss Silver. Tears started flowing down faces as Aqua was named World Champions for the first-time ever. All the hard work paid off. 

"It was the most surreal moment and the most humbling moment," Thomas said. "I will remember it for the rest of my life. Within that short span of 30 days, coming home, not having a place to practice, seeing what that did to the kids emotionally and to our families emotionally. The most special part about it was that not for one second from the time we got home from that competition did I sense one ounce of doubt from anyone."

"It was honestly like a Cinderella story. It was like how did we go from that to this so quickly, and it was honestly hard to process all of it. We were just so grateful and so proud of everyone coming together and helping us through it to get to the end goal" Parker explained. 

Aqua went on to become back-to-back World Champions claiming the win once again at the 2024 Cheerleading Worlds. 

As the program turns the page to season 12, they are filled with hope and excitement as they start preparing for a new season full of opportunity. They hope it brings more memories, more hard work, more successes, and most importantly, more rain. 

Rain can always be a good thing.