Lite Tek Entertainment and Elation light cheerleading championship posted: 02/04/2021
Dynamic lighting shows its flexibility on Cheersport National Cheerleading Championship
With up to 50,000 people in and out of the Georgia World Congress Center each day over a two-day period in February, the Cheersport National Cheerleading Championship in Atlanta may be the largest event to have taken place in the world under the COVID pandemic. Rental and production company Lite Tek Entertainment supplied and designed lighting for the event and turned to an Elation lighting package of Cuepix and DTW blinders, Protron strobes, SixPars and more to highlight team routines across five different stages.
Huge event despite pandemic
The National Cheerleading Championship is one of the biggest of its kind in the world. A typical year would see 1,400 teams competing but due to a 50%, reduction in allowed participants due to the pandemic, some 700 teams competed at this year's event. Nevertheless, the event was huge with stages spread across two buildings and 90 acres.
This was, to the best of our knowledge, the largest event in the world since COVID with up to 50,000 people coming through the facility two days in a row, states Lite Tek founder and owner, Darren Lewis. Cheersport created an effective plan to manage the onsite people flow with guidance from Varsity Spirit and the CDC fulfilling a discrete observation role. There were no spikes or known outbreaks that were traced to the event so it worked out really well.
Lite Tek Entertainment
Lite Tek Entertainment, based in Richmond, Virginia, has handled all of Cheersports' regional cheerleading events for the past 15 years and has worked the National Cheerleading Championship event several times. Lewis says that Lite Tek has grown with Elation throughout the years, having purchased Elation gear from the firm's outset and employing Elation gear on many past cheerleading events. This year, Lewis served as production manager and principal lighting designer for the National Cheerleading Championship, coordinating video and audio as well, across five competition halls plus a virtual awards ceremony.
Even stage lighting and 20 feet up
Lighting design was a collaborative effort across the Lite Tek team with all five stages featuring nearly identical lighting setups starting with a downstage truss lined with Elation Cuepix and DTW Blinders. We put 8 of those up along the front edge and lit the entire 60 x 60 ft. stage and didn't get any hotspots, Lewis states of the LED blinders. The truss was too close to the stage to do it with Par lights but the Cuepix and DTW fixtures were perfect because we got an instant spread of the beam with an even wash. The photographers and videographers loved it because the stage was lit perfectly even.
Lewis says that not only did they need to light the stage, it was necessary to light at least 20 feet above the stage as well as the cheerleaders are often lifted or thrown up in the air. They cant go into the dark, he says. It's different than just lighting a performer on stage; you really have to think in 3 dimensions. Thats why the Cuepix and DTW do so well. Its such a big throw I didn't have to worry about dark spots when the cheerleaders were up high.
Ballyhoo then static white
Each cheer routine started with gobo movement onto a closed semi-transparent scrim curtain across the front of the stage with complementary color splashed onto the backdrop. When a team entered, the curtain opened and lights ballyhooed in an energetic barrage of color and movement. Protron 3K strobes along the front truss and Protron 3K Color strobes along the back strobed and color washed before going to a warm white wash for each routine. As the cheerleaders entered, Platinum FLX moving heads on the front corners of the stage projected onto the backdrop then frosted out for side fill or background lighting. In order not to distract or startle the participants, it was important that the lights remained static in even white light once each routine began. Also housed in each rig were LED moving head washlights, discharge-based profile luminaires and LED moving linear strips. SixPar 200 Par lights were used to light the entrance and exit stairs for each stage.
Pre-event excitement
The lighting sequence complemented each team's cheerleading routine and was repeated every 3-4 minutes throughout each day. Prior to the start of the routines however and used to generate excitement as spectators arrived were color and effects from Rayzor Q7 LED moving heads. Positioned on the front truss, the Q7's initially pointed out into the room but then repositioned inward to light the stage. A double arch of truss lined with ACL 360 Bars also provided flashy looks as parents and spectators arrived. Lite Tek also designed and filmed an awards video used on the events social media pages in which ACL 360 Bars lined a video wall with Protron 3K strobes playing a role as well.
Grateful and looking ahead
Although a typical year would see Lite Tek doing 90 such events, Lewis says he's been lucky and grateful for the work he has had lately which has allowed him to provide work to some of his furloughed employees. It's been hard not being able to provide much work for our crew, he said, adding that he has opened up the Lite Tek shop to furloughed employees during the pandemic so they can keep their skills sharp. We're seeing signs of some activity ahead though so we're hoping to keep everyone a bit busier this summer.
Lite Tek Staff Onsite
Darren Lewis: Production Manager / Lighting Designer
Sean McLane: Programmer for all competition halls / Board Operator
John Adamo: Board Operator, Programmer / Co-designer on awards video shoot
Nick Drake: Board Operator
Anibal Rodriguez:
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
Lite Tek Entertainment and Elation light cheerleading championship posted: 02/04/2021 
