One of the biggest questions I get is “what happened to We Cover Cheer and Dance”? The best and easiest answer I can give is a one word answer… life. That is all that is really needed, but I do not mind sharing more details. Below are some of the highlights of what happened during those years and then a look ahead too.
I started We Cover Cheer and Dance (WCC&D) to go along with my photography studio of Ericson’s Photography. After I closed the studio for Ericson’s Photography I kept doing events for WCC&D for a couple of years. I met my wife during this span as well. In 2015, we got engaged and we made a decision to move out of Lincoln, NE. We moved to Sturgis, SD in early 2016. Once in Sturgis, we lived in the hills and I took a break from photography. Later in 2016, I got married and made the decision to start up a food business. Food has always been a passion of mine and I got a great opportunity to work with a local restaurant that allowed me to serve my food there under my own business name.
I started up a BBQ business called The Spicy Tavern. I was serving food in Deadwood, SD at Oyster Bay Restaurant and it turned into me also selling products along with it. Most of my attention turned to my food business and I my camera sat in it’s bag.
In 2018, my wife was pregnant. During a check-up, we learned that we had a special baby on the way. He had a condition called Tetralogy of Fallot (ToF). It meant that he would need open heart surgery after he was born. But, they did not know if it would be needed right away or if it could wait for a few months. They would make the decision once he was born. During this time we also moved to Phoenix, AZ.
He was born in March of 2019 and he had his heart surgery at the end of July 2019. As stressful as it was, it created an opportunity for my wife to stay home with our baby and care for him. During that process my wife could not sit still. She wanted to provide for our family and started up her own baby clothing business. She also picked up my old camera and started learning photography.
By 2020, my wife was getting ready to open a photo studio up and I was going to bring back WCC&D and start covering events again. Then COVID-19 hit and everything went into lockdown. My wife still opened her studio but we had to be cautious and I started looking at building WCC&D website back out again. but not cover events or teams.
Now that 2021 is coming to a close, the world is still dealing with a pandemic and it is hard to plan for things. However, my wife and I have decided to keep moving forward with our photography studio and to keep the momentum going this time. My wife specializes in boudoir photography and is really making a name for herself in the Phoenix area. I am going to get back to covering the cheer and dance world myself and I hope come 2022 to have a few new teams and/or events.
Living in the Phoenix area really opens up all the options. We can stay in Phoenix or we can always travel to Las Vegas or Southern California. As we plan out 2022, I will keep this blog updated with any further plans. Come 2023, that will be our 15 year anniversary from starting WCC&D. I am trying to think of what all to do in 2023 to celebrate the great sport of cheer/dance.
Bobby Ericson
Owner & Photographer
