With budget cuts at some schools in the LAUSD causing them to cut programs these days, including cheerleading, there's not many places where aspiring youth can turn to if they want to cheer. 

There is one great solution to that problem...

Enter South Bay Divas Cheer.

Founded by coach and owner Charisma Jones, the Divas have been in action since 2011. Since then, the Divas have been a great addition to the community with three levels of squads ranging from ages 4 and up.

"We went from one team when we started our first season (in 2011), and we are officially at nine teams as of now," said Jones, a 2007 San Pedro High graduate and former Dance-Drill Team captain. "But that doesn't include all the people that are still calling wanting to enroll within the next couple of days, so we'll see how much we'll keep on growing."

South Bay Divas Cheer competes in several competitions over the past two years, but that's not all. In the two years they've been on the scene, the Divas have also participated in the San Pedro and Wilmington Holiday Christmas Parades, both the San Pedro and Wilmington Cancer Walk events in 2012, and just recently this past Sunday, they were blessed with the opportunity to perform before thousands of people at Dodger Stadium before the Dodgers-Tampa Bay Rays game.

"That was a great experience for us," said Jones, a die-hard Dodgers fan. "We were one of many teams according to Dodger Stadium that was one of California's most elite cheer teams that were able to perform on the field and it went very well. We had a lot of fans supporting us that were in attendance. I can't wait to hopefully do it again next year."

When it comes to competing, the Divas more than hold their own with intense preparation and incredible results.

"We always start in summer training, we train for about 3-4 months and I'd say we'd enter in five to eight competitions between December and May," Jones said. "We always do quite well, we had an absolute clean sweep with our all-star prep teams last year, taking Grand Champions at all the competitions we went to and we got awarded those six-foot trophies. It was pretty amazing and I hope to continue that this year and on."

Jones also hopes to get the Divas into another event where they hope to raise funds for charity.

So in retrospect, sometimes it's great to be a Diva when it comes to cheerleading.