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Daniel Kearns-Pickett currently resides in Cary, NC.  However, he is a native of Kernersville, NC, where he first gained his passion for cheer through his many dedicated years as an athlete at Cheer Extreme Allstars. During his middle and high school years, Kearns-Pickett became a National Champion at various competitions, including: Cheersport Nationals, National Cheerleading Association (NCA) Nationals, Jamefest Nationals, and many others. In addition, one of his biggest cheerleading accomplishments was placing 3rd with The Coed Elite at The USASF Cheerleading Worlds Championship in 2009 and 2010, which included/s the top cheerleading programs from all over the world. 

 

In 2014, Kearns-Pickett graduated from North Carolina State University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in English- Secondary Education with a minor in Spanish. He was a member of the NC State Wolfpack Small and Large Coed Cheerleading Team (2010-2014), where he was named Most Valuable Player/ Cheerleader (2010-2011), captain (2013-2014), and placed top 3 and top 5 at NCA College Nationals in Daytona, Florida. His other accomplishments and accolades during his four years with the NC State Cheerleading Program consisted of: Most Spirited (2012-2013), Most Dedicated (2013-2014), Scholar Athlete (2010-2014), and cheerleading scholarship recipient (2012-2014). 

Currently, Daniel Kearns-Pickett has many years of local and international coaching and choreographing experience. He started working with various teams across the country in 2010, when he was employed by Edge Cheer and Dance (now National Cheerleading Association) as a camp instructor and choreographer. He is competent in teaching and coaching tumbling, stunts,  jumps, and choreography at various levels including high school, collegiate, and all-star. Kearns-Pickett has worked with several schools and teams in and outside of North Carolina, as well as internationally at the all-star level in Finland. Many of his team partnerships have resulted in wins and top place finishes at NCHSAA Cheerleading Championship, NCA College Nationals, Canam High School and College Nationals, UCA High School Nationals, and many other competitions.

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Prior to completing his career with the National Cheerleading Association in 2018, Kearns-Pickett served a stint as the head cheerleading coach at Knightdale High School for two years. Here, he led the team to a GNRC 2nd place finish, a NCHSAA top 10 finish, and GNRC Cheerleader of the Year. Most recently, he served as a gymnastics coach at Chapel Hill Gymnastics, where he instructed group and private lessons that focused on flexibility, floor tumbling, beam, bars, and vault training. In addition, he also served as the assistant cheerleading coach at the University of Mount Olive (2020-2021), where he assisted the team and head coach with practices, team camps, games, and took full responsibility of routine choreography. Under his leadership as assistant coach, the team took home a first place finish at Canam College Nationals, and competed at NCA College Nationals for the first time in school history. 

 

As a coach, Daniel Kearns-Pickett prides himself in his ability to build positive relationships with his athletes. He understands that before someone can be a great athlete, they must first be a great person. His goal with any team is to ensure they are prepared for the real world, outside of just academics and athletics. Kearns-Pickett's main goal is to ensure every athlete understands the importance of self- love and respect, teamwork, community involvement, and athleticism, and have the skills and tools they need to be successful in this world. With the North Carolina A&T Cheerleading Program, he is heavily focused on increasing the teams on and off campus appearances and community service involvement, highlighting the program as dedicated student-athletes and ambassadors of the university, and ensuring the program gets back to their tradition of excellence as it relates to collegiate cheerleading competitions. Daniel Kearns-Pickett is very excited for the opportunity to lead and serve, and be a part of such a strong and dynamic empire. 

 

Along with his coaching duties at North Carolina A&T, Kearns-Pickett is a Licensed Professional School Counselor and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (A). He obtained his Master of Arts in School Counseling and his Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling both from North Carolina Central University in 2020.