"If your child isn’t having fun while learning to tumble, then there is something wrong."

My story….as told by owner Craig Callaway:

As a kid, I got my flexibility from my grandfather, who was an auto mechanic. Every time there was a gymnastics meet on TV, my dad would look at me and say “That’s going to be you some day”. In elementary school, my parents enrolled me in a gymnastics class at the local rec center. My first grade friend was a competitive gymnast and taught me how to do a cartwheel and an aerial. Back then, they didn’t have a name for Parkour or Free Running, but that was definitely what I was doing…dive rolls over the furniture in the living room, running up trees, and hurdling fences to get away from my big brother.

At the end of 8th grade, I tried out for the high school gymnastics class. I sprained my ankle trying a roundoff for the first time, but I made it. We had a gymnastics team my sophomore year, and then I was asked to try out for cheerleader. I had never heard of guy cheerleaders, and in a small town, it didn’t sound like such a great idea. There ended up being four guys, all a great representation for the first male Yellmen (the student body refused to call us cheerleaders) at Mansfield High School. The football team showed up at SMU Cheer Camp to watch, and we earned their respect. When school started back, if you had something bad to say about the Yellmen, you had to go through the football team first. After our first pep rally, we were accepted. They ended up having guys for the next 9 years!   

Guru In The Making

As an NCA Instructor, I taught camps for up to 1,500 kids. I became a Head Instructor & Collegiate Instructor (which is be considered their highest honor). I was also asked to work the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Another moment of gloating…How many people can say they got the entire New York subway to do the wave? This guy right here! I was also selected to be on the USA All Stars, which was made up of the top 20 cheerleaders in the US, and perform in Taiwan for 2 weeks. Again, we were treated like rock stars!

My twin brother, who is a photography professor at Baylor University, and I took a vacation to Bali, Indonesia for a couple of weeks. While there, we took a tour around the island. We stopped at a temple sitting on top of a volcano overlooking another volcano that was active. Next thing I know, my brother was making friends with the Hindu Priests. They asked what I did and we were having a hard time explaining cheer coach to them. My brother finally told me to do a back flip… ”Oh! Guru!” was their response!

After graduating from college, I moved to Tulsa, OK and eventually opened my own gym, Callaway Cheernastics & Fitness Center (CCFC) from 1993 – 2003. We had the largest Coed All Star program in Oklahoma, The Wolf Pack, and I created the first Coed Stunt Class in Oklahoma. My students were recruited by colleges across the country! For several years, half of TVCC & half of OSU were my kids. During that period, I was approached by American Cheerleader Magazine to become their Tumbling & Stunt Editor for that magazine and their coaches magazine CheerBiz. I wrote for 10 years, until they were bought out by Varsity in 2012. I was recommended by the owners of Top Gun in Florida to become a competition judge, and then was requested to speak at Coaches Conferences across the US and in Canada on how to coach tumbling and stunts.

Refocusing On Skill Development

After moving back home to Texas, I worked at various gyms and started judging and traveling more and more. In 2010, I was approached by the Fieldhouse USA to open a gym. I decided then that I wanted it to be all about the kids and their skill development. As an all-star coach, it’s all about the choreography & the trophy and not as much about the individual kids. I didn’t want to be that coach anymore. In 2015 we left the Fieldhouse and expanded. As of September 2020, we have expanded into a new gym!



In 2013, a friend from the past asked me to fly to Southern Spain to coach her students on the US Naval base in Rota, Spain. (If you saw the movie Pitch Perfect III, that military base!) I took my son Cameron to coach, and my daughter Chloe & stepson Trevor for their first trip overseas. Wow what a trip! My kids made some friends for life, we toured Sevilla & Cadiz, got their senior pics taken in a castle in Sevilla (um BLAM!), had dinner & Thanksgiving in the base commander’s home, & were given a tour of the airfield from US Air Force Southern Command. For 2 hours he spoke to my kids in the back of a C5 on his story & what the kids wanted to do with their life and career. To date, I have spent 8 Thanksgivings in Spain with our military and their families. The team has won 13 All Europe Championships! I was later introduced to the cheer coach on the USAG Kaiserslautern Army Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany. I’ve had the honor of making 3 trips to work with the military kids there.

In 2020, we expanded the Frisco gym to its current location. That same year, I was asked to be in a show on Netflix because I was on the first team to win a national title at TVCC. Talk about a huge honor! I did a 3 hour interview in my brand new gym with the AC turned off because of the background noise. It was 92 degrees! I basically got to represent the TVCC alumni and tell the world about my coach who started it all! Talk about intimidating! In January of 2022 Season 2 of Cheer came out. I had lots of former students reaching out to me after that. So much fun!

In 2021, the owners of the Fieldhouse USA asked me to open a 2nd location at their Grapevine gym, located in Grapevine Mills Mall. The summer of 2023, we expanded and it is now larger than the Frisco location!

"The biggest complaint about CHEER gyms" 

The biggest complaint about cheer gyms is that they rush the skills, skipping proper skill progression and technique. The coaches are more interested in the team kids & harass the class kids to be on their competition teams.

There is a huge difference between school cheer and competition cheer. Some competition cheer coaches never cheered a day in their life, and are now coaching school teams and teaching them improperly.   

"The biggest complaint about GYMNASTICS gyms" 

The biggest complaint about gymnastics gyms is that they move too slow, and are constantly changing coaches. The classes are sometimes taught by a parent trying to help pay for their child’s tuition.

I will say that I agree more with the gymnastics philosophy, but a true gymnast works out 3 – 5 days a week for 3 – 5 hours a day. Class kids come in only 1 or 2 hours a week and have to be taught differently. 

"If it hurts, then you are doing it wrong.

If you are not having fun, then you are doing it wrong. " 

"Learn it SAFE! Learn it RIGHT…

the FIRST TIME!" 

At the Tumble & Stunt Institute, we want our students to Learn it Safe & Learn it Right the First Time. We want to focus on each individual kid and what it will take to make them better. It doesn’t matter whether your child is on a competition team at another gym, on a school team, a dancer, or a guy wanting to learn party tricks.

We’ll treat them with the same respect. We are neutral territory. We constantly have kids coming in from other gyms/studios that were taught with poor technique and are unable to progress, or were injured.

At TSI, our veteran coaches teach all levels, so you can expect the highest level of training. Our assistant coaches are well trained and supervised, and picked based on teaching ability.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get to work!

Register by clicking on the TSI Frisco or TSI Grapevine button so that we can keep in touch with you and let you know about all of the exciting opportunities to improve your child’s skills…or, simply pick up the phone and call us directly at (972) 839-3323.