May 5, 2025

Overview

Rate My Cheer Gym is a platform that enables users to discover, rate, and review cheer gyms across the United States. Built with Next.js for a fast, SEO-friendly frontend and Supabase for backend services, the application combines user-generated reviews with location-based search to help cheerleaders and parents find the best training facilities. The project’s goal was to create a user-friendly, trustworthy platform that not only collects ratings but also fosters transparency and community engagement in the cheerleading industry.

Key Features

• Cheer Gym Directory: Comprehensive listing of cheer gyms across the USA with detailed profiles including location, photos, and contact information.
• Ratings & Reviews: Users can leave ratings, write reviews, and share experiences to help others make informed decisions.
• Supabase Authentication: Secure sign-up and login with email/password or social providers, powered by Supabase Auth.
• Search & Filtering: Location-based search and filters for finding gyms by state, rating, or specialty.
• Responsive UI: Fully optimized for desktop and mobile users, ensuring accessibility on all devices.
• User Profiles: Track review history, manage personal details, and customize profile settings.

Technologies Used

• Next.js: For building a fast, SEO-friendly, and scalable frontend.
• Supabase (Database): For storing gym data, reviews, and user information in a relational PostgreSQL database.
• Supabase Auth: For secure authentication and session management.
• Tailwind CSS: For a clean, responsive, and customizable UI design.
• Cloudflare: For deployment and hosting with global CDN.

Challenges and Learnings

A key challenge was designing the database schema in Supabase to efficiently handle thousands of gyms and potentially tens of thousands of reviews while keeping queries fast. Managing authentication with Supabase was straightforward, but ensuring a smooth user experience during sign-up, login, and review submission required handling edge cases like duplicate reviews and spam prevention. Optimizing SEO for local search was also a major focus, ensuring each gym profile page ranked well for relevant searches in Google.

Outcome

The platform has successfully launched and is now helping cheerleaders, athletes, and parents make informed decisions when choosing a gym. By combining Next.js for performance and Supabase for seamless database + authentication integration, Rate My Cheer Gym delivers a secure, fast, and easy-to-use experience for the cheerleading community.