Over 2,000 feisty females will descend on the Manchester Velodrome this weekend as the National Cheerleading Championships hit the city.
Teams of girls from all over the country will be donning short skirts, seizing pom poms and performing elaborate routines in hope of victory.
A win at the nationals will earn teams a place at July’s European Championships – also taking place in Manchester – and Pat Hawkins, president of the UK Cheerleading Association (UKCA), can hardly contain her excitement.
“It will be a spectacular showcase and it will be a full day of entertainment,” she told MM. “I’m very excited about it.
“I think seeing so many people talented young people performing will be the highlight for me.
“Cheerleading is such an exciting sport because there’s so many different elements to it.”
Indeed over the two-day contest rivals teams will battle out across six different disciplines of cheerleading: Cheer Dance, Pom Dance, Street Cheer, Cheerleading, Group Stunt and Partner Stunt.
In total, 2,071 girls will compete this weekend and with the UKCA having a 230,000-strong nationwide membership Pat believes cheerleading’s all-inclusive nature is one of the key factors to its popularity.
“I think the team camaraderie does a lot for the sport,” she said. “In other sports for women like netball there are only a few people involved in cheerleading you can have between two people and 40 people competing.
“You might have some really talented gymnasts who can show those skills off in cheerleading.
“But you can also can have someone who might not be quite as athletic who could be fantastic as a base and help with lifts.”
A former professional dancer, Pat has been president of the UKCA since 1999 and first became involved in cheerleading when asked to assemble a team to perform at Manchester Giants basketball matches.
Fifteen years on, Pat has seen first-hand the positive impact cheerleading can have on people’s lives.
“It changes people’s lives,” she said. “We have a lady who at 50 years old came to us and knew nothing about and now that same lady is coaching and she said to me recently: ‘I feel that I’m alive’.
“It gives people confidence that they never had before.”
A thousand tickets have been sold for the event and anyone still wishing to attend can pay on the day.
“Anyone who attends will see a very exciting sport,” Pat added.
For more information about this weekend’s championships visit www.ukca.org.uk.
Image courtesy of ph-stop, with thanks.
