'This is our Olympics': St. John's cheerleaders headed to biggest competition in the world
A team from St. John's is heading to the world's biggest cheerleading competition — and its the first team from Atlantic Canada to do so.
"It doesn't get bigger than this. This is our Olympics," coach Amy Oakley told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.
The Max Athletics cheerleaders are heading to the Summit All Star Cheerleading Championship in May — a fun and prestigious honour, taking place at Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
"Knowing that this is such a big competition and that we were the first team from Atlantic Canada to get the privilege to go there is just amazing," cheerleader Catherine Drake, 14, said.
The coed team, which has 20 members, is one of 11 from Canada attending the competition.
And Oakley said if people think cheerleaders simply shout rhymes from the sidelines of sports games, think again.
"All star cheerleading is a little different in that people cheer for the cheerleaders in our sport," said Oakley.
"There's no team they're cheering for, so rather than speak like the traditional football cheerleaders you're used to seeing, these athletes just do stunts and tumbling and dancing and it's all choreographed to music."
The team members come from many backgrounds — including volleyball, diving and gymnastics — and play a variety of roles depending on strengths and skills.
"We need our shorter, flexible people to go on top [and] we need tall people with long arms to reach up and hold their ankles," she said.
"We need really strong girls who can lift them in the air."
For Drake, cheerleading combines everything you could want in a sport.
"There's not much not to like … you can just have fun with it," she said.
"The performance … all the energy… the competition. I love it all."
