My Little Sister's Cheer Competition

On Saturday, February 28, 2009, the University of Regina and the U of R Recreation Services Sports Club hosted the University of Regina Cheerleading Competition or the URCC in the University Gym which was also presented by “Track & Trail”. The cheerleading competition began promptly at 12:00 pm and finished just after 4:30 pm. The competition schedule featured cheer teams from all over Saskatchewan and some of Manitoba, and consisted mainly of elementary schools, high schools, and private cheer teams. There were three different types of competitive areas to be judged such as jump, pom, and cheers that include stunts. Jump is a type of competition where solo competitors from different teams or squads perform various jumps to the best of their ability. Pom is a type of cheer where teams use pompoms and perform their own choreographed dances. The third type of competition combines choreographed dances, stunts, jumps, flips, and or pompoms. All competitions use a combination of various mixed songs and cheers that are shouted by the team. The URCC was judged by two panels of certified Saskatchewan Cheerleading Association judges that use SCA rules and score sheets. There was one set of judges for the jump competitions and another set of judges for the rest of the competition. The competition schedule was also composed of 55 different cheers by many different schools and teams. There were several cheer demos through out the cheer competition by different cheer teams and by the U of R Cheer Team. The reason that I attended the cheer competition was because my younger sister was competing as part of the Henry Janzen Elementary School cheerleading team.

The Henry Janzen cheer routine was a mix of pom and stunts, and my sister performed mostly pom and dancing. There were several “demos” that featured some of the audience members, and several contests for prizes that were going on in between the cheer teams to keep the audience engaged. The dances, cheers, and stunts were very interesting to watch. Some of the cheer routines were very unique and featured some very neat costumes, creative dances, and impressive stunts. Other routines were very similar to each other and not very original. All routines, however, were very well done with minimal accidents while performing stunts. The general atmosphere of the competition was pulsing with energy and excitement. All the mothers and fathers were cheering and whistling for their children. Cameras were flashing every ten seconds, and everyone was generally happy.

The entire competition captured my attention so that I found it hard to look away. I was extremely impressed with all of the cheer teams and their routines, and some of the cheer teams incorporated music, and scenes from movies in their routines. I found it quite amusing that one team incorporated “The Jokers” smile and the line “Why so serious?” from the movie called “The Dark Knight” at the end of their routine. When I finally got to see my sister’s team a wave of pride and awe washed over me. I was very proud and happy to see my sister as part of a team and happy to be cheerleading. I ended up taking a lot of pictures and a short video as well. After seeing this competition I gained a new perspective about cheerleading. I was never really interested in cheerleading as a child and never knew a lot about it. This competition opened my eyes to how intense cheerleading is, and it made me realise how much practice, dedication, and hard work it takes to cheerlead or even coach cheerleading. (My sister is on the right).

Well, here is a short and very bad quality video, hahaha, enjoy!