The junior and senior cheer squad took part in the Halifax Gala in June
The sun shone on the Diamond Diva's as they walked the precession.
They chanted and cheered their way through Halifax town centre, entertaining the crowds with a few short dance routines to Manor Heath park. They had collection buckets and all donations were passed on to Diamonds.
The Diamond Diva's then performed in the main arena to a large crowd.
The senior Diamond Diva's, who recently came 5th in the UKCA National Cheerleading competition, performed their 'Sailors' routine, with blue and white pom poms, flags and sailor uniforms to match.
The junior Diamond Diva's performed a lovely routine to a ABBA mega mix. They performed low level group stunts, jumps
and motions, which are all key elements to cheerleading.
The senior squad also performed a stunt routine. Again mixing stunts with jumps and dance to create a dynamic visual effect.
Both squads came together, in true cheerleading spirit, to perform one large dance routine, with pink and black pom pom's. The routine combined all the arm motions required in cheerleading, along with jumps and change of direction and speed.
Many thanks to the parents that supported and walked the precession with all the cheerleaders.
All cheerleaders and parents had a wonderful day.
Cheerleaders Squad
The final weekend of March saw the Cheerleading Squad compete in their first ever competition, the BG/UKCA Nationals in Manchester. This competition is an annual event and the highest level competition in the country. Winners from the Cheerleading and Stunting sections receive qualification for entry to the European Finals in the summer and members of Team UK, which competes in places like America and Japan, are chosen.
The level of cheerleading in the UK is progressing rapidly and the squad were very impressed by the overall standard and abilities of the squads competing. The cheerleading section saw entire teams performing standing tuck backs in their routine and tuck backs to catch are now the norm as double backs, arabians and twists become the benchmark. Although we are not yet able to compete in most sections as our squad is still quite small, we did enter three sections over the weekend.
First up on Saturday was Fran Smith in the senior individual cheer routine section. This competition in this field was very strong. Fran was last up in the section and had to follow some of the best cheerleaders in the country and members of Team UK. The competitor before Fran actually took bronze at last year’s European finals and is a skilled gymnast and cheerleader, so Fran was in an elite group. Although Fran’s routine did not have the technical difficulty of many of the other girls in the section who were performing full twists and standing tuck backs, her routine went very well and she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It is very difficult for gymnasts to make the switch to performing on a hard floor and whilst wearing shoes but Fran has made the transition very well. She finished in 7th place overall which is an excellent achievement at her first major competition.
Sunday saw the Senior stunt group section of competition. This involves teams of 5 performing as many varied stunts as possible within 1 ½ minutes. The Diamonds entry of Sam, Holly, Beth, Faye and Michelle are a newly formed group who have only been training together for a few months and only finished their routine the week before competition. Prior to competing, teams have short period in the warm up area where they can go through their routine prior to performance. Unfortunately, during their warm up, Beth took a nasty fall and bumped her head quite badly. This left the whole team quite shaken and Beth in tears. They missed the rest of their warm up and Dawn and Sam seriously considered withdrawing. However, Beth was adamant they were going on the team decided to compete. Their routine went perfectly and was one of the cleanest of the day. Although their stunts were not as technically difficult as some of the other teams, their routine looked extremely polished and they finished in the top section of the competition in 6th place.
Our last entry of the weekend saw the Junior girls performing their Sailors routine in the pom dance section. The squad took quite a risk with this performance as it is very different to the usual routines competed both in style and tempo. Although the girls performed it very well, there were a few signs of nerves and they lost their timing slightly in the middle of the routine which will have cost them marks but otherwise it went very well and the girls really enjoyed their performance. The routine went down very well with other squads, coaches and spectators too, with praise being given afterwards to our girls and to their parents in the stands. Again, we finished in the top of the section in 5th place which is a fabulous result.
Overall, the girls had a great time and were warmly welcomed by other squads. The highlight of the weekend for the coaches, were the comments made to them by other coaches and senior cheerleaders who thought our girls and their routines were excellent.
The squad have been asked to take part in the procession for the Halifax Gala and to perform routines in the Gala show which they are very excited about and they are now busy working on routines for this and other performances throughout the summer before competing again at the end of the year.
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