High-flying squad captures gold

Weston

Tuxedo

A team of local cheerleaders recently brought home gold medals from an international cheer competition.

The Icons team from Winnipeg’s Central Cheer, won in the U16 Level 2 Small category at the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) competition in Houston, Tex., on March 1, facing teams from across the United States and Australia.

“As coaches, all we can really say is we are so proud of them,” said coach Lexa Moorhouse. “They represented Central Cheer in such a positive way.”

“Going down, we kind of knew the competition was going to be fierce and hard,” coach Joan McNeilly said. “It was an emotional moment as coaches, to see that the hard the work they have been doing for the past seven months paid off.”

The NCA event is one of the top competitions in competitive cheerleading, with some of the best teams in the world taking part each year. Over 29,000 athletes on 1,500 teams from nine countries competed from Feb. 27 through March 1.

“Every cheerleader dreams of going there,” said Brooklynn Redekop, a 14-year-old member of the Icons team. “It was the best experience ever. Even just to go there and compete was an honour.”

“It was really fun,” agreed Isla Vokey, a 12-year-old member of the team. “I had a great time.”

“At the beginning of the year, it felt like we weren’t quite as a team, but more like a group,” said Isabella Boras, 16. “It felt good getting to NCA, as one, and being able to perform and trust each other to get to where we wanted.”

Icons performed its competition routine twice. On the first day, a stunt fault led the team to finish in fifth place. The team then spent the evening practising, with the intention of leaving it all on the floor for the final round.

“We didn’t let it affect us,” said Redekop, who attends Murdoch MacKay Collegiate in Transcona. “We didn’t want to regret holding anything back.”

“We knew going into Day 2 that if we were to hit our routine, we potentially could be top three,” McNeilly said. “We didn’t think we could pull off first place. It really came as a shock.”

“Our hearts were just pounding,” said Vokey, who is in Grade 7 at Laidlaw School in Tuxedo. “We were all just crying we were so happy.”

“I literally lost it,” Moorhouse added. “I’m not a very emotional coach on stage, but I was beside myself.”

The Icons practised at least twice a week throughout the season, with each session lasting four hours. They also used school in-service days to get extra reps in.

“I worked so hard,” Vokey said.

The big win in Texas was only the latest in a string of wins for Icons this season, including taking top prize at a pair of local competitions in the lead-up to the trip down south – Winter Riot in Portage la Prairie, Man., in January, which included a $5,000 grand prize, and the Spring Show Off at Red River Exhibition Park on Feb. 22.

“It’s back-to-back very exciting results,” McNeilly said. “We’re exhausted, but smiling from ear to ear about everything.”

Icons also competed at Cheer Manitoba’s provincial competition at the University of Winnipeg on March 14, and Steinbach’s Turn Up the Heat on March 15, but results were not available at press time.

“We won’t be changing our routine,” Redekop said. “Our coaches told us that if you don’t have anything to prove, you don’t have to put that pressure on yourself. Our coaches are so good.”

Moorhouse, 24, has been coaching cheer teams for nine years, while McNeilly, 30, has been coaching for eight. Both have over a decade of cheerleading experience, and, along with Boras, are also part of Shadow, a competitive co-ed team from Central Cheer that will attend the World Cheerleading Championships in April in Orlando, Fla.

“All our skills are focused,” Boras said. “We’ve already been to worlds, and we know the training we have to put it into. I’m excited to go and be able to trust everyone on the team to do their jobs.”