We managed to host around 80 hours of cheerleading over lockdown.
The day after a successful evening at The Get Berkshire Active awards back in February, Kick Twist Cheerleading attended the 2020 Regional Cheerleading Championships and won! Meaning they are back to back Regional Champions (2019 & 2020) We are now super keen to make it a "threepeat" and repeat the same success in 2021!!
As you know, back in 2019, the team qualified for the European Cheerleading Championships in Paris. They were due to leave for Paris on 27th March; unfortunately, we went into lockdown on 23rd March. We were absolutely devastated and heartbroken that the event was cancelled.
The girls were so fantastic and continued to train via zoom sessions throughout lockdown. We managed to host around 80 hours of cheerleading over lockdown which helped maintain their fitness but also helped with their mental health and wellbeing. The girls adapted so quickly to this new way of training and we are so proud of their resilience and how dedicated they are to our sport.
Even during the lockdown, the team managed to win a cheerleading competition!! Our team entered the Virtual National Championships where they had to send in a video of their routine (filmed in the gym before lockdown) for it to be scored by the panel of judges watching from their own screens! They were competing against teams from all over the world including USA, Canada and Norway. I am so pleased to say that they won their category and have been awarded the title "2020 Virtual National Champions" This is not something we have achieved before and hope that this type of competition will not be something we have to do again; but it was a brilliant opportunity for the girls and I know it helped them persevere through these strange times.
Keeping some level of routine has been incredibly important for our athletes, especially as so much had changed within a short time and so abruptly. We wanted to ensure that the girls' love for the sport continued and was not disrupted by the pandemic. We are so proud of our entire programme and hope that better times are ahead. If this Pandemic has taught us anything, it's that we coach a fantastic set of athletes and I wouldn't change them for anything!
