Blog
Scott in Sport: Cheerleading
Friday 21st May, 4.30pm, Main Hall, Sports Centre.
Cheerleading is unfortunately something that it's not so easy to just pop along to a session and join in part way through the year - this isn't too surprising when you think of the nature of the sport and how crucial routines and places within the squad are. However, I got in touch with Hannah, the President, and asked if I could come along and give it a go and she willingly obliged.
I arrived slightly apprehensively, basing my knowledge of cheerleading on Bring It On and worrying about what I would be trying to make my body do over the course of the following hour. We started off with a warm-up (which seemed slight unnecessary given it seemed to be the hottest day of the year and the Main Hall felt like a sauna!), which involved running round the hall, jumping, touching the floor, etc. It didn't take long to work up a bit of a sweat! Next we did some relays in teams that involved one person doing shuttle runs while the other two team members did static stretching (that hurt the longer you held them, eg. plank). Our team won! Then the final bit of the warm-up was stretching. This was okay until Hannah said we should "slip into the splits" - my reaction could be summed up with a simple ha ha and then failing to get anywhere near to the splits. I had a huge amount of respect for the substantial number of girls who were able to do the splits!
Then we went into the actual practice - the Performance squad began their practice and I got taken off separately with some of the girls from the Competition squad to have a go at Cheerleading.
I was teamed up with three bases - Laura, Emily and Rowan - and a flier - Club President and founder, Hannah. I was going to have a go at being a flier (the one who is thrown in the air and held aloft by the bases) and, despite not being afraid of heights, I must admit I was a little bit nervous about what the girls had in store for me!
We started out taking each component separately, with the final aim to put them together and have me doing a mini-routine. The first thing we did was have me standing up on the bases' hands (at hip-level). Started with a clap on 7, then 8, then I had to put my hands on the bases' shoulders on 1, 2, dip down on 3, 4, hop up to get my feet into their hands on 5, 6, and straighten up and lock out on 7, 8. For some reason I just forgot to stand up the first time, then I was so busy concentrating on 7 I seemed to not hear it. In short, it took a few attempts before I was standing up!
The next thing was the log roll. This involved me lying in the bases' arms and then have them twist me completely. I started in a cradle (lying in their arms) and was told to lock out and stay completely firm. On 7 the base at my feet twisted me as I looked over my left shoulder to spot and then twisted. The first time I didn't manage to rotate fully and instead landed face first in one of the bases' chests - it felt a little bit too friendly considering we'd only met 25mins earlier! The second time however it worked!
Next up was an inversion. For this I started on the ground on my feet and basically had to do a handstand and go over into the bases arms and a cradle. I'm not great at handstands and needed a bit of help from the bases, but got there eventually!The last bit to learn was the extension. When they told me what this was I wasn't exactly keen - standing up on the bases' hands whilst their arms are extended skyward. Hannah demonstrated it for me and even as an experienced flier, I noticed something that looked remarkably like nervousness showing on her face. She assured me it was just her concentration face, but I wasn't convinced! Needless to say, my first attempt was pretty poor - I didn't really lock out properly (the most important thing to do so you are totally rigid and stable) and instead stuck my bum out and ended up overbalancing, ended up on the mat on my bum. As I put it, I was just testing the quality of their mats! After that, I hopped back onto the proverbial horse and tried again, luckily with much more success. I felt really quite high up, which was a little bit scary, but really cool.
The final bit we practiced before putting it all together in a routine was going into the cradle from the "prep" (the point where I was standing on the bases' hands, but at hip level). To do this involved tensing my bum as much as possible and the bases would then throw me up slightly and catch me in their arms. After the extension, it felt pretty easy!
Then we put it together in a routine... It started with the inversion (handstand into cradle), then up to prep (standing on bases' hands at hip level), then up to extension (standing on bases' hands high up in the sky), then cradle, then finishing off with the log roll. I was a little bit scared beforehand - doing each bit step by step wasn't too daunting, but putting it all together was! However, despite my nerves, it worked first time which was amazing. We then had a little break before doing it again as Hannah insisted it was filmed... If you want to have a giggle at my expense/be impressed (hopefully!), have a look at - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=222305981&src=fftb#!/video/video.php?v=842341161379
All in all, it was a really enjoyable experience and I am very grateful to the Hornets for letting come and give it a go mid-way through term. The Hornets will be at the YUSU Fair in Freshers' week encouraging people to sign up, with trials for the Competition Squad taking place in October. Both the Performance and Competition Squads train throughout the year and compete during the spring and summer terms. The Performance Squad will next be performing at Woodstock next Saturday.
Until next time,
Emily xo
