Everything you need to know about University Cheerleading

 

 

 

Hey Community,

With a new competitive cheer season fast approaching and today being the day a lot of student receive their A-level result. We thought it’d be fun to talk about University cheer and difference between Uni Cheer and Allstar Cheer with the help of  Nottingham Trent Tigers

At Nottingham Trent University they Cheerleading team is called Trent  Tigers hey have 4 different teams, which are a performance squad, a varsity squad and a level 2 and level 3 competition squad.

All squads participate at different events which engage different audiences and this enables them to reach a bigger a group of people and show them what cheerleading is all about.

Performance Squad:

 

Performance squad is a team which people can join if they are starting out in cheer for the first time and  you want to learn from the ground up and they train once a week.

 

 

Varsity Squad:

 Varsity squad is a team which performs at all of the varsity sport performances and does not have a specific level. In varsity you can do whatever stunts you like, as it is all about impressing the audience and getting them excited! Varsity is a mixture of stunting and dancing which can be in a routine from 3-4 minutes long, which is obviously a lot longer than a standard all star cheer routine. Due to there being no specific level it can make it quite difficult at times to create a stunt sequence due to not having to follow a score sheet like in normal cheer. Varsity is lots of fun and whilst also training twice a week, they never know when a performance could be round the corner.

 

 

 

Competition Squads:

 

Their competition teams are both level 2 and 3, and they definitely do not train any differently to how all star teams train. Most of the people who are on level 2 or 3 have competed in all star divisions before and for those that haven’t, they have seriously worked up their stamina and skills to be able to compete at all star level. They train three times a week and compete at three competitions a year, FC University nationals, ICC Nationals, and BCA Nationals even though this year they swapped BCA for Legacy in wales. Our competition squads do a mixture of stunting, tumbling, jumps and dance just like any other standard all star team would do.

 

How does your competition team compare to an All star team?

 

In our level 3 competition team we have three athletes who have competed at the Cheerleading Worlds Championships and also our head coach Stefan has been competing at Worlds since 2011.

Two of our athletes Laura Robertson and Olivia Broad have competed at worlds with Coventry Dynamite one of the most well known programs in the UK and Stefan Warren our head coach and Holly Barton our coach for the 2017-2018 season have both competed at worlds with Genesis Cheer. Holly Barton has said that the difference of training with a worlds team and with Trent Tigers is obviously different when it comes down to the level of stunts and tumbles but when it comes to commitment and conditioning it’s not much different. The level our tigers train to is extremely high and this has helped us walk away with 4 national champion titles and 3 grand champion titles as well.

 

 

 

What does a taster session entail?

 

“When it comes to trying out for tigers it is easy! Just show up to two of our taster sessions where we will teach you a dance in one and how to do some basic stunts in another. Our taster sessions are so much fun and a great way to get a feel for what you are doing, and also the fact you get to meet so many more people is just a bonus! From there we then have tryouts where you will perform the dance you learnt at our taster sessions and show off the stunts we taught you! There is no pressure at all, you don’t have to come with any skills at all, we have teams for everyone to fit in to and you will be surprised by how much you can learn just from a few sessions”

 

 

Another huge benefit of being part of cheerleading whilst at university is the amount of people you will meet! Nottingham Trent Tigers is huge and has so much potential for everyone who wants to join. We have a mixture of sober and going out socials which include trips to the cinema, meals and our famous society night out at ocean where we all dress up in insane fancy dress!

 

 

Why should you get involved with cheerleading at university?

 

Cheerleading is an amazing sport to get into and it doesn’t matter what age you are or what skills you have, cheerleading is for everyone. At university you get the plus of learning different things that you might not have tried before, without having to have done it in the past, whilst also getting to meet so many people at a time where everyone and everything is new around you. It is the perfect opportunity to meet people and socialise in a place you haven’t familiarise yourself with yet!