Nice to Meet You!

We are the DMU Saints. We are based in Leicester at De Montfort University and, as of this year, have four teams; Level 1 All-Girl, Level 3 Co-Ed, Varsity Game Squad, and a hip-hop team!

Last season was very successful, with Level 1 All-Girl winning Grand Champions at BCA Uni Nationals as well as the Nations Cup. On top of this, we retained our title of all-time Varsity Champions! Despite these successes, we’ve been making some big changes and have some big plans for this coming season.

We’ve added new committee roles, for example, one of these being Fundraising Officer. We want to put a bigger focus on supporting charities this year and so committee are looking at ways we can do this that are new and different. We are very excited to see how our new Level 3 team, Varsity Squad, and dance team progress, as they are new additions this season as well. We feel very grateful to have this kind of platform given to us and can’t wait to start working with the Hygiene Bank and Primacy Cheer!

 

Meet the Teams!

Here’s a little exclusive for you guys…

We now have new names for our competitive teams! Please meet…

 

SCARLET (Level 1 All-Girl) –

This team is made up of 19 girls. There are a wide range of skillsets within this team, with some members having had experience in cheer before and others not at all! Our lovely coaches, Sarah and Cara, have put a stronger focus on tumbling for this season, as this is an area that Level 1 has struggled in previously. We are pushing as hard as we can to max out the scoresheet this season by bettering our tumbling skills and upping the difficulty on a lot of our stunts and jumps! We are buzzing to try and retain some of the titles we achieved last year…watch this space!

 

MIDNIGHT (Level 3 Co-Ed) –

Our level 3 team is made up of 18 members…17 girls and 1 boy! This team is a new endeavour for this season. Last year, we had a Level 1 and Level 2 team. We were absolutely blown away by the number of people trying out with round-off tucks that the obvious choice was to create a Level 3 team with tucks across the board! For a lot of the team, Level 3 is new territory. This is definitely going to present some challenges BUT, so far, the talent and bravery we have seen in stunts has been amazing and we can’t wait for the team to smash it.

 

Varsity Game Day Squad –

This team continues to grow its members! You might be wondering what this team entails so let me explain! Last year, we ran a development team for those who didn’t make the competitive teams be able to practise and boost their skills. This year, we have instead established the Varsity Squad as a means of more recreational cheer. While this team won’t be competing, they will hopefully be performing at other DMU Sporting events and varsities! This is really exciting as the possibilities for the routines are endless. We can’t wait to see the squad light up lots of sporting events.

 

Hip-Hop Dance Team –

This team is another new endeavour for the Saints! Training for this is going to start in the next few weeks and the team will be taken to comps in the near future. It should shape up to be an amazing team, with many members coming from a dance background. We are also super excited to see our members’ skills improve, dancer or not!

 

Now Let’s Pass Over to Committee…

 

Hey, my name is Abbey and I’m the media secretary for this year. I’m also the person that will be writing these articles with some help from the rest of the committee! I run Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for the Saints, creating content every few days. I also look after all the people that DM me across these accounts…so if you ever message us, you’ll get through to me! I applied for the role because I desperately wanted to see the team get all the recognition they deserve. You can imagine how excited I was to have received this opportunity from Cheer from Head to Toe. I want to expand our reach as far as I can and do so with a strong ‘brand’ identity!

 

Hi, my name is Nia and I am chairwoman for DMU saints this season and I’m really excited to take on this role during my final year of university. Some of the responsibilities I have as the chair is to ensure the club is running effectively and efficiently as well as providing support to the rest of the committee if and when needed! I am looking forward to seeing the Saints return back to the level 3 division and also to see our level 1 team develop and achieve even further than last year’s success!

 

 

 

Hiya, I’m Becca and I’m the vice-chair for the DMU Saints and I am also a base for the level one team! My role is basically taking the weight off of the chair’s shoulders, helping the committee with any issues, helping the team with any issues and being there if anyone needs a chinwag or someone to vent to!

My goals for this season are to make my tumbles look really pretty, making sure everything looks really clean, getting stronger and helping my team put out a routine that looks super sharp and is something we’re all really proud of! Also, as it’s my last year on the Saints I would really love to go out with a bang and finish my time on the mat with a first-place trophy.

 

 

Hi, my name is Wadzi! I’m Treasurer of DMU Saints 19/20 and my role involves overseeing everything finance-wise to do with the team and working alongside the secretary and kit sec to make sure everything is done on time! A goal of mine for this season would be for both teams to place at the comps we attend this year. But what I’m most looking forward to is getting to know everyone on the team and ensuring they have the best time on cheer as it can be strenuous!

 

 

 

 

 

I’m Grace. The course I study at Uni is Design Crafts, in which I specialise in glass blowing. This is my third year on the team, and I’ve enjoyed every moment. I have gone from being last year’s social secretary to this year’s secretary. My role in committee involves a lot of organising, such as: maintaining the clubs email inbox, registering teams for competitions, booking training rooms and transport and logging team members attendances. I am especially excited for this year as it will be the debut for our new level 3 team.

 

 

My name is Fiona and I am the varsity coach for DMU Saints. This means I coach the varsity team that performs at DMU varsity fixtures. I have been a cheerleader for 8 years now and I love being able to be part of university cheerleading after previously doing all-star cheer.

DMU Saints Varsity team-

Last year DMU Saints made a development team alongside competitive teams to promote inclusivity in our sport at DMU. Following this, we have decided to develop this into a varsity team that will perform at varsity fixtures. We are very excited to watch this grow and develop this year; our goal is to promote cheer for all that want to join.

 

 

 

 

My name is Louise Macdonald, I am the current fundraising officer for DMU Saints Cheerleading team. My role within the team is to coordinate events for the team in order for us to raise money for certain expenses that the team may need to pay for, such as Competition kit and fees. This year I also want to try and support charities alongside the team. My personal goal for this year would be to achieve both a front and back walkover. My goal for the team is to win Nationals for the second year in a row and win varsity for the fifth time.

 

Hey! My name is Ashton and I’m the dance coach for this year! In this role, I will be teaching our DMU Saints Hip Hop team a dance routine that can be taken to competitions so we can compete against other universities. I will also be helping our cheerleaders progress their dance skills, so they are able to show these off at showcases. My goal for this season is to make people fall in love with dance as much as I have!

 

 

 

I’m Makala and I am the health and safety officer for the DMU Saints. My role is to ensure the safety and well-being of my fellow team members. This year as health and safety officer I aim to help create a more positive environment for myself and my team to ensure positive physical and mental health. I hope to help make this year the best one yet with my team.

 

 

 

 

I’m Kyle, I’m one of two social secs. My responsibility is to organise socials weekly and to connect the squad in a non-competitive situation. My goal for the Saints is to make everyone feel like they are part of the Saints family and to feel included.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m Saffron and my role is Social secretary. Alongside my fellow social sec Kyle, we both run socials each week together. Socials are fun meetups each week, where we allocate a different theme, and everyone dresses up. We play different games and it’s a good way of socialising with the team outside of training! My goals for the season are to put 100% into training with my team so hopefully, we can win at nationals and also win varsity.

 

Hi, I’m Ellie and I’m the kit officer for DMU Saints 2019/2020. It’s a big year for the saints as we are having such a huge refresh and revamp in terms of competition kit as well as training kit and our logo. I’m so lucky to be able to design all of this and get to see them on the mat! My goals for this season are to stand out from the rest of the Uni cheer teams and really sparkle on the mat. I have such a passion for cheer and the apparel industry, and I want to make everyone as comfortable as possible and bring as much sass as possible to my team.

 

 

A message from our Coaches

 

Hello! We are Sarah & Cara; the Head Coaches of the incredible DMU SAINTS! We are so excited for our 5th season coaching the squads! This year at try-outs we had so much talent that we are pushing for a Co-Ed Level 3 for the first time! We also have an amazingly talented & sassy all-girl level 1 team! Our aim for this season is to increase confidence and hit a clean routine at competitions to do the university and ourselves proud! We look forward to the future and we hope you enjoy following our journey!

 

Is Cheer a Sport?

 

Naturally, as cheerleaders, we all recognise cheer as a high-intensity sport that isn’t for the faint-hearted! We are extremely lucky to receive a lot of support from the university’s sports department which allows us to continue to grow and strive for more. Shoutout to DMU Sports, you know who you are.

 

You can imagine then, how disappointed we were for some of our members who applied for a sports scholarship. Unfortunately, the scholarship applications were rejected on the grounds that Cheerleading isn’t in the commonwealth games, Olympics, or recognised as a BUCS Sport. Here’s our chairwoman, Nia, on the matter;

 

“I personally applied for a scholarship this year as I felt that I fitted the criteria for the ‘elite athlete’. I have competed at the world championships for 6 consecutive years coming up to my 7th year, as well as competing with Team England at the ICU world championships. Due to the cost all-star cheer comes with and with the limited funding, I thought this scholarship would really help towards the expenses of worlds! I was unfortunately denied of this scholarship due to cheerleading not being considered a sport by the vice chancellor’s scholarship guidelines. This was quite disappointing as I feel that despite the recognition cheerleading receives, universities are still not quite realising the importance and success of this sport”.

 

Goodbye for now!

 

I think that covers just about everything you need to know about us before we take you with us on our journey through this season. We really hope you stick around for it! Coming up, we have a charity boxing match and a UNIFORM REVEAL! Not to mention our beautiful training kits are on the way too.

 

Stick around, it’s gonna be a good one!

Love,

DMU Saints xxx

 

If you want to stay updated with everything DMU Saints go to @dmusaints