It’s finally World’s Month!

After two years away it’s amazing to see our National and All-Star Teams make their triumphant return to Worlds. While there are currently no Adaptive Abilities categories at IASF Worlds (Hopefully this changes soon!) We do have some outstanding National Teams representing AA at the ICU Worlds.Adaptive Abilities Cheer (formerly known as ParaCheer).

As of Worlds’ 2019 there were 4 Adaptive Abilities categories: Unified Advanced Cheer (Level 4), Unified Median Cheer (Level 3), Unified Hip Hop and Unified Freestyle Pom.

Team Wales have fielded teams in Advanced Cheer, and Pom in previous years, representing in both again in 2022.

I had the great pleasure of following Team Wales AA Advanced Cheer on their journey to Worlds.

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Coaching Staff

Head Coach – Sabrina Mountjoy.

Sabrina has been the head coach for Team Wales Paracheer Pom in 2017 (Winning Gold) and 2018 (Winning Silver) as well as Team Wales AA in 2019 (Winning Silver).

She also head coaches the Wales Adaptive Abilities Coalition (WAAC) and is the SportCheer Wales board representative for Adaptive Abilities and SEN athletes. Sabrina coaches RSD in both Cheer and Dance and a dance lecturer.

Trainee Coach – Lauren Anzani.

Lauren currently coaches and competes with RSD and has been involved with cheerleading and dance for over 20 years, gaining National, Grand and World championship titles along the way.

She has represented Team Wales in both Cheer and Dance in the ICU and IASF World Championships.

Trainee Coach – Carys Hopkins.

Carys has been part of RSD for 15 years and has coached Cheer and dance teams for 10 years. Carys was a member of RSD Legends and has also represented Wales on 3 occasions in the World Championships and was a flyer on the very first Team Wales team back in 2014. She is thrilled to continue to be a part of the cheerleading community through her role as a trainee coach for the Welsh Adaptive Abilities team.

Training

The team have had a total of 10 training sessions, usually running for 4-5 hours per session. They train from October till April either once or twice a month as a full team, alongside any all star training the athletes have with their home teams. They have been lucky enough to be sponsored by three gyms in Wales: RSD, Gymfinity and AZ Elite and their training time has been split across the three.

I had the pleasure of attending a training session at RSD to observe, and this team works hard! They have a lot to work on, with a full Cheer routine as well as their country cheer to warm up the crowd. ICU routines differ in a number of ways to traditional all-star Cheer. Routines are 2:15 instead of 2:30 and do not include a compulsory dance element (although many teams choose to include one). Teams are also required to include a chant element prior to their full routine, similar to a sideline performance of Cheer. Their routine is all inclusive, and uses all athletes to the best of their ability to create a strong routine. They have added some lovely little features to their routine, such as sign language motions within their main routine, as well as sign language in their chant to ensure everyone can get involved. While we don’t want to give too much away, we cannot wait to see what they put out on the World’s floor!

Team Breakdown

All of the current ICU categories use a unified approach to Adaptive Abilities. This means a mixture of disabled and non-disabled athletes. The current stipulation for ICU is that 25% of the team have some form of disability, although some UK competitions only require one athlete to have a disability to enter Adaptive Abilities categories. While the scoring grid for Adaptive Abilities is mostly the same as All-star, there are some clear changes made to ensure the safety of the athletes involved. Although Adaptive Abilities Advanced is classed as Level 4, baskets are not allowed in any routine and there are specific rules surrounding wheelchair users and anyone using ambulatory equipment.

Team Wales AA this year has 22 members in total, with 21 travelling out to compete at ICU Worlds. One member has been training with the team and will perform in the UK, but unfortunately due to their disability and the current Covid restrictions will be unable to travel to the US on this occasion.  With only 5 members previously competing at the World Championships, they have had to work extra hard this season just to get ready! Many of them are from Allstar teams, with a mix of programmes such as RSD, Rebellion Allstars, Gymfinity, Swansea Falcons, Inferno Cheer and Dance and WAAC.

The team this year has a 42% disability ratio (38% when competing in the US) with a mix of disabilities and additional needs. These include Dyspraxia, Irlen Mears Syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos, High-Functioning Autism and Leg amputation. Athletes disclosed by choice and gave permission for these to be referenced.

This is Team Wales AA’s third year representing at ICU Worlds in the Adaptive Abilities Advanced category following a two year break due to Covid. They claimed Silver at the 2019 World championships, and we cannot wait to see if they can make it Gold this year.

Watch out for their performance 20-22 April 2022.

To watch Team Wales AA perform go to the cheerunion.org they will be performing Thursday 21st April 2022 at 4.18pm BST

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