The count down to Worlds begins!

This year, we have some incredible National Teams in the UK representing Adaptive Abilities (formerly known as Paracheer) at the ICU Worlds.

There are currently 4 Adaptive Abilities categories at ICU:

Unified Advanced Cheer (Level 4),

Unified Median Cheer (Level 3),

Unified Hip Hop and Unified Freestyle Pom.

Team England for the first time this year has teams in both the Advanced and Median categories.

I have had the great honour of Coaching the Team England AA Advanced Coed team for the 22-23 season and have been able to follow their amazing journey to Worlds.

First a quick introduction tell who we are

Cheer From Head To Toe (CFHTT) was born out of a need to address the inadequate representation of the UK cheer community online. Over the years, our platform has transformed into a comprehensive resource dedicated to empowering and educating athletes, cheer dancers, coaches, cheer parents, and anyone eager to accelerate their learning and excel in this dynamic sport.

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Coaching Staff

Miranda Burn

Molly-Jo Thorner

Emma Godfrey

Training

The team trains every Sunday for 2.5 hours as a full team, alongside any all star training the athletes have with their All Star teams.

This is generally done at their home gym, Phoenix All-stars, with occasional external training sessions.

They have a lot to work on, with a full Cheer routine as well as their country cheer to warm up the crowd. As explained last year in our Team Wales article ICU routines differ in a number of ways to traditional all-star Cheer.

Click hear to read Team Wales Journey to worlds article

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.

” Sideline cheerleading is a term sometimes used to differentiate between team support cheerleading and competitive cheerleading, even though not all cheering may be done on the Sideline. Sideline cheers are performed on the periphery of the field or court to encourage the team and keep the audience energized while the game is going on.”

Love to know/ 2023

Adaptive Abilities also have a slightly different score sheet to most National ICU teams.

There is a lower quantity needed of both tumbles and jumps, with the focus on stunting and inclusivity within the routine. There are also some clear changes made to the rules 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 England AAA have been working hard to build a strong, inclusive routine that incorporates all of their athletes in the best possible way!

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.

Team England AAA this year has 29 members in total, with 24 competing at ICU Worlds. With only 2 members previously competing at the World Championships, it’s been a lot of hard work to get everyone ready to compete!

The set up of Team England AAA has been slightly different this season, as the opportunity was provided for an All Star team to apply to represent Team England AA in both the Median and the Advanced categories.

Momentum Cheer were chosen to represent in the median category after their incredible silver place at ICU 2022, while Phoenix Allstars were selected to represent AA Advanced for the first time.

Phoenix then opened up try-outs to all local teams, with the aim to make the strongest most inclusive team possible. Currently on the team are athletes from a number of local clubs including Phoenix themselves, Predator Athletics, GCA, RSD ,Angels Dance Academy and Ministry of Beats.

The team this year has a 33% disability ratio with a mix of disabilities and additional needs. These include Autism, SVT, Arthritis, APD, ME among others. In order to train and compete safely, three of the athletes rely on ambulatory equipment i.e Wheelchairs. Athletes disclosed by choice and gave permission for these to be referenced.

This is Team England’s fourth year competing in the AA Advanced category (2017,2018,2019), and the first time an Allstar team has been chosen to represent.

With more and more countries getting involved in AA Cheer, this is looking to be the biggest year yet with the largest category since the beginnings of Paracheer/Adaptive Abilities Cheer in 2017.

Here at Cheer From Head To Toe we will be cheering the team on and cannot wait to see what they achieve! Make sure to tune in April 19-21 to see all the action.

Want to keep up to date with Team England AAA check them out here

Please click here to read our article with Team England Adaptive abilities athletes and coaches

Adaptive Abilities Division – All You Need To Know

How to Get Started in Adaptive Sports

Coach Molly Team England Adaptive Abilities Advanced

Kaitlyn Team England Adaptive Abilities Advanced

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