Ready? Okay!
For those of you who may not know, Prince George has competitive cheerleading and the efforts in its first season as a full squad paid off earlier this month at the inaugural B.C. Cheerleading Championships in Kamloops.
On April 14, the Senior All-Stars were crowned champions, the first ever in the province’s history, reaching the top of the podium (or pyramid to take advantage of cheerleading jargon) out of more than 50 teams in the entire competition.
“It feels amazing, I’m so proud of all the athletes and the parents couldn’t be more supportive as well as we try to grow cheerleading in Prince George in a new way,” said PGASC Head Coach Jessica MacDonald to PrinceGeorgeMatters, who kickstarted the program after spending three seasons (2015-2018) helping the Prince George Secondary school cheer squad.
The All-Stars also had a Junior team cheering at provincials, finishing second in their respective category, with some competitors from elementary school.
“My youngest athlete is six years old and my oldest is 17,” explained MacDonald, adding that there are over 30 local cheerleaders in her program; 21 competitive, while the rest are recreational. “A lot of athletes were looking for something new when I started the All-Stars. They were coming from a background in dancing, gymnastics, ice skating, and others, and they wanted to try something with more variance and skill sets they can further develop.”
She explicitly states, however, that this form of cheerleading is much different than the stereotypical cheerleaders at high-school sporting events.
Competitive cheerleading became an official sport in B.C. in 2015 under the Society Act after Cheer Canada was formed, breaking away from the International All-Star Federation, which governed many national organizations.
This gave each province in Canada the chance to host their own provincial championship, with hopes of creating a National competition in the years to come.
MacDonald, a cheerleader herself since 2010 when she joined a university team in New Brunswick, claims the grind is just as hard as any other sport.
“It's amazing what cheerleaders can do. Not only do you have to memorize and perform a two-and-a-half-minute [2:30] routine, but there are so many distractions that could affect you both mentally and physically. It takes a lot of focus because the littlest thing can cause an injury.”
“We start with the fundamentals,” she further explained to PrinceGeorgeMatters after putting together a top-level routine prior to the start of PGASC’s provincial-title campaign. “We know what we have to put on a strong performance, so as we get closer to competition, that’s when we do our full-on routine and make sure everything is exactly the way we want it to be.”
As for what’s next for the Prince George All-Stars, they’ve signed up for the Okanagan Cheerleading Championships on Saturday (April 27).
Despite having to continue with practices in preparation for the Kelowna competition, MacDonald is still trying to contain a big smile after watching her athletes at provincials.
“I’m still running on the high of it of it all,” she said with a gleeing giggle. “So exciting to see a first [provincial] competition succeed as well. The organizers were professional, there was a full day of teams performing, but to see all of our hard work pay off was just amazing. Our athletes really put in everything they had and all the teaching they’ve taken from practices and they put it out on the floor. You could see the nerves right before they went on the floor, but they just killed it.”
MacDonald encourages those interested in becoming a Prince George All-Star to sign up for their Spring session starting May 13 running until June 19.
More information is available on the PGASC website.
