Only going up

Kick’s Cheer and Events put on their 10th annual cheer celebration, attracting a wide variety of cheerleading clubs and university programs. Hosted over the March 24-25 weekend at the Centre d’excellence Sports Rousseau in Boisbriand, Québec, the Célébration Fiesta Mexicaine hosted the Marauders as one of five collegiate programs competing in the University All-Girl Level 6 category.

There were many programs competing across several different categories, ranging from different age groups and team sizes. Most were independent cheer gyms hailing mostly from nearby locations in Québec and Ontario, and each category had their own top-tier teams that put on excellent routines.

McMaster was the furthest-travelled team in their category this year, competing with programs like the University of Montréal Carabins and the Ottawa Gee-Gees. This is not the first time the Marauders attended this event, having a good reputation at the Québec-hosted competition as regular competitors.

“Originally we were supposed to go to Boston, but when we went to register for it, it was full,” second-year cheerleader Nicole Parker said. “So instead of waiting and possibly not even competing at all, we decided to just go to Montréal — which we’ve been to a lot in the past. It’s always a fun competition and more laid back. It’s not so intimidating. So it is a good way to end the year.”

Last year at Kick’s Célébration, the team finished in a surprising second place, upsetting usual favourites the Gee-Gees and the Western Mustangs. This year, the Marauders had an added challenge of facing a co-ed team despite being in the all-girls category.

"When the results came in I saw every single one of those girls finally see that they had what it takes. That was the moment that I believe will change this organization forever." 

 

Kelly Van Burgsteden
Coach
McMaster Cheerleading

Co-ed teams tend to have an advantage over all-girl programs in cheerleading, usually being able to pull off more physically difficult stunts based on advantages in pure strength. However, to perform well in that category requires a larger number of guys on the team, as there is a higher expected difficulty from these co-ed routines.

Bishop University out of Sherbrooke, Québec was the co-ed program accepted to the category this year, but they landed themselves behind the Marauders in the final rankings due to a couple of falls and bobbles during their routine.

The Marauders designed a technically sound routine for this year’s competition and had a near-perfect score, maxing out their difficulty on several different stunts.

“We looked the best we ever looked, like we were a lot cleaner than we’ve ever been,” Parker said. “And you could see there was a lot of energy in the performance. So it actually was entertaining to watch rather than just everyone looking scared.”

Unfortunately, last season’s success did not carry over to this year’s competition. Their routine was somehow not enough to beat the other competing teams. The Marauders finished in fourth place in their category, with the Carabins hoisting the first place banner once again. Still, the performance itself was a major accomplishment for the program.

“Score wise, we basically almost hit a perfect routine,” said rookie Veronica Miele. “We had two points off I think, so much better than we did last semester, which is a huge improvement for the team. We had so much energy and we were so happy to be there and you could really tell.”

“Though we had a few mistakes in our finally routine of the year in Montréal, I believe there was not a single person in that team that was disappointed,” coach Kelly Van Burgsteden added.

Their performance was especially impressive considering the changes to personnel the team underwent over the course of the season, losing six cheerleaders from the season’s start.

“That amount of girls is a big blow to most teams and would usually result with decreasing the amount of stunts and difficulty in the routine,” said Van Burgsteden. “This team didn’t let this hold their potential back, and instead worked ten times as hard and didn’t even blink when I pushed them way out of their comfort zones to make up for those lost teammates. The end result was that the team was not only able to keep their routine by not losing a single stunt or pyramid, but was also able to increase the difficulty further.”

While the Marauders did not place as highly as they would have liked to, it was by all accounts a great way for the team to finish off their long and arduous season. For Miele, who comes from a dance background, her first year with the program went exceptionally well, noting how well she had personally improved from her first few weeks with the team. The Québec trip was just icing on the cake.

“I’m new on the team, but I thought the competition was a great way to end the season,” Miele added. “It was super relaxed and such a great atmosphere everyone was super encouraging with each other. So I think it was a lot less intimidating than going somewhere where you know that you really need to do well versus somewhere you can do well.”

As the team heads into their offseason and focus on upcoming exams, the cheerleading team will hit the ground running come the new school year, with tryouts beginning in the early weeks of September. Next season already promises to be a strong campaign.

“I think we’ve improved a lot, especially if you ask any of the coaches that have been with the team for four years,” Parker explained. “They say we have such huge potential compared to where the team was a couple of years ago and how far we’ve come in just that couple of months. And that next year, this team can even take it further. We can do better at nationals and we already placed better this year than last year. They think that next year we can even do better, better than fourth which is still very good.”

It is apparent the cheer team is heading in the right direction, trending upwards over the last few seasons and hanging with the best. No matter what competition the cheerleading team decides to participate in next season and where they place at nationals, there is sure to be a lot for the Marauders to cheer for.

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