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You could literally hear the name “Joseph Germani” being whispered around SMK (P) Pudu as – who else? – YouTube star Joseph Germani walked into the compound. He wasn’t just there to make a celebrity appearance, however.

No, he was there as a CHEER Celebrity Supporter, to do his bit and support his new adopted CHEER team – Team Muriel. *cue the confetti

Upstairs in the school hall, the girls of Team Muriel were in the midst of cheer practice, blissfully unaware that their celebrity supporter was about to give them one of THE. BEST. cheer-related memory ever.

And then, boom! Germani was in the house, to excited “HELLO!”s from Muriel and super-fast running around from the R.AGE video crew, capturing every moment of this (some might say) historic meeting of celebrity and team. As a celebrity supporter, Germani was there to, well, support the team. But he took it a step further, giving the team sound advice on top of the usual “Let’s do this!” speech. Before heading in to meet them, he told us what he knew about the team so far – that the team was mostly new, and that the captain, Phuah Hui Ling, felt responsible for Muriel’s failure to bring home the CHEER 2014 trophy. This knowledge spurred him to share his own high school experiences as the top gun in his school’s drama society.

Germani gave the girls of Team Muriel a serious motivational talk before going off into the fun stuff.

Germani gave the girls of Team Muriel a serious motivational talk before going off into the fun stuff.

“I had to lead the drama society, and along the way, there were many decisions I had to make,” he said. “In hindsight, sometimes I made the wrong judgement calls, and as a leader, I felt responsible for the results.” But he stressed that it was important to learn from the mistakes made, and move on. And that was what he wanted to share with Phuah. He also made an effort to reach out to the rest of the girls, despite his earlier nervousness about possibly saying the wrong thing. “What one person says to one team member can affect the entire team,” he worried. But it was all cool. His pep talk on “Don’t just settle, aim to win!” seemed to really impress them, if their stunts after that were any indication. In return, Team Muriel gave their celebrity supporter a crash course in cheerleading!

If Germani ever decides to give up on being a YouTube star/director (please don’t), he definitely can give cheerleading a try. Watch the video and you’ll see why.

Look who successfully managed to ace a cheerleading crash course!

Look who successfully managed to ace a cheerleading crash course!

Phuah and Germani had a heart-to-heart talk about her injuries during the first day of CHEER 2014, which affected the team’s performance on Day 2, causing them to lose out on the coveted CHEER trophy. “I was disappointed,” she said. “I felt like it was my fault.”

But Germani was quick to reassure her that, above all, cheerleading is a team effort. “It’s not up to just one person,” he said. “Winning or losing, it’s all done as a team.”

More words of advice to the team captain, who felt super excited about being able to relate to a celebrity.

More words of advice to the team captain, who felt super excited about being able to relate to a celebrity.

“I’m so happy Joseph is our CHEER Celebrity Supporter,” enthused Phuah after the surprise visit. “When he shared about what he went through in high school, I could really relate to him. I can’t believe I can actually relate to a celebrity! I’m also glad I could share my cheerleading story with him.”

When meeting a celeb, always document said meeting with a picture!

When meeting a celeb, always document said meeting with a picture!

 

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