SHARMILA NAIR
alltherage@thestar.com.my
The Titadyn All-Girls captain wants to prove that her team from Chong Hwa Independent High School, Kuala Lumpur, is a worthy contenders at the inter-school cheerleading competition.
“This is our first year participating in a national cheerleading competition. We are very new, but with the experience we gained from Cheer 2012, I’m sure that we will be better next year,” said Chew, 16.
The Titadyn All-Girls finished 20th at Cheer 2012, and were one of the three new teams competing this year.
Their sister team, Titadyn Co-Ed, and team Glorious from SMK Taman Ehsan, Kuala Lumpur, were the other newbies at Cheer 2012.
“We were so excited to be at Cheer 2012. It was really awesome to be competing against big teams such as Cyrens and Dynamitez,” said Glorious captain Yusmyra Natasya, 17. Her team finished 23rd this year.
She had attended Cheer last year and was really impressed with what she witnessed there.
Yusmyra then quickly returned to her school to convince her teachers and friends to allow her to start a cheerleading team.
“My teachers didn’t understand why I wanted to join Cheer. They just thought that it was an event for a bunch of girls to wave their pompons around.
It was only after they saw how we practised and the kind of effort we put into our routines that they understood how impressive it is,” said Yusmyra.
The Glorious girls then hired professional coaches to train them for the major event.
They worked hard at learning the basic moves and gradually included difficult stunts into their routine.
“We are still very new, and our moves are quite basic compared to the other teams. But give Glorious some time, we will definitely come back with a stronger routine,” she said.
Lim Yu Qian, of Titadyn Co-Ed, also wants to make a bigger impression at Cheer next year.
They finished seventh in the co-ed category.
The team captain said that some of her team mates didn’t get to finish their routine this year as they were out of breath.
“Some of us couldn’t complete the set. We had been practising in preparation for Cheer 2012 for six months but that’s obviously not enough. We need to work harder to make sure that we stay energetic throughout the routine,” said Lim, 16.
“We will definitely be at Cheer next year and we want to finish in the top five. Just watch out for us!”
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