Regular readers might be asking themselves why the London Rockets have voted for Paula Abdul as our favourite cheerleader ev-ver, especially if they’re in the UK…
Although it’s widely known here that the guest judge for X Factor is also an ex-cheerleader and therefore automatically awesome – her new show on MTV ‘Paula Abdul’s RAH! Cheerleader Bowl’ just put her in the hall of fame for sure.
The show sounds like an amazing mix of competitive cheer and pep rally fun – it only aired on Saturday night in the USA so not sure when MTV Europe will pick it up but here’s hoping it’s soon.
You can catch an interview with Paula about the show below and if anyone out there has the power to bring this baby to the UK please do – because the London Rockets are ready to say ‘RAH’ at Paula Abdul!
There’s nothing like New Year Cheer to make you want to be a cheerleader!
Those of you who were lucky enough to catch the Universal Cheerleader Association at the London New Years Day Parade this year would have seen some real American-style cheerleading on the streets of London – we know it impressed you because every year here at Cheerleading Rocks we get hundreds of emails from revelers asking how they can become cheerleaders here in the UK. Well, here’s your chance! Are you ready to cheer?
Cheer in the UK
Cheerleading is here in the UK and has been for over twenty years. It has developed from sideline dancing with pom poms to a respected competitive sport with parity to gymnastics. It is governed by a number of bodies and is promoted in schools and universities all over the country. It has also developed through gyms in addition to Dance and Gymnastic clubs. This latter of these is how the London Rockets Cheerleaders developed – as a team in it’s own right.
The London Rockets are an All Star team who train once a week specifically to compete but we also take part in exciting events such as West End Live and cheer in the British Basketball League.
If you’re not ready for that commitment or are not yet 18 there are still lots of ways to get involved and this year the London Rockets are promoting several classes and starter clubs that you can take part in – get in touch using the email below for more information.
Ready for the challenge?
The London Rockets are holding their midseason tryouts on Wednesday 18th February 2009, all you need to do to get involved is to add yourself to the Facebook event by clicking the Facebook logo below or by emailing cheerleadingrocks@googlemail.com for an application form.
Well, that all depends on whether you’re a sports blog writer trying to get hits I guess…
Yes, according to these guys at least, 2008 was the year for cheerleading news. They do make some interesting points about traffic increase whenever they feature a cheerleading story but it could also be the type of story they choose – as they freely admit, anything that gives them an excuse to feature a gratuitous shot of the Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders is fair game.
Here at Cheerleading Rocks, the blog that follows the progress of UK cheer as well as the London Rockets Cheerleaders, we freely admit to only featuring stories about cheerleading. So any story that allows us to feature gratuitous shots of cheerleaders being athletes is fair game as far as we’re concerned.
The guys over at the sports blog do have a point though, whenever cheerleading is in the news you can guarantee that it’ll be presented in a certain way and therefore attract attention. So, in light of this, we’re going to present our own round up of cheerleading news and hopefully present a more balanced view than girls in skirts doing crazy stuff.
The Year Cheerleading went international?
One of the most memorable sights during the 2008 Beijing Olympics (remember, this is from a cheerleaders perspective) after all the amazing gymnastics and diving had to be the Chinese Cheerleaders. They received training and ‘tips’ from New England Patriots Cheerleaders and in almost every article written the words ‘glitz’ and ‘glamour’ can be seen as well as the promise that they would also be able to help the crowds with questions (so a dancing tour guide then?) No mention of any athleticism or indeed cheering. After much, much digging however there is evidence to suggest that some squads (there were many thousands of cheerleaders who performed as part of the Olympics ranging from dancers who’d been given pom poms to real cheerleaders from university teams) did indeed stunt and cheer. Sack the photographer but at least you can see she was clearly thrown (pretty high) in the air. A shame she didn’t throw a shape out while she was up there but at least her toes are pointed and you know what they say, you can’t have everything.
Cheerleaders at the Beijing Olympics 2008
A cheerleader is thrown into the air during the Australia Canada game
From China then to India in the quest to find real cheerleading news and what do we find? Cheerleaders at the centre of a political controversy no less. The IPL Cricket organisers (yes, cricket) decided to add ‘glitz’ and ‘glamour’ to the literally hundreds of thousands spectator attended games by bringing in cheerleaders from overseas. Papers and new sites all over the world covered this story with shots of American style cheerleaders standing with little clothing on and legs splayed.
I’m sure they didn’t spend the whole day like that but this isn’t about the facts, this is news. Indian politicians were so enraged by the sight of the girls that they called for a ban and London based dancers who had been hired to attend the events in place of the many UK squads that were asked to attend (London Rockets included) reported being racially abused by the fans. Not a great introduction to cheerleading for India but it does look as though things are set to improve – new uniforms and Indian dancers have been brought in for the next round of matches. Go India!
New Cheerleaders for India
Our own homegrown version of cheerleading is on the up in 2008. It continues to be the fastest growing sport for young men and women and is being developed in schools, colleges and universities as well as in clubs all over the country and yet it is still not being reported accurately, even from the US. Take this article from the Cox News network that fails to acknowledge that cheer has been in this country since the early 1980’s and has already far surpassed the ‘glitz’ and ‘glamour’ model (did you see it, did you?) so often focused on. The article could easily have been written in the 1990’s as it contains no mention of the type of programs that are developing and of course cites ‘Bring it On’ as a reference. All could be about to change though, a well known publication is currently writing an article on the development of cheerleading in the UK so here’s hoping that will prove more reflective of the reality of being a UK Cheerleader.
Of course no news round up for cheerleading would be complete without a story from the USA. I’d be remise if I didn’t mention the story of the the mother who wanted to be a cheerleader so badly that she pretended to be her daughter. You can’t make this stuff up. The update is that she has been found innocent on an insanity plea. As our American cousins say ‘well, duh’. Sad though this story is, it does prove a useful tool for illustrating the point of the guys on the Sports Blog – would this story have got half the attention it did if the mother had desperately wanted to be on the basketball team? Probably not. Would it make the story any less sad? Of course not but for some reason it makes it more newsworthy and that is something we cheer coaches have to consider every time we do anything.
As we wrap up 2008, it’s safe to say that most cheerleaders will be hoping Santa is bringing them a copy of All Star Cheer for the Wii (or that someone on their squad will get one and host a sleepover) but how ‘real’ is it? Will it just feature ‘glitz’ and ‘glam’ or does the game have game? From the look of the below we need not worry – it might be that the most realistic and true reflection of our sport to appear in the media this year, will arrive in the form of a video game.
From all at Cheerleading Rocks and the London Rockets Cheerleaders – Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. See you all in 2009 for tryout info and lots more.
A big congratulations to our All Girl Stunt Group who competed this weekend at Future Cheer’s London Regional – Winter Wonderland.
The Rockets brought home a 3rd place trophy and were extremely pleased and proud with the start to the season.
Well done to Emma S, Rosie, Luce and Stef and a big thank you to all the London Rockets who came to support the team, it was truly a sight to come out to all the signs and christmas poms!
LRC
Our next competition is in February when we will compete as a whole team.
If you are looking to join a team in London or looking to train over Christmas, come to our camp on Saturday 13th December.
The camp will be coached by one of the top coaches in the UK. There are places still available and it could lead to an invite to tryout.
