After supporting the rest of the Thompson Rivers University athletics teams this year, the WolfPack cheer squad are going to their first competition of the year. They will be attending the Alberta Cheerleading Association Total Spirit Championships Mar 8-10 th at West Edmonton Mall.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="333"]
WolfPack co head coach Taryn Polson (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption]
“The championships are held every year at the West Edmonton Mall Ice Palace,” says WolfPack co head coach Taryn Polson. “ We will be joining 150 other teams at various levels. It is the biggest competition in Alberta and we are looking forward to meeting other teams from a different province. “
The competition hosts high school cheer and dance, university cheer, all-star programs competitive recreational teams) that vary in age from three to adult in six levels of competition.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="333"]
WolfPack co head coach Shannon Blakely (Andrew Snucins photo)[/caption]
The WolfPack will be taking 22 athletes to this event and will be competing in the Open Level 4 division. “ We compete at level four out of six,” explains co-head coach Shannon Blakely. “ What this means is that we must hit a certain skill requirement to compete but also have restrictions in place in regards to what we can do within a routine. The Open Level 4 division is for athletes over the age of 18 and can be from an all-star, recreation or university program.”
The event is for three days but the WolfPack will compete only once, Saturday (Mar 9).
“We only get one go on our routine for the full score,” Polson states.
In their competition, the WolfPack have some tough opposition. “There are two from the Edmonton area and one from Calgary,” says Blakely. “ Our goal is to place in the top three and come home with a trophy while gaining experience prior to our next and final competition of the season. Within Level 4, we also have the opportunity to compete for Level 4 Grand Champions which goes to the highest scoring team of all age divisions within Level 4. At the competition, we are judged in a variety of areas: tumbling skills, jumps, stunts, tosses, pyramid, dance and also the level of difficulty and execution scores. We also face a deductions judge who will take off points for balance checks, falls, timing issues and the like. It can be a complicated process but ensures that we strive to excel in every area of the sport.”
The WolfPack have been training for competition since September. “It’s the best the team has ever looked,” Polson says. “It is amazing to see the difference and range of difficulty the team has been able to master since we first started after tryouts. We have skills of a much higher difficulty this year compared to last. Our tumbling (gymnastics skills) have increased tenfold and it will definitely reflect on our score sheet.”
She adds that they have been utilizing a policy of making every practice run better than their last and feel the Cheer team program as a whole is moving in the right direction.
The WolfPack will travel to Edmonton with the Kamloops Gymnastics and Tumbling Center Outlaws senior team (ages 14-18).
Their other competition is the Sea to Sky International Cheerleading Competition in late March.
