Cheerleading steps away from stereotyped images

If you don’t think the cheer really has for the most part really been taken out of cheerleading, just head over to Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School this Saturday night.

You’ll be in for a big surprise. What you’ll see is not your stereotypical image of pom-pom girls jumping up and down in unison while belting out supportive songs - although teams still have the option to cheer. Instead, you’ll witness athletes, performing in a high-risk sport consisting of stunts, tumbling and dance. A sport, many knowledgeable observers feel one day will stand on its own, without teams to support, as a judged event.

Beginning at 7:30, the West-Island based North Shore Cheerleading Association’s (NSCA) mini, youth, junior, senior and open competitive teams will be presenting a preview of the routines each will feature at the upcoming provincial competition, scheduled to take place May 19-20 in Quebec City. It will be the largest provincial tournament ever, with 1,500 cheerleaders, including 100 from North Shore, participating.

“We never turn people away for appearance reasons,” said Ruth Rabey, a member of the NSCA executive. “But we do have tryouts for each team. The athletes have to have a certain amount of dance and flex abilities because these are competitive teams. We do cheer for some North Shore Football Association teams, but we’re not associated with North Shore football. Our primary goal is to train our athletes for competitions.”

To prove just how serious the NSCA is about competing, it recently joined the Quebec Cheerleading Association a partnership it says allows it to attend more serious competitions.

“Those involve teams performing a two-and-a-half minute routine combining dance, stunts and pyramids, all choreographed to music,” said Rabey. “Routines take quite a while to put together, usually a couple of months before the actual competition. The routines are altered right up to the last minute as well, depending on what the teams are capable of.”