“My cheerleading journey started 15 years ago at the age of 6 with Bath All Starz Cheerleading, who I stayed with for 12 years. This is a small team who train in a village hall with two rollout mats to stunt and tumble. Although small, this team was my first cheer family and made me fall in love with cheerleading, all thanks to my amazing coach Ashia.
“I was nervous about starting uni and being on a different team, however the nerves didn’t last long as Falcons made me feel so welcome and excited from the very first taster session. This is where I also met Meg Stovell, my first year Falcons coach and president, who helped me with getting to Bournemouth Elite for my first try-out there.
“My first competition with Falcons was a success as we won grand national champions at Legacy University Nationals in London, which was really exciting. Unfortunately, due to Covid, this was the first and last competition of the season.
“After Covid and in my final year of university, I was lucky enough to win cheerleader of the year for Falcons, be placed on the level 5 worlds team at Bournemouth Elite, be awarded a sports scholarship through the university and be elected as Vice President for Falcons. This was all alongside studying for my Physiotherapy degree which came with 1,000 hours of placement hours throughout the course, making training and working difficult at times.”
“My favourite Falcons memory has to be our first comp of the season post-Covid, Future Cheer University Nationals in Manchester where, again, we came 1st place for coed level 3 and national grand champions. The team worked so hard with amazing coaching from Josie to put out an All Star-worthy cheer routine. Alongside this, Varsity day and our Falcons showcase are memories that I’ll remember forever.
“The Cheerleading World Championships was a dream come true and still something I’m trying to process. As a team who largely hadn’t competed at the tournament before, our aim was to make it through to finals and place top 10. Not only did we make it through to day two, but we also gained fourth place, less than 1 point away from the top three.
“It didn’t stop there; the end of the season brought about more awards at the Sports Ball, where I was awarded Sports Personality of the Year, as well as getting university colours, Falcons being crowned Team of the Year and our amazing coach Josie winning coach of the year! And further on at our Falcons awards night I was awarded Team Spirit for level 3.
“I would like to thank Ashia, Zoe, Graham, Fiona, Josie and Meg for coaching me throughout my years of cheerleading and pushing me to be the best athlete I can be, as well as SportBU for the amazing opportunity to be a sport scholar for BU, and Dan for leading many strength and conditioning sessions. Most importantly, my parents for always supporting me and making all my opportunities possible.”
