Sports Ball

Saturday 23 February saw the biggest sporting social event of the year; The Sports Ball, held at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. We were well represented and throughout the night the teams photos could be seen on the huge screens on stage.

Future Cheer Triumph

We competed for the very first time as a team last weekend at Future Cheer's Saturday Night Fever Competition.

After a full day of routines, the awards were announced. The Celtics took home four first place trophies for University/Open All-Girl Level 5, All-Girl Open Stunt Group Level 5, Mike and Rachel Partner Stunt level 6 and Co-Ed Open Stunt Group level 6. Two 2nd place trophies for University/Open Co-Ed 6 and Tim and Sarah Partner Stunt 5. They were also proud of James and Laura, Sophie and Jen who both entered Partner Stunt 5, placing 4th and 6th respectively.

This weekend was a tremendous accomplishment for the Celtics, seeing their Co-Ed Group Stunt defending their title for the 16th time in a row, their All-Girl team were favourites to win the Grand Champion title and their Co-Ed team displaying complex and inspiring stunts and pyramids previously unseen in the UK, securing their consistent ranking as some of Britain’s best cheerleaders.

Post comp, the training and competition pressure seems to have caught up with everyone, especially Laura who has Bronchitis! During the competition day I thought I was going to die; the night before I didn't comit to a basket and torpedoed head first into Tim Burnett's chest from my arabian split full basket leaving me seeing stars and one side of my neck was a lot bigger than the other!

Celtic's in the Dragon's Lair

Yesterday Sophie and I arrived at the Careers Centre on campus to pitch for the Leeds Celtics, to the Proctor and Gamble Dragon's Lair team in a bid to win the team £250 and then potentially £10,000.

We will find out later today!

My Celtics Really Are Lovely

Yesterday saw round one of our Celtic's photoshoot, which turned out to be a slight disaster. The studio man went missing and we were kicked out early, but it was a good turn out from the team considering the short notice.

Here are a few photos which will be appearing on our website http://www.celticcheer.co.uk/ shortly.

Tim's Diamond Head

Tim "The Machine" Stevenson saw this stunt whilst researching the cheerleading team at the University of Illinois wher he will be visiting later this year (when he scoots off to America as part of his PhD!)

...This is what happened when he tried it himself.

Celtics on BCC Radio Leeds

Saturday 9th February saw Sophie Ibbotson and Tim Peffers (or Peefers) and myself take to the airwaves at 11:40 on BBC Radio Leeds with DJ Graham Liver. We were interviewed covering topics from who the Celtics are, what cheerleading is and what we hope to achieve in the future.

The intention of our interview was to create a wider awareness for cheerleading as a sport; because cheerleading is not classed as a performing art or a sport it is almost impossible to secure sponsorship from companies who believe that we, in the words of Graham Liver, dance around with “pom poms and wear short skirts.”

We were asked if we could perform one of our Celtic ‘chants’ (in true stereotypical fashion) but considering the style of cheerleading we practice, namely stunts and gymnastics and the notable absence of the chanting, the producers decided not to record and broadcast a chant but instead concentrate on our team’s ambitions to compete abroad in May.

The interview can be heard on the Listen Again section on the BBC Radio Leeds website

Leeds Celtic Cheerleaders Race for Life

Race for Life is Cancer Research UK’s flagship event that has grown to become the UK’s largest women-only fundraising event.

Find out more about Race for Life and who takes part.

In 2007 Race for Life brought together 665,000 women to walk, jog or run 5k to raise £40 million pounds for Cancer Research UK – the world’s leading independent organisation dedicated to cancer research.

The Celtics are proud to be representing the squad in their community, taking part in Temple Newsam starting at 10:30am on May 18th and are hoping to contribute towards the fundraising target of £247000. To contribute to the Celtic's fundraising target you can donate online or for more information or to communicate with the girls taking part visit our Facebook group

Reading University Cheerleaders and Royal Holloway Tomcats on Blue Peter

I just wanted to share the video of Reading University Cheerleader's and the Royal Holloway Tomcats teaching the Blue Peter presenters, Andy Akinwolere and Konnie Huq how to cheer!!

http://leedsac.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=8570886515

Read Konnie's account on her Blue Peter Blog or visit the RHT cheerleading news page for the full story.

The Miami Dolphins cheerleaders were in London for their team’s home game at Wembley on Sunday October 28th against the New York Giants, they had been touring the city spreading the word about American football. The Miami Dophin Cheerleaders also took time out to help with the presenters' challenge.

Mats at last!

As we have training tonight, I thought it was high time we moved the mats from the sports hall to the Comer Terrace so we can train on them! So Katie, Mike, James and I met Tim 2 in the union so I could sign my driving license away (we had permission to use the union van!) Geoff in the ARC (Activities and Resource Centre) warned me that if I scraped the van it would probably cost me £1000 to repair (and it wouldn't be the first time it would have happened). So, after traipsing around campus to various different places to get the keys, sign the papers etc we found ourselves in the security office where we were asked to provide ID, which is fine, but he didn't care who from!! He thought he was really funny and asked for some conformation that we were authorised to use the van, so we told him he would have to call the ARC. In response he informed us that that was no use unless we were in the sea with lots of animals

*awkward silence.

Well, once at our (My new vehicle) we discovered it wasn't a van at all but the 'Night Bus', an 8 person people carrier! Our new shiny mats wouldn't have fitted even if I could have moved the seat forward enough to be able to touch the pedals!

We ended up carrying them snail-style from one side of campus to the other, when I say we I mainly mean Tim2, James and Mike (Katie and I were trying) and Tats turned up just in time to move the last mat.

I can't wait to train now!

Random Celtics

As a random experiement to see what I could find on the internet about our squad, I typed 'Leeds Cheerleaders' into google and found this little snippet on the Sport and Physical Activity site at Leeds University.

Sheffield Storm draws in the crowds at Meadowhall!! Sat 24th November 2007

Sheffield Storm All Stars spent the weekend at Meadowhall entertaining shoppers with breathtaking stunts, loud music and outstanding talent.

Leeds Celtic All Stars kindly provided some of their All Girl squad and a partner stunt duo to wow the crowds on Sat. They performed amazing lib sequences, super high baskets and showed off their amazing flexibility all in aid of recruiting young girls and guys for Sheffield Storm All Stars 2008 squad. From 10 till 4 the team continued to draw deep crowd. Some people stayed for hours mesmerized by the stunts. Hopefully we did not cause too much disruption in to the nearby stores.

The event was a huge success with over 100 girls and guys signing up to tryouts with Sheffield Storm (on 9th and 16th Dec, see tryout page). We sincerely hope the amazing talent of the girls and guys who performed at Meadowhall has inspired young people to join the squad'

We would like to thank Meadowhall staff for kindly allowing us to use the fantastic space and also to Leeds Celtics for inspiring all of the 100+ who signed up for our squad.

"Some athletes throw balls, but cheerleaders throw athletes!" a post by our very own Beth Kay in response to the recent Daily Mail article, It's the attack of the killer pom-poms at Britain's most bizarre championship"

Cheers, Manning Stainton!
May 2006

When Julie Croft of Leeds University Cheerleading squad asked Manning Stainton estate agents for a donation to help buy smart new kitbags, the company didn’t hesitate…“Certainly,” they said, “We’re about to present our annual branch and staff awards so come and help us celebrate!”

The award-winning squad is on a bit of a high right now, having won a succession of Dance Championships last year, the UK Cheerleading Association Bredbury Cup for outstanding contribution to the sport of cheerleading – and they’re heading for Orlando this year for the USA Championships!

Squad members (60 in total and growing) are all University students reading a diverse range of subjects from Physics to Law, Accountancy to Graphic Design and practically everything in between…

Winners of Manning Stainton’s annual Pride Awards – given to staff right across the branch network – were on hand to try out some of the routines, together with director Jacquie Howard who brought along the Sunday Times “Top 100 Small Companies to Work For” trophy recently presented to the Group.

Said Julie: -“Manning Stainton responded very quickly to our request and we’re extremely grateful for the donation. We may be a top Cheerleading team, but at the end of the day we’re still students!”

Celtics in Calendar

Leeds RAG (Raise and Give) has a produced a fantastic calendar for 2008 featuring all your favourite sports teams…naked!

The calendar features 12 teams including: Men’s Rugby, Cheerleaders, Women’s Rugby, Volley ball, Men’s Tennis and more…

Your copy can be purchased for only £3 from CATS, the RAG office or from Union foyer from 10-4 on Thursday 24th.

Cheerleaders triumph at ICC Regionals

The Celtic's were featured in the Leeds Student Paper:

24/01/2008

The Leeds Celtics have wiped the gymnasium floor clean once again, being placed first in every division that they entered at the recent ICC Northern Regional competition held here in Leeds. Against tough competition the Senior Group Stunt, Senior Co-ed Group Stunt, Senior All Girl and Open Co-ed teams all achieved first place positions. Mike McMahon and Rachel Pearson, Stunt and Sophie Ibbotson and Jennifer Ingram both won in the pairs events. The Celtics are next in action at the 'Heart of England' Championships on Valentines Day.

Zodiac's TV Debut

One of our cheer squad friends, the South Coast Zodiacs were featured on ITV Local earlier this week.

Title: Sussex Cheerleaders
Short Abstract: Gymnastics and human pyramids with the Southcoast Zodiacs
Direct Link: http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/news/?player=MER_news2_26&void=146811

Andrew Wick, Coach of the Southcoast Zodiacs believed that, "The Leeds Celtics have taken cheerleading to the next level in more ways than one. Firstly by stepping up the mark on stunting/tumbling ability and by offering help to whoever needs it, to try and bring everyone to the same level. The cheer community would not be the same without the Celtics, everyone admires and inspires to reach that level. The Celtics have helped my team on more than one occasion with new skills, support and generally being approachable. Looking to the future i think Leeds Celtics will continue to work hard and be positive role models for the whole of the cheerleading community."

Our next competition is less than a month away, and I want to wish them, and every team competing, Good Luck!