Tim's Diamond Head

To add to Tim's Diamond head skills,

Paul and Mish are both working on theirs too...

before you know it we'll have a whole squad of them!

Our Last Partner Stunt?

Looking to the future has made me realise that my cheerleading career could be nearing it’s end. It seems a strange concept to me, especially considering the past manic six months we have just had with intensive training and competing at three different competitions.

This year we have chosen to compete with FC and ICC events. We can no longer participate at other companies as the different organisation’s rules do not correspond with each other, meaning we would have to keep changing our routines. Unfortunately FC do not have another competition in England until their Nationals in July, and ICC have just had their Nationals last weekend and will not be hosting another competition until August.

I will be especially sad to leave my team, and desperately would like to compete with them again. But in July I will be moving back home and Mike, my stunt partner, has just been accepted into the police, so will be moving back home too at the start of summer.

So I wanted to share our last partner stunt routine with you.

I hope you enjoy it.

Leeds Student Paper Again...

Once again, the Celtics made the student paper! Only This time on page 3!

To view the article click here or follow the link:

http://leedsstudent.lsrfm.com/news/Celtics+cheer+their+way+to+victory+and+win+record+of+six+trophies/

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

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.

Britain's Got Talent

With the second season of auditions for Britain's Got Talent well underway, I thought I would share our experience of the previous series.

We had been stunting all day in Hyde Park, enjoying the sunshine and after having a BBQ retired back to our house to watch the premier of Britain's Got Talent on Saturday, June 9, 2008 at 9.25pm. As well as coverage on ITV1, we were also featured on ITV2's nightly spin-off show Britain's Got More Talent.

The main aim for the Celtics was to bring cheerleading into the limelight, to show the public what cheerleading involves. From our exposure on this program we received a lot of positive feedback, and believe that we took a step towards our goal. There was however a lot at stake with a chance to win £100,000 cash and the chance to perform in front of the Queen at this Royal Variety Performance.

At our first audition in March, the ceiling in the audition room was to low to stunt, but fortunately the waiting area had a ceiling that was just high enough (although I could touch the ceiling.) The first stunt we threw caught everyone’s attention and the whole room gasped since it appeared that I was being launched into the roof. But once we had established how much room we had, we threw as many stunts as we could. We were interviewed by ITV and ITV2 and thoroughly secured our places into the next round.

On stage at the next audition in front of a live audience, our routine went really well, showcasing some of our best stunts. The audience were really loud and supportive and the frequently heard “Off! Off! Off! Off!” chant (the audience had a say in the vote too) was no where to be heard. Simon Cowell, looked apprehensive and his interest was instantly lost when we announced that we were cheerleaders! He pressed his buzzer as soon as we started, but Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden saw us through to the end.

The judges verdicts; “Where are the pon poms?” asked Simon Cowell moaning and looking very unimpressed saying that “(cheerleading) is just an excuse for guys to look up girls skirts!” This didn’t go down well with the other two judges, or the audience and a loud “Boooo” erupted in the auditorium. Piers though it was “Different and entertaining to watch,” and believed that it was an act that the television audiences would like to watch. “I love it when young people get together to unite in a common goal, seeing you as a team on that stage giving it 110% makes me proud,” gushed Amanda. The Celtics were sent through to the next round!

We even had the opportunity to put Ant and Dec into stunts. Dec did surprisingly well, as the Celtics put him into an elevator stunt but Ant didn’t even make it into the load before falling on his back. The boys were very supportive of the Celtics and wished us luck before leaving.

James Hart described it as, “Absolutely crazy, the stage was huge, the audience were loud and the adrenaline was pumping, the only thing that spoilt it was Simon Cowell scouring at us.”

To view the our audition show reel visit the media section on http://www.celticcheer.co.uk/

Click here to catch a glimpse of the Celtics on stage with Ant and Dec in the wings

The Celtic Men

On the subject of male cheerleaders, I thought I should mention my own squad, seeing as they are pioneering the way for co-ed cheerleading in the UK.

Our first competition this season (with ICC) saw the Celtics take to the floor in the first ‘truly’ co-ed routine seen this side of the pond.

By ‘truly’ co-ed I mean that there were more men on the floor than women, and that all the stunts that were thrown were co-ed ‘partner’ stunts, not ‘group’ stunts. This by no means undermines all the other co-ed squads out there; the UK cheerleading community is currently at a transitional stage in it’s development where we have just begun to tap into the resources which can provide correct and up-to-date co-ed stunt coaching. The video posted below is the highlights from the UCA 2008 Partner Stunt Nationals (these are some of the best in the world!)

In the past few years co-ed cheerleading has really taken off, starting in February 2006 with the very first Co-ed Partner Stunt division (one base and one flier) at a UK competition.

Hosted by Future Cheer, it saw Mike McMahon and I pull out the very first all-British routine and the start of a new excuse, I mean trend for men to show off their masculinity and brawn.

Every time I blink, the standard of co-ed stunting increases and the next big Partner Stunt division is at Future Cheer’s Midland competition in February this year.

Good Luck to our four couples and everyone else who are entering.

The year so far...

This little video created by Steph Lim highlights our progress and skills since September 2007, as well as showing how much fun we have had this term.



Our most first competition of the year was hosted by the International Cheerleading Coalition(ICC) which took place in our back garden at the University of Leeds. We entered 6 divisions, and won 6 First Place trophies!

I am extremely proud of every single member of the team who in spite of other commitments to academics, work, and extra curricular activities, made every effort to be at training and to work hard to excel in their area of the routine.

Becky Hughes, a former Lincoln Jet Cheerleader said,
“ICC Northern Regionals 2007 was my first competition with the Celtics, we’d trained hard for a couple of months, there was a few problems along the way with stunts, but we all pulled through together on the day. This is a fantastic experience knowing that the team will help each other out, work hard when it counts and make sure we have those 1st place trophies at the end of it. Nothing beats that!”

We encourage each other, we fight along side each other, and we work for each other.

I am proud to be a Celtic

For more videos of our team visit our media page.