Cheerleading has joined ‘Give sports a go’

The ‘Salford Sirens’ cheerleading team have joined ‘Give sports a go’ at the University of Salford.

Give sports a go allows anyone to try out a number of sports that run across the University of Salford and cheerleading has been welcomed to the programme.

The team currently has 28 members who train on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, opening the Monday session up to anyone who wants to try out the sport.

New to #GSAG this semester is Cheerleading!All abilities welcome, simply turn up & Give Chearleading A Go! Allerton Hall 7.30pm every Monday pic.twitter.com/TvXLRtQr0W

— USSU Opportunities (@USSUStudentOpps) February 5, 2017

Phoebe Jobling, 19, one of the team’s flyers said, “I think it should be noticed as a real sport as it is now in the Olympics as well.”

She continued: “I think people need to realise how much hard work, dedication and strength goes into cheerleading.”

Salford Sirens have more cheerleaders this year then they did last year however they are still looking to find more people to join up and train for their competitions.

Phoebe said: “Hopefully we will get more people from different sport backgrounds who will give it a go and then I think they will realise what we actually do.”

As well as having more cheerleaders, the team also has more gymnasts this year, which is very important for the team as gymnastics plays a big role in their routines.

The team specialises in stunts, including team stunts and partner stunts.

They also work hard to perfect gymnastics, dance and jumps to accompany the stunts in their competition routines.

Jess Prudence, 21, captain and chairman of the team said: “We need to get more girls involved in sport, which is why we are running as part of ‘Salford Girls Can’ as well so it is good to just get everyone involved and get cheerleading recognised as a sport.”

Practice sessions like these are very important for the team.

Phoebe said: “A training session includes a warm – up, so we do some stretches and jumps and then we will practice our stunts, go through the routine if we’ve got a competition coming up and try out new things.”

The sirens have members ranging from age 18 to age 26 and are all training for their competition on the 19th of March which will include a select number for the competition team.

The team still has a lot more girls than boys in the team but are eager to take on more male members.

Phoebe said: “Boys need to realise that cheerleading isn’t just for girls because you need a lot of strength and it is something that boys could do and be a part of.”

The sirens placed first in the Legacy level two co-ed division championship last year and are hoping to achieve the same result in their next competition.

See the team in action here.

If you want to give cheerleading a go, the ‘give sports a go’ training sessions are on Mondays in the Allerton Building at 7:30pm until 9:30pm.