By Greg Nikkel
The Weyburn Comprehensive School hosted the Saskatchewan Provincial Cheer and Dance Championships on Saturday, attended by around 1,200 participants and over 3,200 spectators from all over the province for the competition, with Weyburn keeping some of the hardware at home.
“The event itself ran very smoothly. Even with the large crowds of spectators and athletes, there were very few hiccups in the day. We had many comments about our beautiful school facility and our welcoming community,” said organizer and cheer coach Kyla Moffat. “The athletes all left with smiles so that made all the hard work and planning worth it.”
The main venue for the competition was the Eagle gym, and the Cugnet Centre was used as the warmup areas for the cheer teams, which puzzled some of the spectators, said Moffat. “Some people asked why it was not held in the Cugnet Centre. The stage is too small for the dimensions of the required spring floor (54x42), so the mats would have to be on the gym floor, leaving only about 250 seats for spectators. With a capacity of 1,100 people, the Eagles gym was the better choice to accommodate the sold-out crowds.”
Moffat was herself recognized, as she was named the Coach of the Year by the Saskatchewan Cheerleading Association, with the award presented to her at the awards ceremony on Saturday afternoon following the Scholastic Cheer session, where both the senior and junior cheer squads from the Comp took home trophies.
She was overcome with emotion as she tried speaking to the crowd, and going over to the senior girls team, she was mobbed by them as they hugged her and congratulated her for the award.
“Being nominated by the athletes on my senior cheer team for Saskatchewan Cheerleading Association Coach of the Year was very humbling. There were three other nominees that are all outstanding at what they do, and I know how hard coaches all over the province work for their teams and their programs every day. To have the award presented to me in front of my hometown crowd after a year of planning the provincials event was very, very special to me, but the genuine love from my athletes is what truly overwhelmed me the most,” she said.
The senior cheer team won first place in the Senior Level 3 Cheer category, and third in senior small pom, while the junior team won third in Junior Level 2 cheer, and third for junior small pom.
The big surprise and delight for the hometown crowd was the youngest group, Weyburn’s Airbourne Cheer Athletics Bluebirds, in their first year as a team who won first place in the All Star Youth Prep Level 1, and were named the Grand Champions of the All Star Prep Division, which included nine teams in three categories.
“Those are excellent results for the Weyburn teams, particularly the Airbourne team because it is a brand new program this year,” said Moffat.
Asked what a highly-visible and prestigious event like this will do for the sport in Weyburn, Moffat replied, “The cheer program in Weyburn has been steadily growing in the past 10 years. We have a great group of dedicated coaches who are passionate about cheer and we’ve created a family atmosphere among our teams. We created the Weyburn Association of Cheer Coaches a few years ago to help grow the sport of cheerleading in our community, and we are currently fundraising to purchase a spring floor to train on since that is what the athletes compete on. I am dedicated to growing an All Star program for Weyburn and area and to continuing our strong school programs as well.”
She added that the sport of cheerleading will only continue to grow as a result of this event.
“Hosting the Provincial Championships was a way for us to show our community what kind of program we are trying to build as well as promote the growth of the sport in our province. The Saskatchewan Cheerleading Association memberships are growing every year with new teams and new programs, and with the recent announcement from the IOC about cheer being given sport status, the growth will likely continue. It is a very exciting time to be involved in cheer in Saskatchewan,” she said.
