The USASF Dance and Cheerleading World Championship kicks off on April 27th at the ESPN Wide World of Sports ® Complex in Orlando, Florida. In this competition, young athletes from the United States and Canada will battle it out with teams from all over the world. And when we say, “all over the world,” we mean it. Teams from France, Norway, Germany, Ecuador, South Africa, Japan, Australia, Spain, Chile, and Ireland will all be in the mix, just to name a few.
It’s truly an international forum for competitive cheer where the strongest teams in the world compete with each other in eleven divisions. Teams can compete in squads ranging from extra small (5 members) to large (up to 38 teammates).
If you’ve seen the Double Good documentary Black Girls Cheer, you know we followed Dynasty Spirit Elite, a team from inner-city Philadelphia, as they brought home their sport’s greatest honor, the triple crown championship, for the first time. Since then, D.S.E. has repeated the feat, winning the three most prestigious competitions in American competitive cheerleading for two years running. So, what do you do when you’ve got all of that in your back pocket?
You take on the world. Literally.
Every athlete, no matter how talented or successful, has the drive to see just exactly how far they can go. Pushing your own limits and growing as an athlete is the ultimate goal. In a sport like cheerleading, this means building up everyone on your team and learning to compete as one.
We’ll be keeping our eyes on the competition, but if you want to follow the athletes along with us, check the USASF site for results and information.