Hundreds of fans, friends and family members enthusiastically welcome the athletes. Red-white-red flags, posters with congratulations and loud fan cheers: during the dress rehearsal there is an atmosphere as if the world championship were taking place in Amstetten. From April 19th to 21st, things will get serious at the ICU Cheerleading World Championships in Orlando (Florida).
The athletes can count on their fans. “They always have our back and support us wherever they can. At a championship last year, a colleague even had a whole fan bus with her. It’s a nice feeling,” says athlete Franziska Felber.
Dress rehearsal for Cheerleading World Cup
Austria will take part in the Cheerleading World Championships in the USA in the “Cheer Performance Hip-Hop” category. “Lower Austria Today” was present at the dress rehearsal in Amstetten.
After “Team Austria” finished seventh at the European Championships in Athens last year, the goals for the World Cup are also ambitious. “Although there are really good teams and the pressure is great, our goal is to finish in the top ten,” says Denise Frischeisen, one of the two coaches of the Austrian national team. The fact that cheerleading and performance cheer has also been an officially recognized sport in Austria since this year gives the athletes additional momentum and confirmation.
Long awaited: officially recognized sport
“A lot of people only know cheerleading from American movies where girls shake their butts. It just isn’t. It’s a real sport that’s very diverse,” explains co-trainer Susanna Germany. “Perfomance Cheer Hip Hop” is basically hip hop dance in a group, according to Germany – “there is a lot of emphasis placed on changing formations, combinations of dance styles, strong movements, artistic tricks and synchronicity.”
In addition to numerous injuries, it was particularly challenging to train with all the athletes together in the past few weeks, as only part of the team comes from the Amstetten area. The trainers encouraged the athletes to regularly document their training progress on video.
“The videos should be sent to a common group to keep the pressure up. It was important to keep at it and to be aware that you are part of the national team that is going to a world championship,” said Frischeisen. The athletes will soon know whether the effort was worth it when they dance at the World Championships in Orlando from April 19th.
