A small group of students at Kate Andrews High School made the trip to Edmonton over the weekend to compete in the provincial cheerleading competition.
“The girls had their best performance of the season and we were told by the Pom director of the Alberta Cheerleading Association that our routine was the best she had ever seen from a first year team which was very exciting,” said coach Lindsey Jungwirth.
Under the umbrella of cheerleading there is both traditional cheerleading with its lifts and cheers,  and Pom which is known as cheer dance and is more focused on dance routines. It is the later that caught the attention of students at the Coaldale high school.
Jungwirth was working on her final semester of teaching practicum when she approached school principal Danny Roberts about the possibility of starting a cheer dance team at Kate Andrews.
She said her background is actually in figure skating but she was interested in the cheer dance and with no other such teams in Southern Alberta she thought it would be fun for Kate Andrews students to form a team.
Roberts gave the green light and told her there was actually a lot of dance talent at the school. Tryouts were held in September and since October the team has been practising a couple of times a week in preparation for the past weekend, the provincial competition hosted at the West Edmonton Mall.
“In the last couple of months it has come together.”
Jungwirth said getting the high school students, eight girls ranging in age from Grade 7 to 12, together for practice was not without its challenges.
Most are involved in more than one activity at the school including dance, band or basketball.
“We’re definitely ready to compete,” she said just before the team headed north to Edmonton.
The Kate Andrews squad was the first team slated to compete on Saturday. Jungwirth said mats were being placed on the ice rink surface to allow the competition to take place at the mall.
“It’s going to be crazy,” she added.
And crazy it was, Jungwirth said the teams competed in front of a full house audience with spectators even lining up on two levels of the mall to watch the action.
“We had a very eventful weekend and it was a great bonding time for all of the girls.”