Derby cheerleaders to compete in world championship

A group of cheerleaders from Derby are to compete in a "once in a lifetime" world championship in the US.

The group of 16 young women, from DB Cheer in Sinfin are heading to the Allstar World Cheerleading Championship in Florida, in April.

The cheerleaders - aged from 16 to 26 years old - are training intensively this week during half-term.

The club's founder Charlotte Astle said: "It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

"There are teams all over the country that aim to get this invitation," she added.

She said they were invited to the US after coming first in a competition in Loughborough last year. Once the awards were given out, it was announced they had secured a "wildcard" place in the championship in Orlando, Florida.

She added: "We all looked at each other. It was the best reaction you will ever see - there was jumping about. It was an absolutely unreal thing to happen to us. We never expected it in a million years.

"The wild card is for unexpected teams - teams that don't specifically train to go to America. We're just run-of-the mill competitors from Derby and off we go to Orlando."

The squad is entered in two categories, called lyrical and pom.

Squad member Luciana Fois, 22, said: "Pom is highly energetic, so fast. With lyrical, we focus on the emotional side. It is more soft, there is more of a story behind it. It is quite similar to ballet but a more contemporary style."

Competitor Grace Backhouse, 18, added: "We have all trained together for the past nearly 11 years so we are all ready to go. It's such a great opportunity to put Derby on the map."

Clara Rowroch, 25, said: "It's going to be huge. It's going to be the biggest competition any of us have ever been to.

"There are going to be five arenas - there will be world teams who have competed there for years."

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