Cheering on the Empire Allstars

With cheerleading fast growing in popularity, Kate Chapman meets the local team of young athletes who have been invited to compete in the USA.

The popularity of cheerleading is gaining momentum and young athletes from one south Lincolnshire club are jumping for joy after receiving a bid to take part in a prestigious overseas competition – right in the home of the sport.

Rebels, a 15-strong squad of girls aged between seven and nine years old, from Empire Elite Allstars in Spalding, gained first place in a competition earlier this year, making them the club’s first team to secure a bid to compete in America.

Empire Elite Allstars director and founder Nikita Capes is delighted with the team’s performance and how the club is progressing as a whole and says members are now busy fundraising to make their stateside dream a reality.

She added: “It was wonderful – some of the girls cried when they found out what they had achieved, others were just really excited. They are the first Empire team to win a bid – America is the home of cheerleading, it’s just amazing.

“Generally, in the UK most people think of sideline pom cheer, but that’s not what we do here. Our athletes perform routines of up to two-and-a-half minutes, involving complex stunts, tumbles, jumps and dance; it’s high-intensity, it’s fast and it’s exciting and shows off everyone’s different strengths.

“The sport is growing in popularity all the time. When we started out we had around 40 athletes, now we have 250 training with us – and it’s not just for girls.”

Cheerleading competitions
Cheerleading was first introduced to the UK in the 1980s and grew in popularity throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

Nikita, who previously played rugby at a high level, but had to retire due to injury, launched Empire in 2018 in Crowland, after returning to dance and gymnastics, which she had enjoyed herself when she was younger.

She initially held a small recreational cheer dance class for girls as there wasn’t much else going on for them in the area and as the sessions became more popular, Empire Elite Allstars, now a community interest company (CIC), was born.

Nikita’s classes continued in Crowland and Spalding with a competitive programme in English Allstar cheer and dance launched in 2021.

This year will mark the club’s third competitive season and also saw a move to new, bigger premises in Cresswell Close. Nikita says the new venue has more facilities, including a larger sprung floor which will be more beneficial for the group’s development.

“I came to cheerleading quite late, I was 21 at the time but the sport is gaining momentum all the time.

There’s even a possibility it may become an Olympic sport in 2028, although we’re not quite sure what it will look like yet,” she adds.

“We have a lot of athletes, who as well as representing the club, go out and represent their country.

We’ve also got a couple of athletes who have attended Team England training events and are involved in its development programme.

“We’re the only cheer club in a 20-mile radius offering Allstar cheer, so some of our athletes travel quite a way to come here – from Boston, Stamford, Peterborough, Leverington, Wisbech and Tattershall.

“It really is a world that a lot of people don’t know anything about. Often when parents come to an event, they’re quite surprised at how big a thing it is!

Team spirit
Empire is open to children from three years old and caters for older age groups too. Nikita says many athletes taking up cheer have switched from gymnastics to give themselves a new challenge and adds that it brings many other benefits too.

“Cheerleading is also a team sport, unlike a lot of gymnastics which is individual. As well as team involvement, it’s about being with friends and making new friends. It helps so many girls increase their confidence, teachers have noted that in class their self-esteem has increased too.

“Not everything goes right in cheer, we’re asking other little girls to hold their peers up in the air by one foot, it’s crazy stuff, and realistically things don’t go right all of the time. But we encourage them to keep working, keep pushing and this helps them develop their skills.”

Empire’s competitive season runs from December through to July, with teams taking part in seven events.

Nikita says travel is usually limited to two hours away, but members do compete in Blackpool, in September, and Bournemouth, in July. As well as Allstar cheer, teams also compete in Allstar dance, which involves disciplines including pom, lyrical and hip hop.

US invitation
Back in May, the Rebels – Empire’s mini prep level one team who were beginners last season – competed at the University of Warwick, where they placed first and gained the title of Grand Champions.

They received a bid from Cheer City to attend the Prep Grand Nationals, to be held at Universal Studios in Florida next April, where they will represent the club and the UK in another competition.

Nikita said each family will have to fund its own travel while the team is also fundraising in order to cover additional costs.

“There will be things like gym hire in America, a minibus to transport them around and what they need to wear out there. That’s what the team are trying to raise money for, to cover these kinds of costs and to make sure that our girls feel special, as this is our first team bid to America,” she added.

Several fundraisers have already taken place, but in order to meet their initial target of £7,500 the group is offering sponsorship opportunities to businesses, who in return can have their names and logos featured on the back of the team’s T-shirt and a flag that members will carry during the competition, plus mentions on their social media channels.

Nikita said that if the fundraiser surpasses the initial target, members will keep going and these funds will help cover member costs too.

Empire is always keen to welcome new members. It hosts fun recreational classes where new members can learn skills such as basic tumbles and how to jump while competitive teams hold tryouts in July.

• To make a donation and help the Rebels get to America visit gofundme.com/f/lets-get-rebels-to-america

To find out more about Empire Elite All Stars visit www.empireeliteallstars.co.uk or follow the group on Facebook and Instagram

Photographs: Empire Elite Allstars

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