One of the most exciting events in the cheerleading calendar is finally here, it won’t be the same this year but that doesn’t stop it being exciting. Normally it’d be time for Worlds parties with friends gathered in a living room with lots of blankets and food but zoom parties and snacks for one will have to do this year.
What’s different this year for the USASF, IASF and ICU World Championships?
Firstly, we only have USASF and no IASF/ICU which means we won’t be seeing Team England take to the floor, ICU being virtual in September with some teams being able to participate with some training time before, depending on their local restrictions of course. There’s also no international teams competing in USASF this year so it's just the American teams competing because of COVID making travelling difficult but also many countries can’t train or haven’t been able to train in the run up to worlds. While it's normally exciting seeing our home-grown teams at worlds, especially since in recent years English teams have been getting more and more competitive, it will definitely still be worth staying up for because teams are hungry for a title with no worlds last year.
Getting ready for Worlds Weekend
You’ll need to purchase Varsity TV to watch every single routine of the competition, they run a subscription service which is $29.99 (£21.51) per month that you can then cancel after enjoying all the videos from The Summit last weekend too. If you can’t buy Varsity TV though you can be ready and waiting for snippets on Instagram and Twitter, there'll be plenty of practices on the football field! Almost as important as the cheer is the snacks, watching an American competition means a slightly bizarre sleep schedule and a few late nights so your favourite snacks, and a couple of naps, are very much a necessity to keep yourself going. You also need a schedule with the teams you want to watch with what room they’re performing in too and based on that, what times can you squeeze in naps. Don’t forget to double check you’ve got the time difference right; Florida is 5 hours behind us!
Use this link to the performance times to find your favourites:
Who should you be watching?
Every category is bound to be exciting, and it will always be amazing to watch the big teams we all know like Senior Elite and TGLC with their usually flawless, high difficulty and creative routines, but there’s also fewer known teams to keep an eye out for. Here’s a few personal favourites and why I like watching them.
TGLC (Top Gun Large Coed)
Cliché I know but you can’t beat Top Gun choreography and I love their theme this year, they have so many creative motions fitting perfectly with their Top Gun aviation theme.
Brandon Senior Black
I could sit and list most teams in the Small Coed division because it’s definitely a favourite but for the last few seasons the technique of Senior Black has been unmatched. They’re the ones to watch for difficult yet perfectly executed stunt sections, absolutely stunning.
World Cup Shooting Stars
I feel like WCSS have gone a bit quiet these last few years but watching their standing tumbles is mesmerising, their themes are always a nice touch too, this year their music takes them around the world.
Diamonds All-Stars Bombshells
This is a smaller team that you might not have heard of yet but their teams this season at other competitions have been flawless. Their choreography as a gym is insane, every routine is exciting to watch and I can’t wait to see any worlds upgrades.
Here’s a video of one of their insane stunt entries from their non-tumble team Showtime:
Infiniti Allstars Royal
These guys were up for a triple crown this year and there’s a lot of hype around them so ones to watch for sure!
CJA Team Gunz
A gym name that’s definitely on the rise and during the rest of the season I’ve seen some of their dance sections and absolutely love them so excited to see what their worlds team brings.
Not a team but, as a division the extra small teams are one to watch, with so few athletes they have to be creative and poor technique and timing is hard to hide so routines are often tidy too so keep an eye out for these.
And now you’ve read all of this, go, go, go! Get those snacks ready, make your schedule or be ready on Instagram for all of those teasers and practice videos from the football field and any new uni surprises because we all need a good cheer fix in our life right now!