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Choreographed cartwheels and synchronised handsprings turned into shrieks of elation last week when Team New Zealand cheerleaders realised they had taken out double golds at the ICU World Championships in Florida, USA. The competition is held over two days at ESPN which is part of the Disney World Orlando property.
The teams were competing in the Youth Median All Girl division (ages 12-14) (Yiwis) and the Junior Coed Advanced division (ages 15-18) (Jiwis) Both teams have 23 athletes and competed over two days against more than 10 other countries.
Hibiscus Coast residents Mackenzie Brown, Mae Duncan and Brooke Witherington are part of the Jiwis, and Mikayla Read is a member of the Yiwis. They all started cheerleading at All Star Infinity in Silverdale.
The New Zealand All Star Cheerleaders Junior Academy Coed team also competed in the level five international division, gaining third place, while Crave Athletics saw their Lady Ferns team place 13th out of 37. Ōrewa College students Taya Cotterell, Stevie Dawkins, Ruby Dennis, Harlow Hodge, Alina Korah, Leah O’Reilly, Paige O’Reilly, Madi Prescott, Maia Pretsell, Trinity Wepener, Maggie Young are part of the Lady Ferns team.
It has been 10 years since a New Zealand cheerleading team won gold at the world championships, and double golds last in 2014, says Sheri Read, Mikayla’s mother. She was with her daughter at the event and says the teams are mostly made up of athletes who had never competed at the worlds before, although Mikayla had competed with the Yiwis in 2023 when they placed fifth.
The teams formed in early 2022 and have worked consistently every weekend for more than a year to prepare for the competition, Sheri says, finishing with a gruelling five-day boot camp the week before departure.
“The extra training team really paid off as the teams were all prepared and coped with the pressure of such a high level international competition.”
After the first day of the competition, the Yiwis were in third place in their division while the Jiwis were sitting in first place, Sheri says.
“On day two, both teams were a bundle of nerves knowing the pressure of needing to put on a near perfect performance. The Yiwis performed first and we all hoped they had done enough to move up from third, but we knew Japan and Australia had also put on great performances. The feeling of relief when Team New Zealand was called to the stage as part of the top three is something I cannot describe.
“We were all crying and ecstatic at the thought that we had won a medal. As they announced Australia in third place, dropping from second place, we knew they were in with a chance. When Japan was announced in second place, leaving Youth Team New Zealand in first place, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house!”
The Jiwis followed up with a solid routine and maintained their first place position, beating Canada in second place and Colombia for third.
