Each year Sporting Dynamite enters various competitions, the main ones being the Community Nationals which normally take place during May and the National StreetCheer Championships which takes place in November.  These dates can change and we may also enter other competitions as we see fit.

Entering competitions is not compulsory but is a valuable tool to improving and developing confidence and team spirit.

Before considering  a request for your child to go to competition parents need to consider the following:

Competitions can be expensive, for example a typical cost would be £50 per child and in some instances can be even higher. Although some competitions may be local others can be quite far away. Sporting Dynamite cannot provide transport for parents or spectators. Your child will be with us the whole day (several hours) some children and some parents are not ready for such a long separation. Not every child will be asked to go to competition. Some children are not ready for competition this may be emotionally, due to their ability, due to behaviour, due to age restrictions or for other reasons. Although a child can dance, it does not mean that they have enough dance experience to go to competition. Some children have natural ability and can pick a dance up in a week, others can spend months and still not get it!

The policy of Sporting Dynamite is try to give all Cheerleaders a chance to take part in competiton and to travel as a squad with as many members as possible attending.  It must be understood however that this does not mean that all cheerleaders will dance on the day as final selection will depend on ability, commitment, understanding of the dance to the satisfaction of the coaches/committee and the behaviour of each child both running up to the event and on the day itself.

Cheerleaders also need to understand that the club coaches and helpers require good behaviour from every child that attends.  It is a long day and we simply don't have time for children that wish to mess around or ignore instruction.

Sporting Dynamite make it quite clear that in the event of any child misbehaving, giving cheek, fighting, swearing, being rude, or generally ignoring instruction from any of the helpers, coaches or committee members, the child's parents will be informed and instructed to collect their child.  If for any reason this is not possible the child will be returned to their parents and any costs incurred by Sporting Dynamite will be invoiced to the parents.

It is up to every parent to decide whether they would like their child to go to competition.

But ultimately it will be the decision of the coaches and the committee that dictates which children are in the final selection.

The Teenies were under pressure right from the start as due to the ages of some of the children they had to compete in the next category up which meant they were dancing against older more experienced children.

Cheerleading is a very technical style of dance with points awarded for compulsory elements and likewise points deducted for each element not preformed to the judges standards.  For example: It's not sufficient for a dancer to perform a high V followed by a low V, there are strict rules on hand positioning, which way their wrists face, not to mention timing synchronicity and unity within the team.

Once on the mat the team danced really well with No faults (A feat in its self) and when you consider that three of the children in this team had learnt the entire performance in less than five weeks, one of which learnt it in less than 3 weeks! the scale of their achievement begins to make more sense. In addition don't forget their age, a considerable factor when you realise that half of this team were going on stage for the first time in front of a panel of judges and more than 3000 people watching. 

It can be very daunting for young children going on stage for the first time and I should know, I take the children to the floor.  As an adult I don't think I could do it and I know of several parents that couldn't of done this either.

So as you can see an 11th place out of 15 is worth a lot more than the bare numbers suggest.

Sporting Dynamite UKCA Community Nationals Teenies team 2010

Chantelle Longstaff (Team Leader/Captain)
Gemma Tierney
Leonie Ecclestone Reid
Leah Williams
Molly Clarke
Shania Wright
Sarah Rashidi
Ester Selimi

Coach: Julie Massey

Well done to all the team, it was a fantastic achievement and we are really proud of you and a very special well done to Julie, whom I am extreemly proud of. 
Alan Massey - Sporting Dynamite President

Dynamites are here to cheer
So let us dance we have no fear
Gold, Red and white
Dynamites unite

Dynamites That's Right,
Dynamites That's Right,
Dynamites That's Right                            12.8 Seconds

(Last three lines done in layers, line one chant, then line one an two chant, followed by all three lines chanting)

Shake your poms and dance
Wave your arms and cheer
Bring your hands together
Cos the dynamites are here

Dynamites That's Right
Dynamites That's Right
Dynamites That's Right                            11.4 Seconds

(Last three lines done in layers, line one chant, then line one an two chant, followed by all three lines chanting)

We like dance
We love to Cheer
Gold, Red and white
The Dynamites are here

Dynamites That's Right
Dynamites That's Right
Dynamites That's Right                            9.9 Seconds

(Last three lines done in layers, line one chant, then line one an two chant, followed by all three lines chanting)

Wave your poms
Clap them hands
Stamp your feet
And Shake the stands

Cos Dynamites are here
The Dynamites are here
Dynamites are here                                 8.6 Seconds

(Last three lines done in layers, line one chant, then line one an two chant, followed by all three lines chanting)

Sereena prefers this last option - So Junior A, start learning it ready for Friday.  If you have a printer, please print it out and give it to other members of the team.

Congratulations to both teams who took part in the Nationals.  It was a long but fantastic day that was full of surprises, including the introduction of our teams official partners mascot "Bud Man" and our super brand new banners supplied by Emma Littlewood and Natalie Monk's parents. (thanks for all your efforts, wicked banners)

The event was a total success for Sporting Dynamite with both teams coming home with trophies, a special award for Sereena and two dancers entered in the freestyle event, which is a massive achievement in it's self, Well done to Julie, Sereena, both teams and our impressive helpers, who worked tirelessly throughout the whole day - for further details click here  for results click here

Well, we had the comments and the attitude, but on the day there was only one thing that really mattered, "who danced the best".  Strangely enough both judge 1 and judge 2 had very similar scores but when the final totals were in, it was: (50, 50) for Junior A, against (53, 68) for the challengers.

So it's official - "The parents are the winners!" and if the truth be known they put on a performance worthy of a place at the Nationals - Go Team!

Many thanks to all who took part, making the day a great success - with thanks to the coaches, guest judges Alan and Claire and special thanks to all who made a donation.

Donation raised by Sporting Dynamite on the day was £30