Moose Jaw’s Infinity Athletics cheerleading team will have a chance to show off their skills alongside some of the best squads in the world this coming May.
The Infinity Athletics U12 Supernovas were among dozens of teams in Youth Division Level 3 to receive an at-large bid to the Allstar World Championship during a special online announcement at the beginning of the month, and as a result, will be off to Orlando from May 4-6.
“It’s very, very exciting,” said Infinity Athletics coach Melissa Marzolf. “These girls are quite young, they’re the youngest team in Saskatchewan to get a bid to go down to this level of competition, and quite a few of them have worked together for many, many years to get to this level. Their hard work is paying off and to see them hit that World stage is going to be very exciting, especially for the coaches as well.”
The Supernovas qualified through a virtual competition, which saw the team perform their routine before sending it in to be adjudicated. From there, it was wait and see, with the big reveal coming on Jan. 10 during the online At Large Bid announcement by Allstar World Championship. To say it was an exciting time when Infinity Athletics’ name popped up would be an understatement.
“Everyone was so happy, it’s wonderful to see all their hard work rewarded,” Marzolf said.
Since then, it’s been back to work. The Supernovas were one of three Infinity Athletics teams on the stage for the Edmonton Cold Snap competition during the Jan. 21 weekend and took first place, joining the U18 Interstellar and U16 Shooting Stars in claiming top spot in their divisions.
Building on that success will be part of their preparation for the rest of the way.
“We have a few more competitions before Worlds, so every competition we’ll take that feedback, adjust what we need to adjust to try and improve that routine,” Marzolf said. “As we get closer there will be a few extra practices, we might work with a couple of different guest coaches to get a different look, and then head on down.”
Infinity will first take the floor on Saturday, May 6 for the bid round and battle round, with success there advancing the local crew to the Finals on May 7.
The whole event promises to be an absolute whirlwind, but one Marzolf is confident the Supernovas will be able to deal with.
“They’re a young team, but they’ve been to a lot of competitions, so I think it will be extra excitement,” Marzolf said. “Even competitions around here are big and loud and exciting, so to be in a bigger venue with even more people, it’s going to be overwhelming excitement and just so much fun.”
The event will feature a first round of competition, with a percentage of top teams advancing to the second round, followed by the finals. All told, it could mean three or four performances on the world stage for the Supernovas
Naturally, the overall goal will be to win. And if one thinks that’s an impossibility given the massive scope of the competition, you don’t have to look far into the past to see what can happen -- while it was a different governing body, Moose Jaw’s Kendall Robinson was a member of Regina’s Rebels Cheerleading Athletics Team Smoke that won a world championship at a similar event last spring.
“We’re going down to give ‘er our all,” Marzolf said. “The virtual competition is the same scoresheets we’ll be scored on down there, so that’s pretty awesome to be able to see how we fare. Then as we get closer there are some opportunities to get our routine watched and get feedback from similar judges that we’ll be seeing down there. That way we can work to maximize that routine and do everything we can to do the best we can.”
For more on Infinity Athletics -- including upcoming fundraising ventures for the trip to Orlando -- check out their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/moosejawcheer.
