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cheerleading
A full-body workout involving tumbles, jumps and stunts, cheer is about much more than shaking pompoms. Plus, you might make friends for life
Words Niamh Leonard-Bedwell.
Think ‘cheerleading’ and a group of girls dancing around on an American football pitch might spring to mind. But as the Netflix series Cheer proved, competing in the sport can involve some seriously scary-looking stunts. The pompomwaving misconception is one that Joanna Haeger, director and coach at London Dynasty Cheer (londondynastycheer.co.uk), often encounters. ‘People will ask who you cheer for,’ she says. ‘We’re thought of as the support act for football and rugby teams, but people don’t realise that cheerleading is a sport in its own right.’