Triple competition success for the Warwick Devils

The University of Warwick’s Cheerleading club, the Warwick Devils, has enjoyed one of its most successful years as a competition squad to date, by winning a total of 7 trophies over the Easter break, including the title of three times national champions for University Co-Ed Cheerleading.

The 34-strong squad, making up 4 different stunt and dance teams, competed in three different national competitions across the country during Easter: the UKCA National Cheerleading Championships, ICC British Open Cheer and Dance Championships and BCA University Cheerleading Competition.

The co-ed large stunt squad won 1st place for the third successive year in UKCA with an impressive and challenging routine, easily defeating the much improved competition of Derby Ravens. In BCA, they took on seven teams and won 3rd place, with only the Roehampton Rascals and RH Tom Cats beating them to the top spots.

The squad has vastly improved this year, taking on stunts of a much greater difficulty and pulling them off with a greater confidence than ever before. A special mention must go to Emma Beeson, who stood in for an injury at the last minute in BCA, learning the whole routine in under three hours and pulling it off perfectly on the mat the next day.

The pom dance squad achieved 2nd place in ICC, a tough competition where they were only beaten by the South Hamptons Vixens. In BCA the squad won 3rd place and in UKCA 4th place, maintaining their reputation as a strong and charismatic squad. Cheer dance, a difficult technical dance section involving many splits, toe-touches and high kicks, gained 5th place in UKCA against non-university teams with much more experience, a first for the club and a rarity in any university squad.

The small stunt squad, only in its second year, involved a tiring and highly difficult routine of constant stunting. The squad won an extremely impressive 2rd place out of 6 stunt teams in BCA, and another 3rd place again in ICC. The group, who have suffered many changes to the squad throughout the year that disrupted their progress, pulled off two great routines and impressed the judges, thoroughly deserving these results.

Previously, the club has only ever competed in the UKCA Nationals, and so it was a highly ambitious task to take on two more competitions with tougher teams. Despite this challenge, the club came away with some great successes and the 7 trophies, giving them their best ever results in one year.

The whole competition squad also received the Bredbury Hall University Cup for outstanding contribution to the sport in the UKCA nationals, further showing how far the club has come this year as a squad.

Their achievements and efforts put into the routines and in going to three competitions have not only demonstrated their strength as a squad but also raised the clubs profile among other universities considerably, and placed them among the more competitive squads in UK university cheerleading.