Local cheerleading squad heads to nationals

By Brady Grove, Times Reporter

The Matrix Cheer All-stars Platinum Elite cheerleading squad is off to the Cheer Evolution National Championships in Niagara Falls April 5-7.
The competition will feature 360 teams from Canada and the U.S. as they battle for cheerleading supremacy.
“We are just excited to compete in different provinces; cheerleading is pretty large in Ontario, so we are excited to compete against the best of the best,” said owner and head coach Cassi Weiss. “We do lots of competitions in Alberta, and a few in B.C. and Saskatchewan but it’s just not as big of a culture on this side of Canada.”
Each squad will build a two and a half minute routine featuring different moves and techniques such as stunting, tumbling, dance and jumps. The competitors are scored not only on the success of their moves but also the difficulty. The squads are also scored on the flow of their performance and their creativity.
“Our team’s speciality is they love to dance and they love to perform,” said Weiss. “A lot of times we get comments about how our kids like to put on a show and that’s what they are known for.”
According to Weiss, the squad is trying to make their routine as difficult as possible to maximize points, with a dancing theme of burlesque, while the routine’s theme will take on the personality of the kids.
They will face off against teams in their same level and same age category. The Platinum Elite cheerleading squad is in Level 2 with an age range of 11-18 and has kids from Standard, Strathmore, Hussar, Chestermere, Langdon and Carseland.
Nationals is an invitational tournament meaning the squad didn’t have to battle through qualifying competition to go. But despite that, Matrix Cheerleading squad has been fine tuning their skills at five competitions in Medicine Hat, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Regina and Red Deer.
“They are doing really well. After each competition we try to make it a little bit harder so hopefully by the time we hit nationals are score is up there,” said Weiss.
Weiss has built a culture which tries to push athletes to the next level. Once they reach one bar, Weiss pushes them to next in an effort to grow them as an athlete. According to Weiss, they tried to keep things the same in the past but the kids thrive off the new challenges.
Standard resident and 12-year-old flyer Taya Brindle has been cheerleading for about six years with Matrix and is excited for the nationals competition. She was chosen to be a flyer because she was light and flexible and doesn’t mind flying through the air. Brindle said she tried a few other sports before cheerleading but they didn’t fit with her.
“Everyone is super positive and always telling me the corrections I need to make to be a better cheerleader,” said Brindle.
According to Brindle, the season has been full of competitions and they have faced so many teams from bigger cities which can be intimidating. But this works to motivate the club which is really excited to perform at nationals.
“We wanted to go to a big competition and we’ve been doing so good this year we thought we might have a chance at winning,” said Brindle. “But we are still just trying to do our best.”
Weiss said Brindle is one of her youngest athletes – one of four flyers in her group – and has a lot of pressure to perform and smile while flying through the air. According to Weiss, Brindle is also doing singles competitions and this year she has won everything she has competed in.