Jumphouse Gymnastics cheer team qualifies for internationals

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

The Matrix Cheer All-Stars club is tumbling, stunting and dancing its way to the top by introducing Strathmore to the international stage for the first time at this year’s Summit Varsity All Star Cheerleading Championship.
Only once before has an Alberta team participated in the illustrious event.
Strathmore’s Jumphouse Gymnastics’ co-ed Platinum Elite Level 3 team of the Matrix Cheer All-Stars received an “at large bid” while competing at the ATC PAC Competition in Calgary earlier this year. So far, they are one of six Alberta teams who have received an invitation – or bid – to compete, owing to the addition of a new international cheer division. Four teams from Calgary STARS Gymnastics and Cheer, and one team from Perfect Storm Athletics in Edmonton will also be representing Alberta at the event.
“This is huge in the cheerleading world; it’s just the fact that a little small town in Alberta got a bid, usually it’s just the big clubs,” said Cassie Weiss, owner and head coach at Jumphouse Gymnastics. “We’re a small gym so our skills were always one step below all the big clubs, especially the U.S. clubs. I feel like we were really skilled this year, so the combination of the fact that these kids have grown up together in cheer mixed with the hard work they’re putting into their skills really stepped us up this year. It wasn’t just skills, it was also their bond and they gave it all they had on the mat.”
The senior co-ed team is made up of 18 athletes ranging in age from 11 to 16. They managed to secure one of approximately 300 bids that were being doled out to junior and senior teams in Level 1 to Level 4 worldwide.
Weiss has been coaching the team for six years, without any personal gymnastics or cheer experience. She began coaching gymnastics when she was only 12 years old, and when the Strathmore High School cheerleading club faced dissolution, Weiss learned to coach the sport on a whim.
The team trains four-and-a-half hours per week. Mason La Chance, the only male on the team, believes it isn’t just their skills that qualified them for the championships, but rather their tight-knit relationship.
“It’s pretty exciting, especially knowing from where we began to how it’s going to end; it’s pretty cool to see the growth that we’ve created,” said La Chance. “Even watching different teams, the bond that we have versus what everybody else has is very different. We’re a small town and we’re close and we see each other, and our coaches do a super good job at making sure that we bond together.”
At their current level, the team’s most advanced move is the back tuck, also known as the back flip. During their two minute and 30 second routine, the cheer team has to demonstrate their skills in tumbling, stunting – lifting and throwing – pyramids, dance and jump. The team has been competing with the same routine all year, and will be working on improving their performance and possibly increasing the difficulty level.
Parents and athletes are currently working hard to raise $30,000 before the competition, which is being held on May 3-4 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.
Possible fundraising efforts include raffling WestJet tickets, hosting a silent auction and supper where team members will serve as well as perform, receiving corporate sponsors and delivering letters around town.
“The town needs to realize there is more than hockey here; this is a huge thing,” said Tabatha Poole, whose daughter Alyssa joined the team two years ago. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for these kids. Our whole club has 52 kids and we’re competing against clubs that have hundreds and hundreds of kids. I tell people it’s like the Stanley Cup of hockey, you can’t get any higher than this.”
According to Weiss, every team in the club has placed in the Top 3 at various events this year.