A cheerleading team based in Rotherham has come second in the NCA All-Star National Championships which took place in Texas last weekend.
Trailblazer Allstars were runners-up in the hardest level of the competition, losing to Cheer Extreme Super 7 who have won the title three years in a row.
The competition is one of the biggest in international cheerleading, with over 25,000 athletes taking part across various ages. The arena holds roughly 50,000 spectators, with one performance floor and three separate halls with competition floors where lower levels were competing.
Miriam Kuepper, 24, a member of the Trailblazers, said she: “couldn’t believe how well they would do, just being there was so amazing”.
She added it was nerve-wracking going onto the floor on the Sunday to perform as many teams were waiting for the awards ceremony to begin but they did not let it affect their performance.
“The feeling of doing it was just amazing, I rang my mum at around 4am and just realized what we had achieved.”
The Trailblazers were also surprised with a trip to Trinity Valley Community College whose team are involved in the Netflix show Cheer. Miss Kuepper said they had the opportunity to meet the team who wanted to keep their Trailblazer flag as a souvenir.
She added: “It was an even bigger highlight to the experience because it was so unexpected.”
The Trailblazers have four more competitions this season with high aspirations to qualify for the World Championships, which the team failed to qualify for last year.
