ESTEVAN - The Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs cheer team's hard work and effort paid off on March 15, when they brought home a gold medal from provincials in Regina.
ECS finished first in the scholastic cheer – senior intermediate division with a score of 79.1, finishing ahead of Thom Collegiate in Regina, who had a total of 77.2. Aiden Bowman in Saskatoon was third at 74.8. A total of six teams were entered in the division.
Bonnie Chepil-Kvamme, who coaches the team alongside McKenna Van De Woestyne, said ECS was one of two teams that didn't have any deductions, which can occur for a bobble or falling down during a stunt. She also lauded the other teams as being "amazing" with some pretty impressive stunts.
"I had a coach come up to me and say your cheer was utterly amazing, so that was a confidence booster before awards just to hear that she thought our athletes had a solid, great cheer, which is at the beginning of our competition routine," Chepil-Kvamme said in an interview with Â鶹´«Ã½AV.
Winning the provincial title was "very emotional" for the whole team, she said. Half of the team's 10 members were brand new to the sport this year, and most of the newcomers are in Grade 9. When they found out they had won, it was shocking. Chepil-Kvamme was pleased they ran a nice, clean routine.
"Everything was safe, everything stuck. There were no bobbles in our stunts. Everything was solid, and I do mean solid. We were in the gym every morning, the week before, Monday through Friday, working on this routine before provincials. The girls put in an hour to an hour and a half of practice before they even went to school, so it was a lot of hard work," said Chepil-Kvamme.
ECS was also tops at the Best of the West competition in February, which gave them a lot of confidence entering provincials, but then they changed their routine before provincials, adding a few new wrinkles. At the very next practice after Best of the West, they were already working on their new routine.
"Muscle memory is pretty strong, so to undo what we were doing before, and to add these more difficult skills into our stunts, it took a lot of determination," said Chepil-Kvamme, who said she held her breath a lot during the routine, but when the stunt sequence and the pyramid were finished and the members were dancing, she had "sheer joy" for the members.
This year marked the smallest team she has had in decades, but the athletes accomplished a lot.
Chepil-Kvamme said Van De Woestyne put in a lot of work as co-coach, and was every bit as present and determined to see the team succeed.
"It was a team that really pulled together, along with the coaches, and worked so hard to get to this point, and I think it was just so unexpected given the newness of most of the members of the team," said Chepil-Kvamme.
