ATHABASCA – Fourteen cheer squads from around northern Alberta packed the Athabasca Regional Multiplex Fieldhouse Saturday, Feb. 4, for Cheerfest 2023, with organizer and coach Wanda Semashkewich calling it a “huge success” as local teams brought home their fair share of awards and earned berths to the provincial championships.
Cheerfest, organized under the Edwin Parr Composite School (EPC) banner, has been held annually since 2005, excluding 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the fieldhouse stands were packed as friends and family turned out to support the competitors as they tumbled and cartwheeled across the mats. Semashkewich noted that Cheerfest also served as the North East and North Central Zone qualifying tournaments for provincials.
In the case of Athabasca, EPC’s junior high and senior high girls teams will now advance to the provincial championships in April following solid performances with Semashkewich saying the junior high girls “hit the mat and their mindset just changes” which helped them finish first in the zone and second in the event.
She also added that it was an extremely stressful week for the senior girls that included building an entire routine from scratch after some last-minute personnel changes. Despite this, they came together to finish second in their zone and third overall at the event.
“It was a perfect routine and they managed to come out and hit everything just perfectly,” she said, adding that she “could not have asked for two better performances from my girls this weekend.”
Not to be left out, the Whispering Hills Primary School Pandas and Landing Trail Intermediate School Wolverines also took part, picking up first-place trophies albeit against no competitors. Coach Jade Semashkewich said much of the focus at these levels is teaching the girls the core skills they’ll need when they move on to EPC.
“We want to make sure they understand the flow of cheerleading and can start to build on expectations of what comes next,” she said.
Another key part of the festivities is the spirit that the young women show, cheering on each other even as spots at the provincial tournament are at stake, say organizers. This year’s Spirit Award, presented to the team that was the loudest and most enthusiastic throughout the day, went to Holy Trinity Catholic High School, who travelled down from Fort McMurray.
