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The cheerleading culture overseas seems so different from in Singapore. Not only are the cheerleaders here prominent and appear regularly at school events to cheer on the sports teams or just to add some life, they actually organise an annual Cheerleading Stage for the audience to cheer on the cheerleaders, just because. So I attended the Cheerleading Stage yesterday, and it was basically a two-hour cheerleading-packed event, with appearances from the cheerleaders of the other universities like Keio, Rikkyo, Meiji, Hosei... It was absolutely awesome, having the chance to watch so many cheerleaders in action! The huge downside is that we weren't allowed to take pictures of videos, so... I can't share with Alphas (except for one video which I took before we were told we couldn't. >.< That will be uploaded on facebook... eventually). Labels: cheerleading, Japan
Considering that most people feel tired after one routine, it's hard to imagine that Big Bears - an all-girls' squad, no less! - put up so many different routines, be they dance or stunt routines. Personally I prefer stunt sequences because they're more exciting, and it is just so cool to watch girl bases toss their flyers for pattern basket tosses, or 221, or withstand the weight for a 111. Remembering all the correct counts for one routine is difficult, much less several, so it was understandable to see some people being out of place, and rushing into positions late etc... Since cheerleading isn't merely a look-good sport, it's tiring, but the failure rate after the first routine was rather appalling. I couldn't help but compare to the time when I watched Falcons perform many routines back to back without the benefit of having other schools' cheerleaders take the stage to give them a break, or an emcee to extend the time, and they did really good. It makes me wonder which is the better team - Big Bears, or Falcons? Even if Big Bears seems to be the more prominent team in Waseda... Hmm.
At a point in time there was a string of basket toss backtucks, and all the flyers flipped perfectly, but on the extreme right the group didn't manage to catch their flyer! It seemed like the arms of the main bases that were supposed to support the upper back gave way, and the backspot didn't have a hold on the flyer, and her upper torso hit the ground. I imagined being airborne, doing what I'm supposed to do, and trusting my bases to catch me, but somehow that didn't happen. Imagine the shock and the pain of landing on the floor! What's admirable is that they quickly hauled her up from the ground, and continued with the routine (although their next stunt, an elevator or full ex, I can't remember, failed too - the flyer was probably too disoriented, but at least she wasn't badly hurt). Play on!
The most cool was probably having cheerleaders from 6 different universities come together in one routine, and each stunt group wasn't made up of cheerleaders from the same university, but from various ones. So it was just a hodge-podge of people, and I can hardly imagine how they got used to each others' different feel to put together the routine. It was exciting, and it was cute, because the music was a medley of all the different school songs!
Cheerleading is so fun. Even watching it is great. And I'm glad that the cheerleaders are prominent in Waseda so that I have many chances to watch them in action! I hope to see Shockers more, they're so freaking awesomely cool.