NTU cheerleading team aces competition

By Natalie Choy

NTU’s cheerleading team ACES made up the bulk of the Singapore squad that won two golds and a bronze in South Korea. PHOTO: KOREA CHEERLEADING ASSOCIATION

NTU’s cheerleaders won two golds and one bronze at the 2016 Asia Open Cheerleading Competition in South Korea last month.

They represented Singapore in the international competition that was held in Geoje City on 6 Nov.

Twenty-two of the 24 members are full-time students and alumni from ACES, NTU’s official cheerleading team.

The other two members are friends of the team.

The team sent in an audition video to the Cheerleading Association (Singapore) and was eventually selected for their maiden experience at the competition a month before it began.

Singapore fielded four groups in three categories — Coed Premier Team, Coed Premier Group Stunt and Coed Premier Partner Stunt.

The team emerged champions in the Team category and secured their second gold and one bronze in the Group Stunt category.

For the Team category, all 24 members had to perform a three-minute routine. The team sent in two groups of three bases and a flyer for the Group Stunt category, while a base-flyer pair competed in the Partner Stunt category.

A base is the foundation of the stunt, while flyer is the person who gets lifted or thrown into the air.

Team captain Sen Poh Kang, a final-year student at the Nanyang Business School, said that the team’s main goal at the competition was to deliver an all-stunts-up routine. This is achieved when there are no falls when the stunts are executed.

“Winning was a bonus for us,” said the 24-year-old, who is also the President of ACES.

“Our team is being taught to focus more on the execution of our stunts (rather than a medal finish).”
Silverware aside, Sen explained that the overseas experience was also a good platform for members to gain competition exposure.

“The team had juniors who did not compete as much as them (alumni members),” said Sen. “They need more exposure in order for the team to grow.”

Competing on foreign soil also came with new experiences that set it apart from local competitions.
Having been used to training in Singapore’s warm climate, some members found training in lower temperatures at the stadium an interesting experience.

Base Li Ruihong, 26, said that warming up in the “cold, single-digit weather” clad in T-shirt and shorts was “memorable” as it was the team’s first time training in such conditions.

The atmosphere at the Asia Open was also more relaxed as compared to local competitions.

“In Singapore, you feel more hostility from the other teams,” said Li, a second-year Sports Science and Management student. “Some hope to leverage on (another) team’s poor performance to win.”

Sen added that at the Asia Open, it was a chance to make new international friends.

This contrasted with local competitions, where winning is usually the focus.

Flyer Zerlind Koh, 23, felt that the large amount of time spent training and competing with the team allowed them to grow closer, which was the most rewarding part of her experience.

Koh, who graduated from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in August, added: “This is the team spirit that I cannot get anywhere else (apart from this sport), as everyone works hard and pushes through all adversity to attain a common goal.”