Tag: singapore cheerleading

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Handstand: How long will it take to learn?

Author : CheerForce Singapore

Date:16-12-2020

How long it would actually take to learn how to do a handstand? Let’s hear it from the expert! Our local circus artists Beverly is here to share her experience and knowledge on learning handstand with all of us.

Back in 2017, Beverly started exploring handstand after being inspired by an Australian acrobat when she was at Australia where she was sponsored to attend circus training courses taught by professionals and got the opportunity to train with acrobats all over the world.

How will a typical training session be like?

Beverly clocks in freestanding handstands, straddle presses and contortion handstands in the first hour before she start venturing into higher level skills that she’s working towards. Her level of dedication to handstand training is intense as she shared that in the beginning of her handstand journey, she was doing handstands every day, every minute in between classes, during lunch, dinner breaks and even after school!

How many hours do you practice every week/day and what are some of the challenges face while learning hand balancing?

Beverly handstand training is usually about 2 hours and 3 – 4 days a week. “But everyday I still do a couple of handstands just for fun!” remarked Beverly. Beverly shared that she had injured her wrist once in a freak accident, and since then her wrists became more susceptible to overuse injury. “I have to be very careful and gentle with my training, but this has also taught me to train more responsibly…like warm up first.” says Beverly.

What is the one most important factor when it comes to hand balancing?

“Patience, resilience and discipline are very very very important. Rushed and frantic handstands seldom ever work unless you’re incredibly strong. You can expect to have some days where you have zero success and want to give up, and you’ll need to do handstands every single day even if that means you’ll be staring at the floor for 2 hours.” says Beverly.

What advice would Beverly give to beginners who are starting on their hand balancing journey?

If you are just starting on your handstand journey, here are some advice that Beverly would like to share to help you with your initial phase of your journey.

OVERCOMING FEAR – You can kick up to a handstand against the wall but can’t do it freestanding is because of fear. After learning how to twist out of your handstand, you’ll realise it’s no longer dangerous to go upside down, training will feel much less terrifying, and you’ll dare to kick up to your handstand.

STAYING FOCUS – Handstands won’t feel like you kick up to centre and then float there. Once you find your centre, that centre will keep shifting around so it’s a constant focus on balance, constant pushing and pulling and constant gripping and releasing. 

GETTING UNLOCKED – you’ll have no idea what it feels like to be in balance upside down. In other words, you don’t know which point/feeling it is that you’re looking for so it’ll feel like a pointless search. But once you unlocked it and you know what it’s supposed to feel like, the journey towards finding that spot will be a lot easier.

Are you interested to learn more about handstand and other movements like the front walkover from Beverly? Check out our classes page to see what are the upcoming classes that she will be conducting at CheerForce Singapore’s cheerleading studio!

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Improve Flexibility: Mastering Of Splits And Pancakes

Author : CheerForce Singapore

Date:25-11-2020

Today we bring to you an interview with the flexible sister duo Margarita and Christina and they will be sharing with you their journey on flexibility and some challenges and tips they picked up along the way. They will also be sharing how their flexibility training is like as well as advice for you if you are starting or has already started on the flexibility training journey of your own.

WHO ARE THEY?

Marga is an advanced level pole dancer and has participated in amateur level competition and holds the title of “The Brass Barree’s Freestyle Battle Queen” whereas Christina has a versatile dance background from hip hop, tap, contemporary dance and pole dancing. She have been consistent in building her strength and flexibility to compete internationally.

WHEN AND WHY DID THEY STARTED LEARNING SPLITS/PANCAKES?

It all started as a sibling thing where Marga started training splits when she saw Christina training for it and wanted to see if she could do it as well. She managed to achieve her front splits in secondary school but lost it for a period of time as she did not continue training until in 2018 where she started working on her overall flexibility.

It was Marga’s aim to get her flexibility back after losing it, and over time she found more reasons to train her flexibility to have beautiful lines when she dances. Marga explained that the ability to do more tricks requires some degree of flexibility, and the sense of satisfaction from achieving each minor milestone motivates her to work more on her flexibility. “It has become a journey where I learned to enjoy and develop interested in this craft.” said Marga.

WHAT IS THEIR TYPICAL FLEXIBILITY TRAINING REGIME LIKE?

“Twice a week, one hour each session” was their answer.

“If I can’t follow through with this on some weeks, I will find ways to incorporate some deeper stretches in her warm-ups before my self practice pole dance sessions and throw in some tricks that supplement this as well.” said Marga. Some of her deeper stretches includes oversplit stretches and tricks that require the same level of flexibility. “On rare days I will work on my middle split which is my least favorite part to train” said Marga jokingly.

As for Christina, her typical training session would be an hour long focusing on certain muscles groups and always trying to incorporate active flexibility work.

WHAT CHALLENGES DID THEY FACE WHILE LEARNING SPLITS/PANCAKES?

Marga big challenge is getting the right form to make sure she is stretching safely while maximizing the stretch because sometimes getting into the right form itself can be a challenge. Marga makes a conscious effort to focus on each stretch and try to progressively improve her form. It’s definitely not something that came easy to her because she really needs to be aware of her body. “It would help when you have someone stretching with you because they will be able to help you check and correct your form”, suggested Marga.

As for Christina, she faced days where she have difficulty in finding motivation to stretch. “Let’s face it, stretching can hurt and may seem really mundane, but I usually set a certain goal in mind (usually a trick I want to do) to help me push through”, shared Christina. It was the saying “Embrace the suck” by Tom Merrick that kept her motivated and pushing through her flexibility trainings.

They also shared that overcoming the pain should hurt and will hurt but there’s good pain and bad pain. Good pain should feel like there’s some mild tension or some degree of discomfort but nothing sharp and highly discomforting as this might mean you have strained, overstretched, or pulled something, which is bad pain.

WHAT IS THE ONE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR WHEN IT COMES TO SPLITS/PANCAKES?

Consistency is the key factor when it comes to flexibility trainings. “Unless you’re naturally flexible, it’s quite unlikely that you will get your splits/pancakes in a short period of time. You have to be consistent in dedicating time to stretch to see results” said Marga. “I personally think that training with intention and consistency is the most important” said Christina.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD THEY GIVE TO BEGINNERS WHO ARE STARTING ON THEIR SPLITS/PANCAKES JOURNEY?

“Have patience, some people can achieve their flexibility goals in weeks, and others take years so be patient with your body and celebrate every little milestone along the way. Being patient can make your flexibility journey a lot more rewarding, a lot less painful and a lot more enjoyable’, advised Marga, “You’ll also want to experiment with dynamic and static stretches to find out what type of stretches works for you and incorporate more of such stretches into your own training.”

Christina advised, “Be patient with yourself, everybody’s body is different. Your stretch journey is YOUR OWN journey, enjoy it!” Christina also suggested to take inspiration from other people online but never compare their progress to yours. Use others as your motivation and not as a way to put yourself down.

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Cheerleading In The New Normal

Author : CheerForce Singapore

Date:05-08-2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many industries and individuals, and cheerleading and cheerleaders are not exception. Although sports in Singapore has already resumed in Phase 2, the sport of cheerleading remains dormant as prolonged contact is still not allowed under the latest advisory by Sport Singapore and Cheerleading Federation (Singapore).

However, we are lucky that segments of cheerleading is allowed to resume in phase 2 such as tumbling, jumps and CheerDance. We can now practice in groups of 5 with a coach which allows us to build back the team spirit little by little. Masks are still recommended to be worn during our workouts and cleaning and sanitization procedures are carried out after each group has left the premises.

Although stunting is still not allowed by Sport Singapore and Cheerleading Federation (Singapore), we have started preparing our bodies and refreshing our stunting skills with conditioning and stunt drills through our online cheerleading fitness program CheerFit SG, in hopes that the restrictions imposed on contact sport by Sport Singapore will eased out in the near future.

SafeEntry check-ins, temperature check and hand sanitizers has become the norm at our cheerleading studio as we strive to resume cheerleading in the safest way possible for all of our athletes as their health is our top most priority. Athletes are also to leave the premises once their training session is over so as to prevent them from hanging around in the facility for a long period of time.

Team bonding has also been a challenge for us. Other than the weekly online workout session and tumblng sessions in our cheerleading studio that allowed us to meet each other, the EXCO initiated a mini bonding session over dinner last weekend for the team to bond over a simple dinner at Poulet Vivocity.

As we enter into the month of August, the first thing that is on every Singaporean’s mind would be National Day. It has been our annual practice to have an outdoor stunt photoshoot in red and white to celebrate the spirit of National Day together as a team. However, due to the no stuntiing restriction, we have decided to do a simple individual photoshoot in red and white to spread the National Day cheers this year.

It has been a really challenging period for Singapore as a nation and for us as a cheerleading community, and it will continue to be as challenging as before moving forward into the new normal. We urge our fellows cheerleaders to follow the regulations imposed by Sport Singapore so that we can all stay safe and do our part as a cheerleading community in Singapore. We believe that we will definitely be able to overcome this pandemic and emerge more united in the new normal future. Together a stronger Singapore!

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Losing The Motivation To Cheer Again

Author : CheerForce Singapore

Date:03-06-2020

Are you losing the motivation to go back to cheerleading again after this pandemic is over? Afraid that you will have to start back from square one when you return to the mats? Don’t worry, we believe that you are not the only one feeling skeptical of returning to the blue mats and cheering again.

Motivation is defined as the reason for acting in a particular way. With the suspension of cheerleading trainings in Singapore since end of March, many of us are starting to lose our purpose and motivation to do cheerleading and for some, we do not even see ourselves getting back to the sport again.

It is really difficult to keep the passion for the sport burning in times like this but do not worry because we have ways that you can keep your motivation and passion for cheerleading alive and prepare yourself to get right back into the sport once trainings are allowed to resume. Excited? Here are the 4 ways you can stay motivated for cheerleading practice during this COVID-19 period.

Schedule Workout Sessions Weekly – The hardest part for most of us when cheerleading practices resume will be to adjust our time to fit practices into it and that’s because in our daily routine during this COVID-19 period, there is no need for that and those time that was used for cheerleading is now being replaced by other activities at home. Our advice is for you to continue to schedule workout sessions weekly, best if it can on the same say and time as your usual cheerleading practices.

Main reason for this is that not only do you continue to keep your body fit for cheerleading, you are taking time out of your daily 24 hours to do something physical and when cheerleading training resumes, it will be much easier for you to just change the activity for that period of time to cheerleading instead of having to squeeze time out to go attend cheerleading practices. You will find that it is a smoother transition and you will not be giving yourself the reason to not go for cheerleading practices because you already have something scheduled during training hours.

Chat With Teammates – With the advancement in technology, it is now so much easier to have a video call with your teammates to catch up on how they are doing. The bonding between team members are really important to keeping the team together. When everyone feels bonded to each other, you will be much more motivated to return to training with everyone.

Apart from just chatting with your teammates, you can arrange for a virtual meal together and even organise virtual celebration and games together with a small group of your besties in cheer or even your whole team. Main idea is to get engaged with everyone so that you will have the sense of belonging to return once the suspension on training is lifted.

Be Involved Virtually – Apart from engagement with your teammates, you can stay involved with the global cheerleading community through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and even YouTube. Traveling is an impossible task right now but you still can continue to be involved in the cheerleading scene both regionally and internationally.

You can watch cheerleading videos from all around the world to get inspired by others, comment and share posts that you are motivated by, and even get to know new cheerleading friends online. This will give you a reason to return to cheerleading again to improve your skills, attempt skills that you have never done before and look forward to meeting even more friends when traveling is made possible again.

Improve Your Skills At Home – Ever thought to yourself that it was impossible to squeeze out time to do drills and work on your flexibility stretches at home because you just do not have any free time with the hectic work schedule? With most industries slowing down, you now have more free time at home to get your tick tock techniques corrected, or even work toward pulling a nice scorpion on the floor.

By working on drills to improve your cheerleading skills at home, you are actively engaging yourself in cheerleading activities and with the progress that you see, you will be motivated to push yourself to do more. Staying current with your skills in cheerleading allows your body to remember the feeling of doing cheerleading and you will see cheerleading as a part of your daily life, which will push you to return to practices once it resumes to see how much of an improvement you have made with your home trainings.

Staying active at home daily for a long period of time can be really challenging for many people as we run out of ideas of fitness exercises or cheerleading drills to do. If you are looking for workouts specifically for cheerleaders, head over to our YouTube channel and check out our skills tutorial and workout videos that are created specifically for flyers, bases and tumblers with exercises and drills that you can do at home. Drop us a comment if you would like us to do a tutorial or workout on certain skills that you would like to learn.

In need of some cheerleading motivation? Follow us on our Facebook page or Instagram to get some cheerleading motivation from us to you! So remember, stay active, stay involved and stay cheerful like how we cheerleaders always do! Cheers!

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Roar In Harmony At Chingay 2020

Author : CheerForce Singapore

Date:05-02-2020

We had a blast last weekend at the Chingay Singapore 2020, performing 2 days in a row and showcasing the sport of cheerleading at Asia’s biggest street parade. It was really sensational to hear the crowd cheering with every stunt that went up and the energy at the F1 Pit Building was electrifying.

Chingay 2020 brings to you “Colours In Harmony”, a dynamic showcase of Singapore’s multiculturalism and diversity in celebration of People’s Association 60 years of community building with the people. This year CheerForce Singapore is in the Chinese New Year segment dressed in black and gold modern tribal costume, representing the lion tribe.

This year we faced multiple challenges such as shorter preparation time and multiple revamping of our routine, to which we worked together as a team and helped each other out to ensure that we always present the best we can to our audiences. It was a tough ride for us to put up the show at Chingay Singapore this year as more than half of our members have less than 1 year of cheerleading experience but everyone understood what was requireed of us and put our best foot forward with every practice, rehearsal and show.

Through our relentless efforts, we put up what we planned and received great comments from members of the public. Thank you for all your positive feedback and encouragement and we look forward to bringing more amazing cheerleading performance to you in the future.

We would like to thank People’s Association and our production manager, Lily Chen, for their continuous support for us from the preparation stage through the end of parade 2. We would also like to thank Chingay’s Artistic Director, Mr Fan, for this guidance and feedback which pushes us to change our performance routine to put up the best performance we can and differentiate us from the rest of the performances.

Special thanks to the members from King Edward VII Titans Cheerleading Team who decided to join us for this Chingay performance to make our performance even more amazing together. We are also thankful to have our korean friend, Kiu, who flew all the way from Korea to perform with us at the parade. Last but not least, we would like to thank all our supporters, company’s management, alumnis, friends and families for their support for us throughout this journey which made Chingay 2020 possible for us all.

Chingay 2020 not only is a platform for us promote the sport of cheerleading, but it is also a channel for us to come together as a cheerleading community to build friendship and memories that last. If you are interested in being part of our cheerleading community, we look forward to having you with us at Chingay 2021!

Visit our official website to find out more about us and the cheerleading performances that we did. Contact us now and be part of our amazing cheerleading community or have us bring the hype of cheerleading to your event!

Cheers!

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Happy Lunar New Year!

Author : CheerForce Singapore

Date:24-01-2020

24 days has passed since the calendar new year and here we are celebrating yet another new year! Filled with vibrancy and the auspicious color red, the Lunar New Year is one of the major festival here in Singapore. At CheerForce, we jumped into the festive mood on Wednesday and had our Lunar New Year themed training.

Hosted by our marketing manager Jilane, all of us had a lot of fun and laughter as we tried to form the chinese character for the word rat and the word CNY with our bodies. Apart from that, we also took a CNY team photo and well-wishes video which will be released on our social media soon so stay tuned!

That’s not the end of our CNY celebration! We will be having a CNY steamboat and BBQ dinner after our Chingay Parade 2020 together with our post parade celebration, which will be shared through our social media story on the 2 February so do keep a lookout for it!

The CNY celebration is just the start of a chain of events lined up in our CheerForce calendar. Apart from our usual NDP photoshoot and Dinner & Cheer events, this year CheerForce will be rolling out a series of internal and external events for our team members and the cheerleading community.

Apart from events, we will also be embarking on projects throughout the year such as our team expansion initiative and CheerFit. Both are focused on building cheerleading up from the ground level and both initiatives are still in the preparation stage. Once we have more information ready, we will definitely let you know first hand on our social media.

It is going to be an eventful year for us and we want you to be part of it! Follow us on our Facebook and Instagram as we journey through 2020 together. Want to be part of our amazing cheerleading team but worry that you do not have the relevant cheerleading experience? Do not worry! We do have programs catered for you who has zero experience in cheerleading because we know that everyone starts from ground zero. So if you have always been wanting to be a cheerleader, just drop us a dm on our social media now!

In the meantime, enjoy your Lunar New Year and we wishes all of readers a prosperous and successful year of the rat! Cheers!