Roar writer Alexia discusses KCL Lions Cheerleading in the pandemic and their vision for a new gymnastics society.
KCL Lions Cheerleading has been the place where I found myself in the past two years, my safe space at university. It is truly a family. If I could describe the society in one word, I would say “perseverant”. You would imagine cheerleading is quite a difficult sport to pursue during a pandemic. Regardless of the circumstances, KCL Lions maintained weekly trainings to keep team members motivated and to shape true athletes. The two competition teams, Crown and Majesty, as well as Duchess, the events team, had weekly challenges to facilitate a stronger connection amongst team members and stunt groups, who met up online outside online trainings to work on their skills and dances. We also felt like the girls used their time at home to push themselves out of their comfort zone and master new cheer poses. We saw a lot of successful scorpions and bow and arrows coming through this year and it’s amazing to see everyone’s progress!
I was personally so happy to see all the girls grow so much in the past year. Perseverance was key and it was not easy. We are grateful to all the captains and committee members who made our experience as fun as possible and to all the society members who made it a positive environment, where anyone can thrive. We have witnessed members developing leadership skills, teamwork, and resilience. We were so happy to find out that KCL Lions won a KCLSU Award and that all our hard work was acknowledged: our regular trainings, our strong team bonds, the socials organised by the Social Secs this year and fundraising activities such as This Girl Can and our partnership with UBT Kings and Coppafeel People.
Current President Tez was happy to share with Roar News that “this past season was certainly difficult for all of us lions, especially as we were unable to compete and perform like usual, but we adapted and overcame the challenges together as a team. I am proud of how all the girls kept up their training at home and by creating challenges and new opportunities online, I feel that we really boosted the cheer spirit within the Lions family! We are very grateful to have been recognised for this by the KCLSU and owe a big thanks to the outgoing committee.â€
The society has many ideas to grow even further and expand the society. The future is undoubtedly bright.
