East Coast Tigers cheerleaders left frustrated as gym is forced to remain closed

The East Coast Tigers closed the doors to their gym 16 weeks ago, a week before the UK went into lockdown.

Since then the club have been running an extensive home training programme for their athletes, with excellent participation as the team prepare for their tryouts for their fifth competitive season.

After several sports were given the green light to get back under way last week, the coaches are still feeling extremely frustrated that community sport has not been given the green light, making it impossible for the gym to re-open and their teams to start training together again.

“We really thought we would have some positive news regarding the return to cheerleading in the last government announcement,” said Tigers’ head coach Jess Mortimer.

“Sadly we were overlooked again and still have absolutely no guidance as to when we can re-open. Over the last few weeks we have spent hours making the gym a safe space for our athletes to return to.

“A deep clean has taken place, our sprung floor has been sectioned off with social distancing markers, we have a temperature scanner, hand sanitiser stations, track and trace and more.

“Our gym can safely allow 20 children in at a time, all staying two metres away from each other, focusing on conditioning, jumps and tumbling, all with no contact.

“It’s extremely frustrating that certain things have been given the green light, yet community sport, which is so important for the mental health and well-being of our young athletes, is yet to be considered.

“We know that season five is going to be like nothing we have experienced before. The way we do things has to change dramatically, especially as we cannot throw stunts for a while, but we are prepared for these changes and we welcome them.

“Our normal practices are usually so full-on that we often don’t have the time to spend on conditioning, and jump and tumble technique.

“The situation we find ourselves in gives us that opportunity and while we would all love to go back to normal, we can embrace the changes and as long as we keep the safety of our athletes the priority, we know that a return to the gym can be successful if and when we are given the go ahead.”

East Coast Tigers coaches, athletes and parents are all hoping for some good news in the coming weeks, which will allow them back into the gym to kick off their new season.