East Coast Tigers Cheerleading teams excited by return to competitive action

The restrictions placed upon sports due to the Covid-19 pandemic have hit the Tigers hard, so their five competitive teams are fired up ahead of events in Manchester and Newcastle over the next two weekends.

Head coaches Jess Mortimer and Josanne Heath said: "We are absolutely over the moon to be heading to our first competition in two years this weekend.

"It’s been a really long and difficult journey and we are pleased to say that the majority of our athletes stuck it out and they are excited but nervous to be competing on Saturday.

"The uncertainty has definitely been the most difficult thing to deal with throughout all of this.

"Not knowing when we were going to be able to do what we love again and for the coaches, seeing the kids struggling mentally with not having cheer in their lives properly, was tough.

"Cheerleading is a team sport so the Covid-19 absences have really hit us hard and we’ve only just managed to prepare for the competition this weekend.

"At East Coast Tigers we are a family and it’s really nice to see everyone back together again and getting excited to be back on the competition floor.

"This weekend we are taking four of our five competition teams to compete at Future Cheer Heart of England at Manchester Central Arena.

"Also the following weekend we are taking our Mini team to Newcastle to compete at ICE Blizzard.

"Our mini team are all brand new to cheerleading and are the youngest competitive team we have ever had. We are so excited for them to experience their first ever competition.

"As always we hope for a successful weekend but just the fact we are able to attend already feels like a big win for us. Above all we just want everyone to enjoy themselves and make lots of new memories."