Broderick McQuarters, music junior, is on a cheerleading team that qualified for a place in The Cheerleading World Championship.
The Cheerleading World Championship will be from April 24-26 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. According to the United States All Star Federation, the host of the competition, more than 40 countries will send teams to the championship. McQuarters is on a team called Voodoo, which operates at Tribe Cheer in Moore, Oklahoma.
McQuarters was a level 10 artistic gymnast for about seven years. This is McQuarters’s first season on an all-star team, and his team accepts participants of any age. McQuarters said the youngest member of his team is 13, and the oldest in 27.
“When you go to Worlds,” McQuarters said. “You’re in front of thousands and thousands of people, performing a two minute and thirty second routine, hoping for the best, and hopefully to get that first place trophy and ring around your finger. That’s the ultimate goal.
McQuarters said for a team to qualify for the championships, someone running smaller competitions has to give them a bid, of which there are two types. An at large bid allows a team to go to the championship, but a full pay bid gets the whole team there for a monetary amount very close to free.
McQuarters said when his team qualified at the American Spirit Competition, everyone on the mat got a full pay bid. They placed first in their division and also had the highest score across all divisions at the entire competition, making them grand champions. McQuarters also said there were four other teams in their division at the American Spirit Competition, and more than 20 other teams present across all the divisions.
Blayne Childers, acting junior, used to cheer with McQuarters at OCU. Childers said as students, it’s important to pursue opportunities.
“In college, you have to take advantage of all the opportunities and experiences you get, especially if it’s free,” Childers said. “I’m excited. That’s an exciting opportunity, and I think as a previous cheerleader, not doing it anymore, realizing how hard it actually is and the effort and the strength it takes to be able to compete in a world championship, I’d say I definitely feel inspired by that. It’s definitely not as easy as people say it is.”
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