Queen’s Cheerleaders recognised as a sports club

Queen’s Knights Cheerleaders had their campaign to change their status from society to sports club recognised last week.

Members of the club launched the campaign to show cheerleading for its tough and competitive nature.

With regular training and competitions, cheerleading is no different from any other sports club Queen’s has to offer, but without the recognition from the university, the club lacked essential funding.

Cheer captain Caitriona Keenen said: “It’s fantastic to see the members within our club, that train hard, getting the recognition they deserve as athletes.

“They train three days a week for anything up to 6 hours a go doing cardio, conditioning, stunting and gymnastics.

“Although we were slightly disappointed that we didn’t get much more funding than last year we hope that this new status will improve our funding drastically over the next few years.”

Cheerleader Callum Phillipson talked about how his perception of cheerleading has changed since joining the group. He says: “ I did view it as a silly activity for girls who threw around pompoms and made a lot of noise, but now I see it as a really difficult and strenuous sport.

“I’d like to see the public understand what cheerleading is all about and to really see it for what it is and the difficult strenuous activity that we do.”

Student officer at Queen’s Student Union, Niall McKenna added: “I think it is a great campaign.

“Cheerleading probably has a misconception that it is not a sport but with the work they put in and the training that they do, it is definitely as tough as any sports that I would partake in or any other students do at Queen’s.”