Cheer-sport, or cheerleading, as we officially call it, is one of the newest sports: it was accredited by the International Olympic Committee only a year ago, and it was developing literally before the eyes of the current generations. Initially, cheerleading meant the supporting of American football teams by perky girls who danced holding big colorful pompoms during match breaks, cheering up players and creating positive mood among excited fans. Bit at time, such supporting groups began to be used in basketball and other big sports, later cheerful teams began to perform at different city events and gradually became professionals, because to be able to dance synchronously and energetically, considerable training and physical tenacity are absolutely essential. Well, then, thanks to such training, cheer-sport has developed to the independent discipline which combined features of rhythmic gymnastics and dancesport, but with its own, original artistry and, of course, mandatory teamwork.

In the meanwhile, cheer-sport clubs in provincial cities are still a rarity, and even in the whole Vladimir region they can be literally counted on the fingers of one hand. But the "Ginays" club from Aleksandrov city which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, is not only one of the first cheerleader clubs in the region, it is the best one! And even not only in the region: young club members regularly bring medals from all-Russian competitions, moreover, for two consequent years (in 2018 and 2019), the club members have been silver medalists of the European Cheer Championship! The list of the club victories would have probably expanded further, but it was prevented by the pandemic. Moreover, pandemic onset, required to cancel not only competitions, but annual club festivals as well - so children and their parents involved in the club activities have finally celebrated their long-awaited holiday only in the current year.

Margarita Mishina,
President of the Alexandrov city cheer-sports club "Ginays":

- This was our reporting festival, and we did not invite nobody except for children who study at our club, it is about 100 participants, divided to 6 teams. The youngest participants were born in 2019, the oldest among children were born in 2005. But we did not leave adults aside either, we arranged a “fans battle” between the teams, with the participation of all parents. And I should also mention a completely magnificent performance of our cheer-moms, so everything turned out to be very interesting and beautiful indeed.

Julia Ersal,
HR Specialist of the Beko company:

- My daughter and I have been training at the club for 1.5 years, and we already have six gold and one bronze medals from various competitions we took part. The parents membering in our club are very proactive, everyone contributes to its development and supporting children at the festival is also an additional opportunity to get closer to them. For the sake of fiery eyes of the children, we also attended club classes for two months, practiced dance elements, trained in acrobatics and prepared the performance together with our favorite coaches.

Irina Davydova,
Quality Technician of the Beko company:

– My daughter has been involved in cheer sports since 2018. We learned about the club from local advertising, came there - and were invited to take part in the test class session. Now my daughter is already 12 years old, and she is about to join the juniors team. We were all waiting for this festival, children really wanted a celebration, and it turned out to be very beautiful event - girls who had been training in the club before and already left it were also invited as a part of the performance, and additionally various competitions among the parents took place. In general, we, as the parents, are constantly involved in the club life, attend competitions together with girls to support them: in cheer-sport, not only the team performance is important, but also interaction with the audience and activity of the fans should be also taken into account. So it is a real challenge for both children and their parents.

Cheer-sport is, first of all, a team discipline that teaches interacting and mutual understanding, and children engaged in it become good friends to each other. So at the festival, despite competition between the teams, friendship became the first winner. And it was also a victory of sports, in general, a victory of active lifestyle, which is appropriate in any time and in any place, including the provinces, where champions and winners can also appear due to true desire and diligence. So the children who practice cheer-sports at the "Ginays" club grow up hardworking, diligent and responsible people. Moreover, they learn to take responsibility not only for themselves, because at all-Russian competitions they represent not just their club, but the region in whole, and even the country in whole at international competitions!