By Ronan O’Doherty, Maple Ridge – Pitt Meadows News
Twenty talented young athletes from Maple Ridge Secondary School will be representing Canada at the 2020 World School Cheerleading Championships in Orlando next month (Feb 7-9).
The event will see teams from as far away as Finland and Japan compete for international recognition.
Sofie Van De Keere, a former cheer athlete who is now one of the co-coaches, could not be more excited.
“I think it’s huge for everyone involved,” she said, “I think it’s awesome that MRSS has a booming cheerleading team.
“I think it’s awesome for the girls because a lot of them have been working for this for a lot of years and they got to experience some failure along the way and they’ve been all growing up until this moment.”
Competition will be stiff, so Van De Keere is being realistic about the team’s expectations.
“We’ve been saying it doesn’t really matter if you win or lose at this point. It’s just going that we’ve been working towards, so it’ll be a great opportunity for everybody,” she said.