Exeter Emeralds dominate at cheer competition

The first weekend of March saw the Exeter Emeralds compete for the first time on home turf at Exeter Westpoint Arena and resulted in them walking away with a whopping 8 trophies from 8 different categories.

 Prior to the competition they trained extremely hard with many team members doing more hours of cheer than their degrees! In true Emerald style (having never competed without disaster striking beforehand) they had an injury 6 days before game day which meant Laura Hart, one of their flyers, was unable to compete. This called for reserve, Cassy Raby, to step up and learn a whole routine; stunts, dance and tumbles in a week. An easy feat for a true Emerald.

Saturday saw gymnastic queens, Beth Lodge and Catherine Daly, compete in the tumbling duo category and perform an incredibly flawless routine which demonstrated what beautiful gymnasts they both are. Deservingly so, they were awarded 1^st place.

The comp squad were to take the floor in the afternoon, with a team consisting of 25 girls performing a routine with stunts, tumbles, jumps and dance. They were awarded 2^nd place for this routine and were all thrilled that hard work and dedication had paid off.

Sunday was a busy day for the Emeralds, who were entered in six different categories. First up were the stunt groups. These girls train extremely hard for this and their commitment certainly paid off with Level 4 and 5 winning their category and Level 3 placing 3^rd out of a huge category.

The afternoon saw the dancers take center stage, entering Pom, Hip Hop and Jazz. The dancers had been training multiple hours to perfect their routines and this certainly showed when they performed. They smashed their competition, beating 2^nd place by 10 marks in their new Hip Hop routine. They narrowly placed 2^nd in our Pom routine and it was without a doubt the best they have ever done it. To finish off the day, they placed 3^rd in a jazz routine that brought some viewers to tears.