Who would you consider an inspiration/celebrity in British Cheerleading?

Who do you/your children look upto and why?

Elisabeth noon from unity black she's amazing she is a flyer and is so good at what she does I'm not sure if she is competing this year but I hope she is :)

Charlotte foster because she's amazing and a lovely person

Aimee Starfish, all round perfect!!

Chelsey Knight

Chelsey Knight 100%

Who's Chelsea knight /:

Coventry Dynamite and Team England... Agreed though, she's a lovely girl.

Unity coaches

Liz noon

Angela Brown is a legend.

I know they are level 5 & 6 and everyone looks up and inspires to be like them level athletes but what about level 4 does everyone not know about them or are they not at a high standard that cheerleaders look up too? Im a cheer mum and thought level 4 was amazing my daughter is level 2 and she knows more level 4 than 5 or 6 and I was wondering what everyone else thought or if they have any level 4 athletes in mind?

Mason Hamilton so is Holly Barton and molly Simpson is my inspiration

Darcy Riman

Definitely Darcy Riman, she's such an Insperation! I love her

Toby Kingsley, but only when he is throwing his tumbling passes and isn't front spotting

Is there such this as a level 4 cheerlebrity?...NO!

How is there no such thing as a popular level 4 cheerleader? Any level can have skilled athletes!

@post18 Please give me the name of one skilled level4 UK athlete

Sorry phrased that question wrong, * name one skilled 'popular' level 4 athlete.
I'm no way saying that I agree that there are no skilled athletes at this level. I'm agreeing that they are just not recognised in comparison to level 5 & 6 athletes. Am i wrong?

e.g - Look how many Unity Black athletes you know in comparison to Unity Indigo. Come on, be realistic.

So no body knows any level 4 athlete then and not just from unity from all teams?

Why does it matter... We all do the same sport, it's not about levels!

I think the issue is really that it's not until level 5 when tumbling and stunt skills become seen as elite and that separates the good cheerleaders from the exceptional ones. I think it's realistic that anybody can reach level 4 whereas I don't believe that for 5 or 6 (or at least a good team at 5 or 6!).

That's not to knock level 4 athletes. I appreciate talented cheerleaders at all levels.

I'm sure that level 4 is hard too it's just as amazing to watch

That's funny because I've seen people on level 5 teams with much less cheer experience and skills than some athletes on level 3 and 4!! Especially tumbling wise. I think it's crazy to say ANYONE on a level 5 team is "elite". I know for example there are girls who have been to worlds with a certain team who can't tumble and were pretty much taught most of the basics at the team and put straight on the worlds team despite the programme offering various senior level teams. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, but IMO there are then people more "elite" than this person as you can still have layouts in level 4. You can still have excellent basing/flying technique. You can still have AMAZING jumps.

And FYI Darcy Riman is mentioned and she is level 4 (Lady Grenades) this year.

And "anybody can reach level 4 but not 5 & 6" is ridiculous! So you're saying to be level 5 or 6 you are somehow formed differently? I disagree. The point of the USASF level system is to PROGRESS and therefore if someone is level 4 they aren't far off level 5 skills. I think most UK L5 teams would welcome a previous level 4 athlete with open arms!

There are plenty level 5/6 teams out there with plenty athletes on them who DO NOT have level 5/6 skills in fact I would say ALL OF THEM!!! They do not all tumble, they do not all fly so stop being so petty and realise that really ANYONE can be on a level 5/6 team too and at the end of the day if it wasn't for these AMAZING bases, backspots etc. the flyers wouldn't be in the air !!

@post26 and @post27
I'm not being petty, it's just my opinion as a coach. It's probably more relevant to level 6 but I do genuinely believe that it's so much harder for athletes to reach that level (and compete in it as a genuinely good allrounder, not someone who just happens to be l5 but doesn't have a strong skillset) unless they have a long history of elite gym. That means starting early in life.

I'm not denying that some people defy that - I know of a few personally but going back to my initial statement - that's because they are EXCEPTIONAL athletes.

This thread is so wrong. Being level 5 or 6 does not make a cheerleader any more worthy than any other level. I would much rather see an athlete who works her ass off to be level 2/3 than an athlete who is a front spot and doesn't tumble in level 5. To me this means an athlete doesn't try as hard because they already feel they deserve respect for being a certain level.

Basically there is a clear and big distinction between being on a team at a certain level and BEING a certain level. It's a pointless argument but there are people on level 2 teams who have elite skills but can't get a higher level team in their area. There are people with level 1 skills who get accepted into level 5 teams (some teams appear to have a higher percentage of these than others) so it doesn't make sense to only look up to level 5 teams. And FYI just because someone is mentioned on this forum by name, doesn't make them a superstar. I don't know who Darcy Riman is, I'm sure she is talented but being mentioned on the forum isn't proof she is amazing.

Still does anyone know any high level 4 athletes who do actually tumble who can either main base or fly and who has good jumps and dance? I'm not being rude I actually want to know of any really good level 4 athletes who are capable of level 5

Also Darcy riman is level 5 too

@post31 your comment does not make sense. There must be loads of level 4 athletes who can stunt and tumble. Otherwise there wouldn't be any level 4 routines.

This is just people being their usual selves on this forum. If someone is worthy of their 'popularity' then that's fine. If someone is a level 5/6 tumbler and stunter then I agree they should get recognition. What I do not agree with is people being named as 'elite' purely because they are on a level 5/6 team. If the UK had the calibre of cheerleaders and coaches as the US then maybe being level 5 in itself would be an achievement, but in the UK most of the time some teams just fill spaces. If someone can tuck, they can be level 5, if someone is willing to base/backspot, they can be level 5.

The people named on this thread are great and this is no disrespect to them, but the 'elite' comment about level 5 in the UK is just completely untrue and if anything just reinforces some cheerleaders attitudes that because they are level 5 they are a 'cheerlebrity' or deserve to be known.

I was recently saw a photo where someone had screenshotted this forum with the caption "do Rising Stars have an all girl level 5 team? lol.." as if because they are level 5 they instantly should be known by EVERY cheerleader in the UK. It is not the case at all.

I for one am more likely to know programmes which impress me than a programme just because they are a certain level. E.g. QMA are level 6 (uni) but I only very recently heard of them and saw them.

I would also like to point out that it is always higher level teams who I see bitching on this forum, Facebook and Twitter, meaning that sometimes they (or their team) have the skillset for level 5 and worlds but they do not have the correct attitude to represent this country.

Rant over. I hope no one has been offended by this whole thread and that it can be appreciated that any cheerleader who works hard, gives it their all every time and carries themselves with sportsmanship and class deserve recognition for being great ambassadors for our sport.

Chelsey Knight was one of my favourite cheerleaders and I really looked up to her for her skills and her attitude. Until today when I saw her dissing someone on twitter by saying "it's like UKCA level". My team go to UKCA and other comps and I'm quite upset that she wrote that publicly when young cheerleaders like myself follow her because we look up to her. Not cool :-(

@post35 so true you! you should look at lots of cov's athletes tweets so rude, so inappropriate. Giving UK cheer a bad name.

@post35 @post36 sorry for anything that was said that may of offended you or anyone else. I have deleted the tweet, yes I said it and I apologise. It was wrong of me and in the heat of a moment in an argument with some petty girls calling cheerleaders out when they don't even dance under any type of association. Sorry again if anything that was wrote offended you. I feel disappointed in myself and it's a shame you take me as someone like that over one tweet. It wasn't made to offend anyone.
Chelsey x

Apologies to those who may be offended via the tweets publicly posted., however it was all just a misunderstanding that escalated into slight drama. Please do not think differently of us athletes within the Coventry Dynamite programme. Two ends of the stick! - Toby x

Thank you for your apologies. I know you didn't mean to offend but using UKCA as an insult was harsh to those teams who compete at lots of competitions including UKCA. I don't think bad of Coventry Dynamite or the athletes but it was hurtful and I'm glad you have seen that and apologised xx

Becky Hopton is another amazing cheerleader in my opinion!

Agree Becky Hopton is amazing - great athlete on Unity, great Coach/Director of Predators and a really nice person when she coached my team once :)
Also, the cheerleaders that I look up to most are ones who were on my team last year and who have (for various reasons) moved programs and are competing at levels 4 and 5 this year. They are all lovely and a massive inspiration to pretty much everyone in my program! not much point naming them though as I expect only the people they have competed with would know them :)

Grahm Baines and Fiona Riley..... Just too much talent for 1 couple!
Loved to see Fiona has moved to point flyer for Unity!

Ruby Slinger/ Chelsea Mather/Scarlett-Rose Bruce

Molly Hill (Cov dynamites)i think shes only just started tumbling but shes a strong main base and coach of the minis. All round really lovely girl too!

Becky Hopton for sure!

Leonie Stringer rubys point flyer

Definately Steven Pop -Unity Black!

Kelsie Connelly is well known in Scotland, brilliant tumbler!!

Darcy Riman was the best Level 5 EVER

🙄😂