Cheerleading takes the spotlight

MANILA, Philippines — TV5 strengthens its sports core through ESPN5 by covering the National Cheerleading Championship (NCC) Season 14 as part of its content. The network trains the spotlight on the hybrid sport that friends and family can enjoy.

“Cheerleading is actually a big sport in the Philippines,” said Lloyd Manaloto, head of ESPN5, in an interview with The STAR. ESPN5 has entered into a partnership with NCC, which is the biggest in its league, in terms of number of participating teams. Led by NCC founder Carlos Valdes and TV5 president Chot Reyes, this edition expects more than 300 teams competing in the national sporting event. NCC recently held its South Luzon qualifiers at Robinsons Mall in Las Piñas.

“It’s not a one-time event. It’s structured (to) have regionals,” Lloyd added. “The regionals will start in October (sometime this month).” The competing teams will come from Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and key cities. The regional qualifiers will culminate in nationals, sometime in February or March next year.

“And the team that wins will represent the Philippines in the worlds,” he added. The team will proceed to represent the country in tilts in Asia and Oceania, and Orlando, Florida for the World Championships.

Cheerleaders from high school and colleges can participate in NCC’s cheerleading, stunts, dance and drumline categories. As a sporting event, NCC has a scoring system and rules to be followed. Cheerleading is a competitive sport, where skills are honed and showcased. Every team performance is decided on synchronization, costume, quality of stunts and complexity.

TV5 president Chot Reyes (right) and NCC founder Carlos Valdes

Asked why Filipinos have embraced cheerleading easily, Lloyd had this to say: “Maybe because the Philippines, (among countries) in Southeast Asia, is the most Westernized. It’s something that’s quite easy for us to embrace. You do have roots both from the East and the West. Another (reason) is pop culture. There are movies about cheer dance. Filipinos love watching those and we can relate to them.” Another fact is, Lloyd added, the sporting event doesn’t require height as compared to sports like basketball. One cannot also deny the positive values such as teamwork, camaraderie, responsibility and integrity cheerleading promotes that sit well with Pinoys.

“The other side is... you have to look good. That combination of skills, looks and team(work) is something that Filipinos can relate to,” Lloyd said of the sport’s appeal to many.

NCC Season 14 will see teams journey their way to the competition with “We Are Fearless” as battle cry.

“If you think about it, ‘We Are Fearless,’ you wanna go beyond. For you to go beyond, you’ve got to exceed your limits. That’s what we wanna to do,” said Lloyd.

The theme reflects the positioning TV5 has taken in also providing a platform for sports. “In a way, it’s related to that (‘We Are Fearless’). It’s symbolic of that. But you also wanna go beyond the usual sports. That’s why cheer dance makes sense to us. Because it’s a sport, so it’s on strategy and at the same time, it is also something that expands the traditional sports audience. This one is not just the men watching sports. It’s also whole families who are involved. For these kids, parang Gilas yan, (I) go from my own school which competes in the regionals, and I now compete in the nationals and I have a chance in the worlds. It’s like the Gilas. In every level, you exceed limits.”

What most of us don’t know is that the Philippines’ potential in cheerleading has been acknowledged in the region and the Phl team has reached the medal podium.

Knowing their resilience, creativity, enthusiasm and innate rhythm, Pinoy cheerleaders will make a lasting impression on the global stage.

(For details, visit the official NCC website at www.nccphilippines.com.ph.)