Phl beats last hurdle to SEA cheerleading

SINGAPORE – Team Pilipinas Cheerleading, the favorites to top the second Southeast Asia Cheerleading Open (SEACO) had to overcome one last major obstacle before making it to the Southeast Asian Cheerleading Open slated today at the D’Marquee Lifestyle Center here.

Missing their flight.

The bulk of the 24-member defending champion All Girls Elite team made it here in separate batches Thursday and Friday, but the strong Coed Premier (Level 6) team suffered a delay when the bus they were riding on the way to their flight from Clark Airport in Pampanga overheated and stalled on the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). The group, numbering 39 in all including the last few members of the All Girls Elite squad, missed their 7:30 a.m. flight. However, the high schoolers were quickly able to book themselves on another flight with the help of their parents.

Meanwhile, the Coed team, many of them traveling on their own, had to find ways to secure additional funds to book new flights, since their previous carrier refused to charge them just a penalty. The balance of the delegation, numbering 27, was forced to purchase new tickets more than 90 kilometers away from home. As of this writing, the stranded team members were merely awaiting the deposit of the funds for their 4 p.m. Manila-Singapore flight.

National Cheerleading Championships (NCC), which organized and funded the two teams, promised to reimburse them for this unforeseen circumstance which will cost NCC an additional P400,000 on top of what they had already spent to make the trip possible.

“We are doing this for the kids, so we can’t burden them with this problem,” said NCC head Itos Valdes. “We just want them to get here. We’ll take care of it.”

There are nine countries involved in the SEA Open, including China, Taipei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Guam, Vietnam, the Philippines and guest performers Team USA, who will only be performing since they are at a much higher level than the field in this part of the world.

Valdes emphasized how significant this competition is, since the next major competition is the World Championships in Disney World in Orlando, Florida at the end of April. Many teams from the region will not be able to afford the transportation expense to the East Coast, which would amount to approximately P5 to P6 million. That was a sentiment echoed by the organizing International Cheer Union.

“This is a very important competition, because some of the countries here like Guam and Vietnam will not be able to send teams to Orlando,” says Mike Cooper, training director for the ICU. “Here, they will get to see what that is like, and we hope it will be an unforgettable experience for them.”

Team Pilipinas is selected from open tryouts of the best cheerleaders from all over the country. The 2012 All-Girls squad is composed of elite cheerleaders from Poveda, St. Paul Pasig, Holy Spirit, CCP, Immaculate Conception Academy-Cavite, and College of Saint Benilde. Their ages range from 15-21 years old. They are coached by Randell Santiago of 2012 national grade school and high school champion College of the Holy Spirit, and Ateneo de Manila University; Ramon Pagaduan of St. Paul Pasig, the WNCAA high school cheerdance champions the last two years; BJ Sayno, head coach of National All Girls Division college champion College of St. Benilde; and Archie Meris, head coach of ICA Cavite, the 2011 All Girls High School Division national champions.

The two Philippine teams will be slated to perform last in their respective categories since they are considered the teams to beat here. 

The 2012 Coed squad is composed of elite cheerleaders from Ateneo De Manila University (ADMU), Central Colleges of the Philippines (CCP), University of Perpetual Help (UPHDS), National University (NU), Far Eastern University (FEU), De La Salle University (DLSU), Rizal Technological University (RTU), and Holy Angel University Pampanga (HAU). Their ages range from 16-23 years old. 

The squad is coached by Central Colleges of the Philippines’ Arnold Villanueva, who steered them to College Coed National titles in 2007, 2008, 2010 and this year. Villanueva is working with University of Perpetual Help’s Ruf del Rosario, who has steered the Perp Squad to five NCAA Cheerleading championships and the 2009 National title. 

Despite the hiccup in their air travel, the team will still have Saturday morning to do final run-throughs before the competition starts at 1 p.m. Dozens of parents and family members of Team Pilipinas Cheerleading have flown to Singapore to cheer for their children. Filipinos based in this city-state will be attending the event, which is free to the public.