The cheerleading CCA was added to GESS’ suite of offerings in end 2023, and since then, our students have been training hard, wowing audiences in and out of GESS, and clinching awards at competitions. We find out more from the team behind the CCA about what has been happening in the forefront and behind-the-scenes.
Introduce yourselves to our readers.
Melanie: I am Melanie Simon, the Head of Operations at GESS and one of the departments I oversee handles CCAs and GESS’ involvement in Athletic Conference of Singapore International Schools (ACSIS).
Imke: My name is Imke Jaeschke. I oversee CCAs and ACSIS at GESS, working very closely with CCA providers.
TJ: I am Tian Jun or you can call me TJ. I am the Director of CheerForce Singapore Cheerleading Academy. I started cheerleading in 2010 and coaching since 2012.
How did this cheerleading CCA come about at GESS?
Melanie: The idea of having a student cheerleading team came to my mind when I was working with my colleagues Craig Barry and Kirsten Mönch, developing the GESS Wildcats brandname for our sport teams. We then started looking for reputable cheerleading companies, with CheerForce eventually being selected as our partner. We started with one cheerleading CCA, and we are now offering three cheerleading CCAs for students in Grade 1 through Grade 8.
TJ: At CheerForce, we bring professional and passionate cheerleading coaching to schools and organisations in Singapore. GESS is one of the schools we partner, with the most number of cheerleaders and teams among the schools under our academy coaching.
Cheerleading is a great activity for children and youths to learn teamwork, master body coordination and build physical strength. We have witnessed many of the GESS cheerleading CCA members learning diligently and demonstrating what they have learnt through meaningful interactions with other members. We definitely look forward to welcoming even more students to join us for the cheerleading CCA and benefitting from this activity.
How big is our cheerleading CCA group now?
Imke: Our cheerleading programme currently has 62 students enrolled, and continues to grow. The primary school group has a waitlist, and while the secondary school group currently has only five students, we are hopeful this number will increase next year. One thing I will like to add is, cheerleading is not just a sport for girls, and we’re eager to see boys sign up in the upcoming academic year.
What is a typical cheerleading training session like?
TJ: A typical cheerleading training includes warm-up and jumps or dance, tumbling skills training, followed by stunts skills training and ending off with stretching or cool-downs.
We know the GESS cheerleaders have been making appearances at our sports events and also participating in competitions. Could you share more with us about what these passionate students have been achieving?
Melanie: Our talented and hardworking students not only perform at GESS events like Volkswagen Cup, Summerfest and school assemblies, but also impressed audiences at the CheerForce Championship held at International French School, competing against other international schools. Our Minis achieved first place in Division 2 and our Junior Team was third place in Division 1. One of our cheerleaders Ella represented Singapore in the Thailand Open and had a great experience.
Ella (centrestage) from GESS represented Singapore in November 2024’s Thailand Open
What are some upcoming events our cheerleaders are training for? Any exciting plans coming up for the CCA?
TJ: We are training hard for the inaugural Cheerleading National Championship 2025, which will see our GESS teams pitting against other teams from around Singapore. Our students are preparing a special routine to be showcased at the competition.
We are excited that the team is also invited to perform at various upcoming events in school. This gives the whole team the opportunity to perform and showcase what they have learnt, even for the non-competitive cheerleaders.
We are also looking forward to next year where we hope to recruit more members as well as for returning GESS cheerleaders to level up their skills in another exciting year.
Melanie and Imke: As mentioned by TJ, our next big event is the Cheerleading National Championship on 25 May, and GESS is proud to be the official venue partner. We will have three Wildcats Cheerleading Teams in action, and they have started committing to additional Saturday training to prepare for this highly anticipated event.
With regards to the CCA programme, we hope that our newest team – the Seniors – can grow further in the next academic year.
~ ~ ~ Look out for our upcoming video on the GESS cheerleaders! ~ ~ ~
