The WolfPack cheer team soared to podium finishes at the BC Sport Cheer Provincial Championship on March 1. The All-Girl Advanced team took home first place while the Premier Small Co-Ed team placed third.
During their first competition of the season, on Feb. 15, the ‘Pack attended the Power Cheerleading Athletics National Collegiate Open. Both the Premier Small Co-ed and All-Girl Advanced teams took home silver medals in their divisions.
Stunting skills are categorized into seven levels, with each level allowing increasingly challenging skills. Since last year, the All-Girl team has moved from level three stunting to level four, making them an advanced team. A premier team competes at either level six or seven, the highest levels of difficulty. For example, in an advanced team dismount, if a flyer is flipping out of a skill, they must be attached to someone else, meaning they are holding their base’s hand. A flyer on a premier team is allowed to flip without holding on to someone else. Each team must declare its level before competing.
The members of each team are partly determined by tryouts at the beginning of each school year. As of this March, students attending TRU with athletic scholarships have already signed for the 2026-27 season. According to Tanisha Terry, captain of the All-Girl Advanced team, almost all of those athletes will compete on the premier team. The premier team has limited spots, so those who go to tryouts will be on the gameday and advanced teams. Terry says 87 per cent of her teammates this year are brand-new to the sport, and as captain, she can help the team build connections.
“It makes me feel like I can be the change that I want to see. Now you have that platform to reach out to the coaches and be that connection between the coaches and the mat,” Terry said. “If I’m feeling that the team is maybe going emotionally downward, and that starts to affect our physical cheerleading, I can say to the coaches, ‘Hey, I’m noticing this on the mat.’”
According to Lane Robinson, a third-year member of the Premier Co-Ed Team, the camaraderie among the team has been a key factor in their success.
“This year in particular, we are really driving as a team. There is not a single person on there that I wouldn’t feel comfortable sitting down and having one-on-one conversations with,” Robinson said. “We all really mesh well together this year, and I think that is having an effect on how we take the floor and how we encourage each other at practice. It’s making a big difference.”
Practices begin in September, months before their first competition in the winter semester. The first practices focus on skill-building and on seeing how well the group works together until they start planning their routines in October. Robinson says the routines are developed throughout the season after each competition.
“Think of it as a rough draft for a routine. Depending on whether or not groups are able to hit skills, we upgrade, or we do more difficult skills. Sometimes they stay the same, sometimes, based on feedback from the judges at a competition, they will change certain elements to better fit what the judges are looking for,” Robinson said.
Collegiate cheer competitions consider performance elements, such as crowd connection, alongside athletic performance. The judges look for teams that are absorbed in the entire routine, not just during the stunts. “They look at how well we engage with the audience. We have a chant section, and they’re looking for us to engage with the crowd. Are we smiling? Do we have facials? Do we look like it’s easy, or does it look like we’re struggling through it?”
After their performance at provincials, the ‘Pack is adjusting their routines so they can end strong at their final competition of the season.
“We have some upgrades that we’re looking to do. Base groups have skills that we’re looking for.” Robinson said. “We’re just going to add some more variety and work on the crispness of our routine, hitting strong and looking confident while we’re doing it.
The WolfPack’s third and final competition will be the Sea to Sky International Cheer and Dance Championship in April, 2026.