Fans of cheerleading and dance will have a chance to check out some of the top competitors from throughout western Canada during the Best of the West Cheer and Dance Championships at the Moose Jaw Events Centre this Saturday.
More than 1,400 athletes will take part in the elite event, which is making its second stop in the Friendly City after a wildly successful showing back in February of 2022.
“It’s pretty awesome that they can bring it back this year.” said Infinity Athletics coach Melissa Marzolf. “It’s pretty exciting that we can have it right here in Moose Jaw, and it’s one of the few if not the only competition we don’t have to travel for once, so we’re really looking forward to it.”
The action kicks off at 10 a.m., with the first session running until 1:40 p.m., followed by the second session taking the stage at 3 p.m. and going until just after 7:30 p.m.
Given the number of teams and the calibre of competition, Marzolf expects local competitors will need to be at near their best to have a shot at claiming hardware from the event.
“We have quite large divisions for just about all of the entries we have teams in, so it’ll be awesome to see how they do on the stage and how they match up with all the other talent coming here this weekend,” she said. “They’ve been working pretty hard and they’re ready to hit the stage right at home, they’ll be doing their best to do really well.”
A huge part of the experience is taking the stage in front of a large crowd, which will most certainly be the case throughout the day on Saturday. That’s all part of the game for the older competitors who have been through many a meet in the past, but for some Infinity Athletics youngsters, it’ll mark one of their first times doing their thing with thousands of strange faces looking on.
“For three of our teams it’ll be their first competition of the season and for some of them, it’ll be their first competition ever,” Marzolf said. “Being young and little and going up on a big stage in front of thousands of people is a really big task, but they’re going to do awesome. There will be some nerves but some excitement, for sure.”
Infinity Athletics can look back to last year to see how the little ones can come through -- the Under-8 Comets emerged as the Grand Champion of their division at the first Best of the West in Moose Jaw last Feburary.
As for the overall competition, dealing with that many athletes and more than 150 performances in the span of nine hours could seem like a daunting task, but Marzolf expects things will run as smoothly as ever given the vast amount of experience organizers have.
“The event director (Alissa Stewart) is amazing, and from teams to staff for the event and setting everything up, she has us pretty well organized.” Marzolf said. “The hardest thing, for the most part, is scheduling, where we have lots of kids who are on different teams or some of the older kids are coaching teams, so you’re coordinating schedules to make sure everyone can get to where they can be when they need to be. Then the rest just kind of falls into place when you’re there.”
Infinity Athletics will have a total of 12 performances and will be taking the stage at the following times:
10:36 a.m. -- Starbursts U12 Level 1
11:08 a.m. -- Fantasy U12 Level 1
11:52 a.m. -- Shooting Stars U16 Level 4 AG
1:08 p.m. -- Comets U8 Level 1
1:12 p.m. -- Supernovas U12 Level 3
3:58 p.m. -- Starlites U8 Prep Level 1
4:38 p.m. -- Invaders U12 Level 2
5:30 p.m. -- Twinkles U6 Novice
5:58 p.m. -- Interstellar U18 Level 2 NT
6:50 p.m. -- Paisley U12 Level 2 Indy
6:58 p.m. -- Desi U16 Level 2 Indy
7:26 p.m. -- Nellie U12 Level 3 indy
For the complete schedule from the competition, click right here, and tickets for the event are available by clicking here.
