Stockport was on the world stage recently, as two local cheerleading teams achieved second and fifth place at the International All Star Federation (IASF) World Championships this year. 

The prestigious event was held at ESPN's 'Wide World of Sports' venue in Florida, near Orlando. 

The 'Cheerleading Worlds' championship began in 2004 with two divisions, and has grown to include hundreds of teams in more than 20 divisions. Thousands of athletes from across the world compete for the coveted World Champion title.

Local teams 'Midnight' and 'Twilight' won fantastic finishes; team Midnight finished second in the world, scoring 131.4 out of a possible 150, whilst team Twilight placed fifth, in what was their first time at Worlds. 

Midnight consisted of 19 females 4 males and 3 coaches. Twilight, in the younger division, consisted of 12 females.

Coach Becky Whittle described her immense pride at the teams' achievements, adding: "They train all year for this competition - it is the highlight of their season."

The teams travelled to Florida to compete at the World Championships (Image - Becky Whittle)

The club where these teams trained has recently closed, and so Becky has since started a new club - Electric Athletics. 

"Within a few days, the teams came back together for an emergency competition to win qualifications for Worlds under our new name", says Becky. 

"They achieved two bids to compete; one partial paid, and one at large bid to the IASF Cheerleading World Championships in April 2024."

As it stands, however, the teams will be unable to practice from September due to the lack of a practice space. 

"These athletes will become homeless at the end of August", Becky says. "We have been looking for a permanent facility, however this is a very slow process that is proving hard to find and hard to push along fast.

"As well as having approximately 35 Worlds athletes this year, we also have around 150 other athletes who are a mixture of recreational to international athletes."

She adds: "We are looking for a building where we can leave our equipment out. It has to be a minimum of 17mx13m clear space, with a ceiling height of at least 5m high."

So long as a practice space is found, Electric Athletics of Stockport can continue to dominate the world stage. 

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