Cheerleading adventures, misadventures

SINGAPORE – Team Pilipinas All Girl Elite gave such a dominating performance at the second Southeast Asia Cheerleading Open (SEACO) at the D’Marquee Lifestyle Center at the Downtown East Complex here Saturday, they were even drawing ovations during their final run-through. Members of other teams and audience members posed for photographs with the two-time champions. The event actually had a cabinet minister, two vice-consuls from the Philippine embassy and diplomats from Malaysia, Indonesia and other countries in attendance. The squad’s repeating as champions in the All Girls category, however, belied the challenges they faced just in getting here, and the misadventure that prevented their even more skilled coed (college) teammate from making it.

It all started early Friday morning, when the bus that had spent the early dawn hours fetching the different coed and remaining high school cheerleaders from all over Metro Manila to bring them to Clark Airport overheated along the North Luzon Expressway, causing them to miss their 7:30 am flight to Singapore. The team hastily started making phone calls to find a way to raise money for another budget airline trip (estimated at almost P 400,000) on an afternoon flight. Imagine, these youngsters were in Pampanga, more than 90 kilometers away from their parents, trying to source out funds remotely.

Meanwhile, officials of the National Cheerleading Championship who had flown from Manila, as well as the bulk of the All Girls Elite team already at the competition site, tried their best to coordinate the travel plans. Eventually, they were able to secure tickets on a 4 p.m. flight. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The problem was solved. 

Or so they thought.

As the team attempted to board, they were denied entry onto the aircraft. Initial reports reveal that supposedly, since their tickets had been booked electronically from Manila close to flight time, the information had not made it onto the passenger manifest in Pampanga. The incident is being investigated by the NCC. The group of 39 had to split up. The twelve members of the defending champion high school squad broke off, seeking alternatives. They were able to get an evening flight to Malaysia instead, and took a five-hour bus ride into Singapore with their coaches, arriving at 5 a.m., just hours before the 2 p.m. competition.

“We thought that they would be tired or sad because of the long trip,” says NCC co-founder Nino Caruncho. “But they were okay, happy to get here, and excited to compete. The resiliency of these kids is unbelievable.”

Their even more dominate elders, however, were not so fortunate. The remaining 27 members of the coed team, running out of flight options in Clark, decided to gamble on a two-hour drive back to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on the off chance that they would be able to make a flight to Singapore. But the size of the group made it doubly difficult. Early morning flights couldn’t accommodate everyone. The team even considered booking a 1 p.m. flight the next day just to be there even if they would be too late to compete.

At the opening ceremony, the event host asked the crowd to give a special round of applause for Team Pilipinas’ Coed squad. In true cheerleading spirit, the other teams were sincerely sad that the Philippine team couldn’t make it. Even if Team Pilipinas was considered a runaway winner, the other teams wanted to see them in action. Thailand and Indonesia split the honors in the two coed team competitions. The Philippine embassy, which has been supporting national teams to many sporting competitions here, vowed to support the team from the get-go next year. Even the organizers are hoping to change the schedule for the tournament, which is slated for the last weekend of March each year, to make it more relaxing. After 2013, organizers are considering holding it in another country. This early, the Philippines is already bidding to be the next host.

“We’ll probably do this a bit earlier next year and get the teams in a day early or something like that,” declared Damien Ng, head of Cheerleading Association (Singapore). “We want everyone to have fun. That’s what cheerleading is all about.”

Meanwhile, after the one-day event, the NCC is already making plans to send the coed team to another Southeast Asian competition instead, if circumstances fall into place. The Philippines, a crowd drawer at this level of cheerleading, is being invited to send a team to the Malaysian Open at the end of June.

“We’ll try to send the coed team. We’ll just have to work out the schedule, since school would have started by then,” adds NCC co-founder Itos Valdes. “They’re already prepared, anyway. People should really get a chance to see this team perform.”

The SEACO itself was an example of professionalism, harmony and teamwork. Judges and guest observers from the governing International Cheer Union in the US gave the event a very good evaluation, and were happy, especially with the level of competition. And they will never forget the hospitality they experienced on this side of the world.