Baltimore cheerleading team celebrates national championship title after its first season
By Breana Ross
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — There’s something about getting the chance to stunt, tumble and cheer that brings some extra cheer to the girls on the Showtime Elite Cheer Maryland team.
“I like tumbling,” said 13-year-old Skylar Shaw. “I like stunting. I’m actually a flyer myself, and I’ve just been having a lot of fun doing that.
“I enjoy cheering a lot; cheering is really my passion,” said 18-year-old Serenity Sewell.
Showtime Elite Cheer Maryland just wrapped up its first season as a team. Coach Christy Jackson started the team alongside Coach Enziah Brown and Coach Danielle Jenkins. The three of them have decades of experience cheering and coaching, but they decided to come together to create something new and to create a faith-based cheer team.
“We just saw a need or like a great opportunity for young girls in the space,” said Jackson, the co-owner and founder of Showtime Elite Cheer Maryland. “With the theme of Christ-led service, we use sports as the catalyst, and it’s our ministry. We pray together. We break bread together. We fellowship. We just do all of the things and we re-center it so the girls know it’s important to stay grounded.”
The team practices at Affirm Fitness in Northeast Baltimore, welcoming girls ages 5 to 18. The coaches help the girls build bonds while also building their cheer skills.
In the team’s very first season, the girls competed nationally at the U.S. Finals in New Jersey, capturing first place.
“I was pretty confident that we would win,” Skylar told 11 News.
“I was really excited that we won because we put in a lot of hard work,” Serenity told 11 News.
The team plans to continue working hard now that its second season is underway. The team is looking for community support to offset participation costs for the girls, to help cover new mats and to help the team purchase its own gym.
Showtime Elite Cheer Maryland invites the public to its first birthday celebration from noon to 3 p.m. on June 14 at 4639 Parkside Drive in Baltimore.
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