By Christina Lépine – Features Editor

On Saturday Feb. 18, the Bishop’s cheerleading team took the mat at the RSEQ competition in Trois-Rivière, their last competition before the provincial championship. This was an opportunity for this year’s team to perform their routine in a different setting than previous competitions and to identify elements to work on before provincials. 

The Gaiters cheerleading team has been considered a club long before becoming a varsity team. Head coach Sève Janelle started coaching the team in October 2021. Since then, she has witnessed a change in the team’s mentality. “The girls have a more competitive mindset, and they want to improve on their skills. We are a varsity team, and we want to be considered as a competitive university-level sport,” she said. Team member Rafaëlle Tracy mentioned that she feels like “this year the team is much more prepared and stable. We perform well under pressure, and we are able to adapt to changes and injuries.”

One of the team’s captains, Michelle Garrison, also shared her experience as a member of the team. When asked about the changes she witnessed since she started cheerleading at Bishop’s, she said: “We have been growing so much over the past few years from being a club team to varsity. We are very fortunate to have a new coach that has a lot of cheerleading experience and has been building this team up. This season, we have multiple new athletes who are very talented and have a lot of experience in cheerleading, including an athlete from Team Canada and multiple Cheerleading Worlds athletes.” 

This varsity team is relatively young and has to compete in the RSEQ circuit against teams with male and female athletes to retain their varsity title, but the team takes every opportunity they have to show they belong in this circuit. “Last year in competition, we hit 0, this means that we hit our routine and got no deductions which is an amazing accomplishment! After building up our social media platforms, I believe that we received a lot more recognition from students at our school who realized there was in fact a cheerleading team here at Bishop’s University,” said Garrison.

On Feb. 18, the Gaiters cheerleading team performed well at the RSEQ competition, although the setting was very different from what they are used to and they had to perform with a modified team due to injuries. The positivity and energy of the Gaiters is remarkable throughout all their competitions as they compete against teams with men and women athletes who are able to accomplish harder skills than the Gaiters, a women-only team. Tracy mentioned, “The team does not know what to expect for provincials due to injuries which cause changes in the choreography and in the stunts, but we are hoping the injured athletes can recover fast, and we are confident we will adapt to the sudden changes.” 

Should you want more information on the Gaiters cheerleading team, their Instagram account is updated frequently @gaiterschr.