JANESVILLE — An elite youth cheerleading team from Legacy Athletics, in Janesville, is on its way to a world championship competition in Florida in April.
The Lucky Charms, a Level 1 cheerleading team at Legacy Athletics, 1141 Black Bridge Road, in Janesville, secured the team’s first-ever paid bid to the Allstar World Championship in Orlando, Fla. on April 20, with a high score of 95.3 in competition in Baraboo in January.
The Lucky Charms are 15 girls ages 9 to 12 from Janesville, Beloit, Delavan, Milton, Fort Atkinson, Monroe, Edgerton and Lake Mills. There’s also one reserve and one alternate.
They earned the paid bid to Florida by winning grand national champion at the two-day Xtreme Spirit Premier Nationals Kalahari Resort 2024 Cheerleading Competition in Baraboo on Jan. 13.
Legacy Athletics Coach Danielle Johnson said this is also the first-ever paid bid earned by any gym in southern Wisconsin. “In all of the gyms in Wisconsin, only three have earned a paid bid,” she said. “Ours and two others in northern Wisconsin.”
A paid bid includes tickets to Universal Studios for all athletes and two coaches.
Angie Diehl bought the gym, previously called Glitz Cheer, in March 2023. Diehl and Johnson said they chose girls for the team that they thought would work well together.
“They’re really competitive and push themselves to win,” Diehl said.
Also awarded to other teams at the Baraboo competition in January were 8 at-large bids and 3 dance bids for the April event.
Twelve-year-old Addison Burgess said it feels great to be a part of a lower-level team that was able to bring home a paid bid for their gym.
Last year the team won an at-large bid to the Allstar World Championship, but they did not advance to the finals on day two. There were 250 teams and only 40 made it to finals.
“We were all very upset about last year, so I think it brought us together this season,” Burgess said.
“I think we have more energy this year,” 10-year-old Brielle Benz said. “We were really bummed out we didn’t make it to day two, so we’re really trying hard this year because we really want it.”
The team committed to working hard and to supporting each other with hopes of making it to day two this year. The girls show up to practice, and ask what they can work on and what they are not doing right, Johnson said.
“There’s never excuses,” Johnson said.
Not making it to day two last year is what Diehl believes really lit a fire under the girls to push themselves and to work harder.
Legacy Athletics has seven cheer teams: four elite teams, two prep teams, and one novice team. The elite teams compete from May to April and require the most commitment. The prep teams are for athletes who may not be able to commit to competing at all the events. Novice is a beginner’s program.
The Lucky Charms practice twice a week for two hours a day, on top of additional tumbling practices and conditional exercises as homework.
“The competition is pretty tough, there’s a lot of great teams, so it’s amazing for them to have gone this far,” cheer mom Jessica Burgess said.
Cheer teaches athletes life lessons such as dedication, commitment, friendship and time management, Diehl said. “They sign a contract and are held to high expectations.”
Ten-year-old Sadie Loos and nine-year-old Jordee Diehl said they enjoy cheering because of the energy and friendships they’re able to cultivate.
“We all encourage each other during practice and competitions to do our best,” Loos said. “Everyone is so nice and we work good together,” Diehl said.
The team has three competitions left before they head to Florida: a single-day competition in Madison, a two-day event in Wisconsin Dells and a single-day event in Chicago.
The team plans to arrive in Orlando on Tuesday, April 16. They’ll attend Top Gun Allstars of Orlando on Wednesday, April 17, to train one last time before competing.
“The girls have a little more experience now and they’ve really spent time learning how to work together,” cheer mom Natalie Loos said. “We’re really proud.”
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