Derby cheerleaders to compete in world championship

The cheerleaders are training intensively this week during half-term

A group of cheerleaders from Derby are to compete in a "once in a lifetime" world championship in the US.

The group of 16 young women, from DB Cheer in Sinfin are heading to the Allstar World Cheerleading Championship in Florida, in April.

The cheerleaders - aged from 16 to 26 years old - are training intensively this week during half-term.

The club's founder Charlotte Astle said: "It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

"There are teams all over the country that aim to get this invitation," she added.

Charlotte Astle said it was an invitation-only event

She said they were invited to the US after coming first in a competition in Loughborough last year. Once the awards were given out, it was announced they had secured a "wildcard" place in the championship in Orlando, Florida.

She added: "We all looked at each other. It was the best reaction you will ever see - there was jumping about. It was an absolutely unreal thing to happen to us. We never expected it in a million years.

"The wild card is for unexpected teams - teams that don't specifically train to go to America. We're just run-of-the mill competitors from Derby and off we go to Orlando."

The squad is entered in two categories, called lyrical and pom.

DB Cheer was founded in 2009

Squad member Luciana Fois, 22, said: "Pom is highly energetic, so fast. With lyrical, we focus on the emotional side. It is more soft, there is more of a story behind it. It is quite similar to ballet but a more contemporary style."

Competitor Grace Backhouse, 18, added: "We have all trained together for the past nearly 11 years so we are all ready to go. It's such a great opportunity to put Derby on the map."

Clara Rowroch, 25, said: "It's going to be huge. It's going to be the biggest competition any of us have ever been to.

"There are going to be five arenas - there will be world teams who have competed there for years."