RAISE a cheer for The King’s School’s Girls’ Division, which is now the nation’s number one school for the country’s fastest growing sport of cheerleading.

Coached by British National Champion Rachael Burrows, the Cubs team of Years Eight and Nine girls and the Lions Team of Year 11 girls both won the national titles at the British Gymnastics of the United Kingdom Cheerleading Association’s School Championships.

King’s youngest team, the Kittens, also performed superbly to finish fifth in a competition that featured 150 schools from across the country.

Burrow, who herself is the reigning British Champion and rated number three in Europe, was also chosen by the Association presidents as the UK’s top schools’ coach and praised for developing the sport at club and school level.

King’s Girls’ domination of sport comes only 12 months after Burrows started coaching the sport at the Fence Avenue school.

She said: "You have to be committed, determined, learn to work as part of a team, and to trust fellow team mates. Enthusiasm and motivation is key to success, a happy motivated team will want to work hard and will perform to their best ability."

Immersed in a culture of sportsmanship, cheerleading teaches traditional values of fair play and affirmation of the opponents.

Burrows added: "The most famous cheerleading chant: ‘We are proud of you, say we are proud of you’ is chanted by other teams every time a team competes and when trophies are given out.

"This energy and enthusiasm is known as cheerleading spirit and the King’s girls were recognised for their contribution as they stayed and cheered on the other teams all day.

"The atmosphere at cheerleading competitions is amazing. There is a huge buzz with cheerleaders cheering and dancing and encouraging others all day - experiencing this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I was so proud of them."

Cheerleading is the UK’s fastest growing sport. The Nationals saw more than 4,000 cheerleaders taking part, a 30 per cent increase in participation from last year.

Rachael said: "The girls definitely made a big impression in national cheerleading.

"They were competing against teams that I know have been around for years and, to become British Champions with a year of training is phenomenal."