A new cheerleading studio is going to be calling Lloydminster home this fall. Cheer Legacy has been operating in North Battleford for seven years and is opening a second studio in the City.
“There is not any cheerleading in Lloydminster and there has never been to the best of my knowledge, whereas in Saskatoon they have a very large cheerleading club there,” says Owner of Cheer Legacy Lesia Rathje. “It just seemed like the right city and of course it needed to be somewhere that was close to us.”
The gym in North Battleford offers ninja classes, tumbling and all-star cheerleading with about 150 members. In Lloydminster, the gym will start by offering all-star cheerleading and move into opening their other programs as the studio grows.
Rathje has been cheerleading for 15 years and currently sits on the board of executives for the Saskatchewan Cheerleading Association and the all-star committee for Cheer Canada. She says cheerleading is a recognized sport in both Alberta and Saskatchewan and Cheer Canada is working on national sport recognition to one day compete in the Olympics.
“We empower young girls, young women to be strong physically, which in turn turns into a strong mental state,” she says.
The studio also offers a formal character development program that was developed by a child psychologist. All their classes have a power chat at the end of each class that involves a word of the month.
“We have these power chats so some of the words of the month are things like respect and integrity. This month its teamwork and you have these conversations with the kids and it really gets them thinking about these things that maybe as a seven-year-old you’re not thinking about integrity.”
The gym will offer will offer all-star cheerleading for kids ages three to 18. The new facility will be located at 3909 12 street and will open on September 4th. People can start registering online or in person on August 30.