Ontario ruling leaves them with nothing to cheer about
Marguerite Gravelle was surprised when her daughter Isabelle wanted to sign up for competitive cheerleading. She was a shy girl, and Gravelle was concerned about her fitting in with the others.
Four years later, the Orléans mom says the experience of training multiple times a week and entering competitions has changed her 16-year-old daughter’s life.
“Her personality has totally changed since she’s been doing it. She’s a happier, more social kid and she’s really driven,” Gravelle said, noting that Isabelle’s team was one of three from Ottawa’s Black Widow Cheer Gym to win a spot to compete in the Summit world cheerleading competition that was to be held in Florida earlier this month.
But then the COVID -19 pandemic hit, and all gyms and training facilities in the province were closed. Competitions were called off and travel plans cancelled.
Black Widow owner Larry Barber was hoping to reopen the facility on May 29, along with gymnastics clubs and other training facilities that support amateur and professional athletes. Instead, he was informed that cheer gyms don’t meet the criteria for opening in Phase 1 of Ontario’s reopening strategy. Because cheerleading is considered a recreational activity, it will be eligible to reopen in a later phase.
“We had our schedule all set up, ready to take registrations and get classes going but then we received word from the Ontario Cheerleading Federation lawyers that because we’re not a gymnastics facility and we’re not recognized as a sport, we can’t train,” Barber said. “We’re in a grey area.”
The Ontario Cheerleading Federation (OCF), which represents 38 cheer clubs and schools in the province, is working to clarify those rules and has begun the process required to be deemed a sport. On May 26, it sent a letter asking for “reconsideration” to Lisa MacLeod, minister of heritage, sport, tourism and culture.
“Our point is not to get the ministry to turn over their entire sport-recognition model. It’s just to say that the wording of the emergency management act in regards to non-essential businesses is excluding a massive number of participants that rely on this sport,” said C.J. Pugh, president of the OCF, in an interview. “We feel that our cheerleading clubs can follow the safety rules laid out for other organizations and do it well and do it in a way that gets kids who have lost out on school and everything else back to their safe space where they can feel like an athlete again.”
Ontario is the only one of nine provinces with a cheerleading federation that does not recognize the activity as a sport, he added. At the same time, cheerleading is recognized by the Canadian Olympic Committee and has provisional status with the International Olympic Committee.
“We’re ‘sport’ enough for the Olympics but not ‘sport’ enough for Ontario?” questions Lisa Aucoin, a veteran Ottawa-based cheer coach whose clients include the RedBlacks Cheer and Dance team. She helped draft the federation’s letter.
“Cheerleading encompasses so many components,” Aucoin says. “You have to be strong to throw someone in the air. You have to be flexible. Tumbling is an element of gymnastics, but they also have to dance and perform so there’s an artistic component. And it’s high-intensity cardio so they have to be able to sustain a high level of fitness.”
Cheerleading, she explains, is no longer simply focused on cheering for another team. It’s evolved over the last two decades to become more athletic and competitive, with a seven-level training and competition structure based on progressively harder moves.
Regular training is essential to avoid injury and stay focused as a team. “At this elite level, it’s almost an everyday thing,” says Gravelle. “They’re literally throwing girls in the air so they have to be in top physical shape all the time.”
At Black Widow, one of a handful of cheer gyms in the Ottawa- Gatineau area, up to 300 students, mostly girls but some boys, too, register in the spring for an 11-month season. With the shutdown happening at registration time, the 13,000-square-foot facility is at a “complete standstill,” said Barber, who has had no income from his business since March 15.
When reached for comment, staff in Minister MacLeod’s office indicated they are aware the cheerleading federation has begun the process for formal recognition as a sport but still classify it as a recreational activity. “We’re currently working to support the return of recreation and other activities, including cheerleading, in a safe and responsible manner as we reopen the province,” said press secretary Brooke Timpson.
Meanwhile, Isabelle is doing what she can with an air track in the front yard, a trampoline in the back and a small home-gym setup in the basement where she can do Zoom workouts with her teammates.
“This disruption in their training is really going to set them back later in the year,” Gravelle said. “They always need to be in sync with each other and understand each other’s movements. It’s an intense physical sport and they have to be at their strongest mental game, too, constantly. This break has been very difficult.” lsaxberg@postmedia.com