SPORT “Train like a champion, fight like a knight.” - An Queen’s
Hannah Mullan, Lifestyle Editor
The hall was filled with an enormous group of guys and girls, all dispersed in their friendgroups, stretching, tumbling and chatting, with a group in the centre starting impressive warm-ups and difficult pyramid formations. What struck most when watching the Cheerleaders of Queen’s University Belfast, however, was the enthusiasm, smiles, and all-round positive atmosphere. The mastermind behind the effort put into the Cheerleading Club is Cara Ann
Daniel Allen, Contributor
McNally, who studies a Masters in Violence, Terrorism and Security here at Queen’s. Cara took a moment out of guiding the cheerleaders through their stunts to talk a bit about the club. The motto “train like a champion, fight like a knight” comes from the fact that the girls may pick up their winnings and trophies in the competitions, but the hard ground-work is the intense training in the club. The Cheerleaders started as a society five years ago, but has been competitive for the three years that Cara has been part of it. The club have won several competitions, including a highly-revered ‘Spirit Award’ and for
the first time went to the British Cheerleading Association in Telford, where the level two stunt team came sixth out of twenty-four. The training is rigorous, with a total of six hours training per-week stretching through a Wednesday and Thursday, but the cheerleaders manage to fit it into their already hectic university timetables. Cara already has her coaching training so can safely and effectively help condition every cheerleader to do their very best, gearing each of them up to the four competitions in place for this year. Daniel, a first-year Chemical Engineer said
Evening with Cheerleading at
he absolutely adores cheerleading. He has been cheerleading since the beginning of university, and said he found it out through Queen’s Fresher’s Fair. He says it is a very sociable sport, where all students of all genders, age groups and years can come along to make friends. Daniel recommends cheerleading as a lifestyle rather than just a sport, because of all the friends he has made, he would most definitely recommend that more guys come along to try it out - it is a tough and strenuous, yet incredibly fun sport.
as well. They say that you don’t have to be at a peak level of fitness, nor do you have to have come from a cheerleading background to join the sport. They say that Cara is a very patient and excellent coach, who can train you from any stage, regardless of your fitness level. Sarah and Sophie both mention that cheerleading is so much fun, you don’t even realise you are exercising, so it’s a fantastic way to have fun, make friends, and keep fit.
Sarah and Sophie are relatively new to the club, and found it out through the Freshers Fair
HOLMS HUMBLES ROWDY ROUSEY
to the fight and showed the composure of an eight time world boxing Saturday November 14th 2015. The UFC’s champion. Rather than biggest star Ronda Rous- let emotions overcome ey took on the undefeated her, the veteran Holm was quite undeterred by her Holly Holm in the Etihad vicious opponent because Stadium for the Undisputed Women’s Bantam- she knew that the following night, when she would weight Title. Rousey entered the have the chance to prove fight coming off a violent the world, and the odds makers, wrong. knockout in her grudge Going into the fight fight with Bethe Correia with Holm, Ronda was in Brazil at UFC 190. In this fight with Holly Holm, considered by many as the best female fighter to however, it seemed like Ronda would have a fresh ever grace the planet. Edmund Tarveydan, Ronda’s challenge, one without head coach, said that bad blood or animosity. he “believed in Ronda’s That soon changed after ability to box with Holly the weigh-in as Ronda Holm”. labelled Holm as being a Getting into the ‘Fake Ass’ and promised fight itself: The first round to beat her the following day. This display from had all the makings of a legendary upset. Holm’s Rousey was unexpected and somewhat uncharac- movement and technical boxing stunned Rousey teristic of the behaviour as the challenger not only we are accustomed to survived but also thrived. seeing from her. MeanHolm not only caught while, Holm was quietly Rousey with multiple left confident in the build up
hands, but also scored a takedown. The opening round in this title fight had all the makings of a monumental upset. Ronda constantly pushed forward and pressured Holly. However the former boxing world champion was able to use her superior footwork to cut angles and a recurring land left hand on Rousey face. That first round was the first time Ronda ever lost a round in any of her previous MMA fights. She got picked apart by the better standup fighter for the full round yet her head coach Edmund praised Rousey win between rounds. Tarveydan told Rousey that she had a beautiful first round and that they had Holly right where they wanted her. Holly’s corner on the other hand continued to remain composed and focused, giving their fighter all the technical advice she needed to continue picking the champion apart. The second round
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continued in similar fashion to the first. Rousey charging forward, with Holly countering with leg kicks and solid left hands. The telling moment in the fight was when Holly caught Ronda with a straight left before following in up with a picture perfect left high kick. This sequence forced referee Herb Dean to call an end to the contest, stunning everybody in attendance and watching around the world. UFC 193 was supposed to be another celebration of Rousey’s dominance. Instead, Holly Holm flipped the script and made it a historic night for MMA. There has been a lot of speculation to what went wrong for Ronda in this fight. Some suggesting it was a lack of focus from Rousey, considering her Hollywood career, others suggest that she believed in the hype created by the media, fans and other UFC fighters which was not an
accurate representation of her true MMA skill, but she believed in it. Consequently, by believing the hype created by world, it resulted in Rousey’s own dethronement. It always seems like the champions who are dominant in their division have a special aura around them. They appear to be unbeatable. After a certain period of time, it all becomes predictable. It is as if you know what is going to happen before it does because that is what we become accustomed to with the elite level fighters, which was the case for Ronda. Predictability is something that is not great for the MMA world as the fans thrive on the unpredictable nature of the sport which is why UFC commentator, Joe Rogan, referred to Holly’s shock win over Ronda as, ‘a good thing for MMA.’