Cheer Union World Championships Coming to Florida

USA Cheer, the national governing body for cheer in the United States, has announced that a team from the Maryland Twisters All-Star program will represent the United States in in the Special Abilities Traditional Division at the International Cheer Union (ICU) World Championship, which will take place on April 25-27, 2018 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney World® Resort in Florida.

The ICU is the international governing body for cheer, with membership from more than 110 nations. Their annual World Championship hosts athletes from around the globe. Last year’s World Championship included National Teams from 70 countries in the Elite (ages 14+) and Premier divisions (ages 15+).

USA Cheer & the USASF coordinated the selection of the Eye of the Storm team from the Twisters All-Stars program in Hanover, Md.  The “Eye,” as the team is known, is coached by Sharon Myrick with Kevin Hays and Chloe Beard. They have a strong competitive history of titles, including NCA National Champions in 2017, CHEERSPORT National Champions in 2015, and the Special Olympics Maryland Cheerleading Traditional Elite Division GOLD Medal Summer Games Champion in 2016 and 2017.

The first Eye team was founded in 2002, and has been profiled frequently by local media and cheerleading publications. They are highly visible in their community and appear at many local events, participate annually in the Toys for Tots collection at the gym and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk. Eye also organized and collected items this past year for the cheerleaders affected by the hurricane in Houston.

“We are incredibly excited to have athletes with special needs at this year’s ICU World Championship,” says Lauri Harris, Executive Director of USA Cheer. “This helps with our goal of fully representing all of the different types of teams & cheer athletes. Our hope is that it encourages more gyms and schools to develop opportunities for athletes of all ability levels.”

“I am extremely honored and humbled that my program was selected to be the inaugural team to represent the U.S. at the ICU World Championship in the Traditional Special Abilities Division,” said Sharon Myrick, who heads up the program. “We are excited for our athletes to participate & experience this global event with teams from all around the world.”

For more information about USA Cheer, please contact Sheila Noone, media@usacheer.org.

About USA Cheer: The USA Federation for Sport Cheering is a not-for-profit national governing body for all disciplines of cheerleading (including Traditional Cheerleading, STUNT, and Club Cheer/All Star). USA Cheer has three primary objectives: promote safety and safety education for Cheer in the United States; help grow and develop interest and participation in Cheer throughout the United States; and represent the United States of America in international Cheer competitions.