Bournemouth cheerleading team needs new training home

Bournemouth Elite, a cheerleading club with over 200 members, is looking to find a permanent home for training, after their current home is set for demolition and rebuilding.

Starting in 2010, the club now has over 200 members, including a competition squad that finished fourth in the World Championships in Florida last year.

The club have been based at Oak Academy, which is set for complete redevelopment under the £1billion government School Rebuilding Programme.

Coach at the club, Zoe Dehnert, said that the club need somewhere that will fit their 2300-square-foot fully sprung floor, along with plenty of ceiling height.

“We need somewhere with permanent residence to leave the floor down,” she said.

“Ideally it would be some kind of warehouse, because we need the ceiling height.

“The worlds team that compete out in Florida at the World Championships, they do go quite high when they throw people in the air. So, I would say about six metres high. That needs to be a big consideration, then obviously it just needs toilets and then somewhere where kids can put their bags and shoes.”

The club is open to anyone of any age who would like to try the sport.

“We start at the age of three, and then we have athletes way through to their 30s,” Ms Dehnert said.

“At every single age level, we have beginners, so they can start completely new, they don’t need to know anything about cheerleading.

“We went to the World Championships last April and came fourth, so we’re currently fourth in the world. We have 12 teams this year, and they range from level one to level five all the way through.”

Ms Dehnert is hoping to find somewhere that the club can call home for many years to come.

She said: “For us to have somewhere that we can access at all times would be great, so those kids have somewhere to train at all times.”