Marzan fans aim high in the United States

Five, six, seven, eight, her voice rings out through the Maracana School gymnasium. Here, near the Ahrensfelde S-Bahn station, Giants fans train on Tuesday afternoon. The long side of the hall is lined with mats so that gymnasts do not hurt themselves when doing somersaults or taps. In the short pages, many stunts are rehearsed in pairs and groups. The instructors' voices echoed in the hall, issuing instructions. In the middle, music plays and individual fans count the beat out loud in English.

There are no pellets to cheer on. There's a reason for that too. “We're trying to get rid of the cliché that we're just there to cheer on the men's teams,” says Victoria Ball, Marzan club president and coach. “When we tell people that we cheer, we are often asked: ‘Which team?’ We just cheer for ourselves.”

For months, athletes study complex choreographies with which they participate in national and international competitions. It is a combination of dance and acrobatics.

You train up to four times a week. Since the hall in Ahrensfelde is not particularly large, the teams have to coordinate well with each other so as not to get in the way of each other. After school ends, the kids start training, followed by the adults, sometimes until late in the evening. “Attendance times in halls, as everywhere in Berlin, are a big problem,” says Pohl. “But we got along well.”

The fans start Tuesday afternoon with some warm-up exercises, “the warm-up,” as Pohl explains. This is followed by “rolling”, where elements of floor gymnastics, such as somersaults, taps and screws, are practiced. Finally, “dwarfism” is in the program. “For a lot of people, that's what cheerleading is all about, when girls get lifted and perform stunts,” Pohl says.

When she talks about the different elements that characterize her sport, it soon becomes clear that she uses primarily English terminology. “The United States dictates what developments will come to us next,” explains Stefan Knopp, also a coach at Marzan. “That's why we count in English and work with the corresponding terms.”

Cheerleading was originally a men-only sport

There is only one trend that has not yet spread from the USA: boys and men sharing. There are none to be seen in the sports hall at Arnsfeld, and they are rare in other German clubs. “We used to have a few boys in the youth teams, but they didn't stay for long,” Pohl explains. “This sport is very girls-oriented. It was originally a purely men’s sport.”

In fact, at the end of the 19th century, only men were seen cheering on players at football games in the USA, laying the foundation for the sport of cheerleading. Only in the following years were women accepted.

At a younger age, boys and girls still train together anyway, and only later are they divided into girls' teams and girls' teams, i.e. girls' teams and mixed teams. “In the United States, the ratio of girls and boys in cheerleading is balanced,” Knopp says. “The guys there have already realized that it is a real sport. This is only slowly coming to us in Germany.”

There are now 24 cheerleading teams in Berlin. Club waiting lists are long. “That's how you know the mutation is there,” Pohl says. “The special thing is that this sport is for everyone. Everyone can participate here.” The cheerleaders support each other, which can also be seen during training in Arensfeld: they help each other on the mats while practicing the floor exercise elements. During the group's stunts, they appear to be very focused and well-coordinated.

Everyone finds his place: there are so-called “pilots” who are carried by others and perform acrobatic movements in the air. There are “rules” that push bulletins to the top. To ensure this is successful, athletes learn how to roll properly and catch the flyer in worst-case scenarios. Safety is very important here. “You need an incredible amount of confidence. Cheerleading is one of the most dangerous sports for women,” says Pohl. “The bonds that develop between girls are unique.”

© All Star New Media

The “Awesome” team has recently achieved particular success. The 26 fans aged between 15 and 21 won the 'All Level Nordic Championship' in Sweden last December, thus securing a place in the World Championships in Florida at the end of April. The qualification is the first for Marzan Club. “It's still surreal. I think we can only realize it when we get on the plane,” says Michelle, who has been training with the team for nearly five years.

The World Cup will be held at Disney World Orlando

Just like her teammates, she wears a black and red sports jacket with a bright “GIANTS” print on it. “I always wished I could watch a competition in the USA,” says Michelle. “But I never imagined myself participating.”

Coach Stefan Knopp attributes the success largely to the hard work of his team. “We have constantly improved over the years. The girls went to Sweden without any pressure, showed what they can do, and then the hard work they have put in in the last 10 years has been rewarded.

The World Cup will be held at Disney World Orlando. “Every cheerleader dreams of singing there one day,” says Chantal, who only joined the team last year. There is a place in an American amusement park that resembles a mini-football field that has become popular within the cheerleading community through videos on social media like TikTok. “When you stand there, you will definitely feel like a real fan. I did,” says Chantal.

Her team only has two minutes and thirty seconds to show off their skills and demonstrate the elements they've been training for months. “In the end, cheerleading is also a mental sport. You need good nerves,” says Pohl.

The preliminary round takes place on the first day of the World Cup, where teams from over 40 countries compete against each other in different categories. The final match will be held the next day. Team USA is the favourite, but the Scandinavians are also able to keep up with better and better at international level. France, Spain and Germany have also increased in recent years.

Since Berlin fans qualified for the World Cup, they have trained more. Pilots also have to complete additional fitness sessions. However, there is still a small question mark behind participating in the competition. The club needs about 100,000 euros to cover the trip to the United States. €2,500 per person covers entry fees, flights, hotel, transportation and meals. This is an amount that athletes cannot easily manage. There is currently no support for the sport in sight, so they rely on donations.

“We have about half of it together,” Knoop says. “About 75 percent of it is private donations. We have also received a small amount of funding from the state and district sports federation. But since the entry fee per person has increased to €500, we are still short of funds.” He hopes to collect this money before leaving.

© All Star New Media

Despite the financial challenge, coaches and fans are currently looking forward to it. “It's all very exciting,” says Pohl. Some cheerleaders already have experience performing in front of several thousand spectators. But the World Cup is a completely different matter from the regional or German championships.”

There was still a bit of excitement in the sports hall in Ahrensfelde on Tuesday afternoon. Fans look excited as they rehearse the choreography piece by piece, which they will perform in Orlando in about two months. Only when they're counting the beat in English or shouting instructions to each other can you guess that they'll soon be performing in the United States. The country where their sport was invented and which is still present everywhere today in stunting, tumbling and counting.