A TEN-year-old girl from Wolsingham has competed in an international competition.
Ruby Clarke, who attends Wolsingham Primary School, took part in the Cheerleading competition last month with her team, ‘Claw’, in Florida, USA. She began cheerleading following the Covid Lockdown five years ago at the tender age of five years old herself, joining the ‘Derwent Valley Allstars’ club. She had been attending her mother, Kerry-Ann’s dance club since she was two years old and was no stranger to performing.
Ruby took part in her first cheerleading competition in Newcastle when she was six and then progressed through the ages and divisions – she is on four different teams, including the international team, Claw, which is Level 1 Under 12s. Her team travelled to Germany last year in which they came 1st and won their bid for the youth summit this year.
Kerry-Ann, said. “This season the team have been training three and half hours a week alongside some of the older, international teams and have been competing up and down the country in preparation for this American competition, competing in Glasgow, Birmingham, Blackpool and Telford before heading to Florida at the end of last month. “
The whole family, including dad, Wayne and younger sister, Amelia, journeyed to Florida and enjoyed an extended stay, including Disney World.
Claw we’re up against 34 teams in their division (with two other English teams) and came 17th.
16 progressed to finals and Ruby’s team missed out by 0.03 of a point.
“Understandably, they were gutted but they still have done amazing,” added Kerry-Ann. “They ‘hit zero’ which basically means they had no deductions throughout their routine-no falls, drops etc.
“We are still so proud of Ruby’s team, which already has a bid for the Youth Summit in Florida 2027 and the European Summit in Portugal later this year. Ruby will need to re-try out for the team again this summer. ”
Ruby still has two more competitions this season for Claw – Telford in May and Manchester in June. We wish her all the very best of luck!
