Cheerleading: Genie Blasingame lifts her game to the US

Genie Blasingame jumps for joy as she trains ahead of next April's World Cheerleading Championships.Photo/Michael Cunningham

It's three cheers for Genie Blasingame, who has qualified for next year's World Cheerleading Championships.

The 13-year-old Onerahi cheerleader has made the all-girl division of Team New Zealand, which will be travelling to Orlando, Florida, next April.

"I'm nervous but I think it will be fun," says Genie, whose main roles on the team are being a tumbler and a base - the cheerleaders who lift the fliers into the air.

She's the third cheerleader from Whangarei's Fantasy Cheerleading to get into a Worlds team, and says Fantasy has prepared her well.

Training 13 hours a week, Genie is on two Fantasy teams (Remix and Vogue) as well as two Auckland-based All Star teams (Team New Zealand All Girl and Viperz).

Coach Toni Saunders is extremely proud to have another girl go to the Worlds.

"I think we've got some really special kids in Northland. And there are definitely more coming through that will definitely be trying out."

Ms Saunders has been invited to attend the championships to watch Genie compete, but at this point is unsure whether she'll be able to go.

"I've had invites to competitions in Hawaii, Australia and Las Vegas during that time. I've got lots of things to try and squeeze in, and also run the gym."

Genie's mother, Jennifer Blasingame, will be travelling with her to Florida, which will be a bit like going home. The family moved from Texas to New Zealand when Genie was 9.

'I'm really proud of her [going to Worlds]. She's a really hard worker and she's finally be able to do what she always wanted too," said Mrs Blasingame.

"Genie's been cheering since she was 4. I took her to a ballet class when she was 3 and she just looked in the mirror and pulled faces. So I took her to gymnastics, which she did for awhile. It was at the gym she saw the cheerleaders and said to me, 'I want to do that'."

Mrs Blasingame estimates the trip for the pair of them will cost about $8000, but the family isn't fundraising. "Donate to Grace Hegh's instead."

Grace Hegh is a fellow Fantasy cheerleader who is fundraising to get to Las Vegas next year for the All Star Games. She is on the Team NZ development squad, but is too young to head to the World champs. At her fundraising gala last month, Grace was tumbling on an inflatable tumbling track, when the wind picked the track up, hurling her over a car and on to concrete.

She was rushed to Whangarei Hospital with a head injury, skin stripped off, cuts and bruises, but her mother, Andrea, says she is recovering and is still set on heading over to the games in April.

"That's her driving focus and she is extremely determined to get there," Mrs Hegh said.