Cheerleaders chant victory in USA

12:39pm Friday 2nd May 2008

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Crystal Palace Football Club's official cheerleaders have won 11 trophies on a tour in America.

The Palace Crystals, formerly the Carshalton Cheerleaders, won the awards at the Allstar Challenge and Spirit Unlimited competition, which were both held in Baltimore in Maryland a couple of weeks ago.

"It was an extremely exciting trip for the girls and it opened their eyes about what’s possible in cheerleading."

Jean Eve

Among the trophies the Sutton-based team won were a first prize for being the best stunt group and two top awards for having the best dance duet in the senior and junior categories.

It was the first time the Palace Crystals had competed in the States and it was the only foreign team there, along with hundreds of American groups.

"It was an extremely exciting trip for the girls and it opened their eyes about what's possible in cheerleading," said head coach Jean Eve, who is originally from Las Vegas and was a cheerleader at high school there. "They were very motivated and inspired by everything they saw and were really pleased to be acknowledged for what they got trophies for."

During the two-week visit the team met American cheerleaders and went to baseball games with them, getting to know what high school cheerleading is like.

The cheerleaders started supporting Crystal Palace FC in 1995. Since then they have won 153 trophies, with almost half of those being first place awards.

The team is made up of 27 cheerleaders aged between 13 and 19, who are largely from Carshalton, Wallington and Epsom.

Over the summer the team is due to perform at the Cheam Village Fete, the Carshalton Carnival, the London Bike-a-thon and the BCA International Championships - the British cheerleading competition which takes place in Telford in July.

Click here for more information about the team