Cheers to the best Filipina cheerleaders
If the cheers and social media traction of Bini at this year’s Coachella are any indication, it’s that support for Filipinos achieving a milestone on the global stage hasn’t and will never wane. But another all-girl group demands just as much attention for their equally powerful performances set to light the floor of the 2026 ICU World Cheerleading Championships—touted as the Olympics of cheerleading—from April 22 to 24 in Orlando, Florida.
Composed of a diverse group of 24 girls and women, the national cheerleading All-Girl Elite (AGE) team has a long history of success. On their debut participation at the world championships in 2014, the first AGE team earned a bronze medal, and then followed it up in 2015 with a silver medal finish, the highest placement ever for the country.
Admittedly, success has been out of reach since those stellar years due to certain factors such as the drop in difficulty—stunts, pyramid, tumbling, and toss, for example—in the succeeding performances and the pandemic that brought a halt to consistent training. But head coach Randell San Gregorio, who has been coaching the all-girls team since 2010, when it was formed, is pretty confident this year.
And for good reason. “Lahat ng pangarap kong stunt natupad nitong batch na ‘to kasi malakas talaga ’yung composition this year,” he says. “I’m really confident we can get a podium finish again this year, if not win the gold.”
Packed with confidence
San Gregorio’s confidence in the girls is understandable. At practice inside the Arellano University gym alongside the national co-ed team, which will also compete at the Worlds, this belief emanates from the warm-ups and stretching sessions to the lifts and tosses, and especially in the whole performance run-through. As an outsider witnessing international-level cheerleading, it’s almost impossible not to feel overwhelmed by the exuberance of their performance.
Anyone would be hard-pressed to imagine that their most difficult stunt—the middle sequence that features a “hitch kick double, take-up tick tock, full-around to handstand to front full, then backhand spring, then kick double again,” which, according to San Gregorio, was “hell” for eight weeks. “Panay hulog, wala kaming nabubuo,” the coach says.
But two weeks ago, the girls finally nailed a decent run, signaling a reemergence of sorts from these strong female characters whose primary strength lies in their diversity. “We’re a mix of high school and college students, fresh graduates, and those already working,” says the bubbly team captain, Ada Juan.
“Some members have cheerleading careers that are as old as the youngest member! We also come from a wide variety of cheer backgrounds, which allows our team to be influenced by the best of every program,” she adds. “Though this has its own disadvantages, as some techniques and cultures clash, we work extra hard to refine what best works for the team with the help of our coaches, who also brought their years of expertise into bringing out the best in every single member.”
The evidence is all on the mat. There, some of the fittest, strongest, and most flexible female characters of their age group gather to become the best version of their competitive selves. The leadership of team captain Ada Juan showing the ropes to rookies is an irrefutable show of inspiration, too. The likes of Kimi Fornier being lifted to generate statue-like tick tocks with grace, Bella Tantoco pumping powerful back handsprings across the floor, Mica Fuentebella becoming a stable base for flyers, or Mikee Turano and Abby Yap going at it with a little bit of everything—even in their pre-practice video interviews—give the sense that cheerleading is in their DNA.
“Our team is not exactly ‘uniformed’ in that sense, which is considered the norm in most cheer teams out there, but we make it work, and we will continue making it work until we succeed as one at the Worlds,” explains Juan.
Coming of age
Yet what’s also striking about this year’s roster is not so much its mix of youth and experience as its newfound competitive instincts.
The girls practice every night from 8:30 to 11 p.m. in hot and humid conditions that would test the mettle of even the toughest athletes. For some who have full-time jobs and responsibilities, it’s a tall order. Such circumstances can make or break them—even compelling spectators to think that these talented girls deserve better support and more funding—but these challenges ultimately forge them by fire, forcing the team to develop resilience in the face of adversity.
Exhaustion, fainting, injuries, bruises, sore muscles, feelings of dejection when falling. They are all part and parcel of the sport. “Bad days are inevitable,” admits Juan. “In a team sport, like cheerleading, your performance is heavily reliant on each other.”
“If stunts fall, we take a step back, reflect on the things that were done wrong, take accountability for our own mistakes, or teach each other how to improve,” she says. “After doing so, we get back up and try again. We talk, we evaluate, we lift each other up—figuratively and literally.”
Hearts of champions
Cheerleading is not for the faint of heart, but there’s certainly a lot of heart and soul running through the AGE team, as well as dedication to the physical and mental demands of the sport. “Conditioning doesn’t end with the body; it should include the mind too,” explains Juan.
“It’s one thing to learn a stunt in our home gym where it’s okay to make mistakes. It’s entirely different executing those exact same skills flawlessly in front of the world where top athletes from different countries are watching you, and you only have one shot to get it right.”
In a few days’ time, the AGE team will face the Worlds challenge head on for the first time since 2020. But this year’s campaign isn’t simply a story of their past glories or what might have or could have been. Instead, it’s about finding themselves in the right place at the right time, ready to take another swing at international cheerleading legacy.
“More than anything, we are most excited to show the world how hard we have worked—to represent the country with pride, put on a great performance, and prove that the Philippines is definitely one to watch in this sport,” beams Juan.
Referencing Bini’s “Born to Win,” it seems that the AGE team and Bini have one important thing in common after all: “Nothing can hold us back… We were born to win.”
