Cheerleaders Rosie Jenks and Ellie Bannister go to Orlando

Rosie Jenks, from Neilston, competed as part of team Scotland in the recent ICU Cheerleading World Championships – the pinnacle of all cheerleading tournaments, which sees top athletes from around the world represent their country.

The 14-year-old who is in second year at Eastwood High and her squad made history as they became the first youth median elite team from Scotland to make it through to the finals on day two of the contest. They then subsequently secured tenth place.

Rosie Jenks (Image: Sourced)

The event was shown live on television, which meant her family back home in Neilston, including her dad, brother, sister, aunties, uncles and cousins were able to enjoy a viewing party and see Rosie perform.

But her American journey did not finish there. Indeed, along with Ellie Bannister, of Uplawmoor, she also competed with her gym’s under-16 International Cheer Level 1 team, on her birthday at The Summit Championship which took place after the worlds had wrapped up.

Ellie, left, and Rosie, right enjoying a rare bit of downtime in Orlando (Image: Sourced)

Rosie's mum Katy, who joined in her on the three-week trip to the states, told the Barrhead News: “It’s been a lot of training. They put in a lot of hard work to get there. Even after we landed at 5pm on the Saturday night, Rosie was away training at 8am the next morning in America.

“There was not much downtime. It was a full-on schedule, but a brilliant experience for her.

“Out of all the cheerleading teams they are very first Scottish team to make it into the finals.

“She walked off the floor and burst into tears. Rosie never cries so I think she was just absolutely high as a kite and over the moon. We are all very proud of her.

“A high for her was also meeting all of her cheerleading idols because they were all at worlds competing as well and all of the cheerleaders off the Cheer programme on Netflix were there.

“She was in her glory getting pictures with them and talking to them.

“All of them from that programme were there and they were competing as well and they were excellent.”

Following her success, Rosie now has her heart set on making the national team a second time and travelling again to compete.

Solid Rock Amethyst (Image: Sourced)

Both Rosie and Ellie attend Solid Rock Cheer and Gym, in Linwood, which secured an invitation to the summit event thanks to its success at the Future Cheer Superhero Spirit event at Braehead last year.

The Solid Rock Amethyst athletes did not make it through to day two in Orlando, but the club praised them for making their summit debut and said that seeing their hard work come to life was “amazing”.

Ellie, who is also 14 and is in third year Eastwood High, is a ‘base’ – one of the athletes which holds their teammate in the air during stunts.

Uplawmoor's Ellie Bannister (Image: Sourced)

Ellie's mum Laura said: “Ellie and her cheer team Amethyst from Solid Rock Cheer headed off to represent their club at the world cheer summit in Orlando.

“It was a fantastic experience for Ellie and her cheer family and she had a great time.”