AFTER perfecting their pyramids, a team is jetting off to America to compete against some of the world's best cheerleading squads.
The team, which support Hull FC, is part of the Diamond White Stars and is flying to the States tomorrow for the National Cheerleaders Association contest in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Having being practising their jumps and lifts since September, the bubbly dancers feel they have what it takes to lift the trophy.
Staci Pennington, 22, is a dance coach for the team, which has been training in Milton Keynes and the Bonus Arena in Pickering Road, west Hull.
She said: "I've been a cheerleader for seven years and started doing it to cheer on my brothers playing rugby.
"People think it's amazing because we're like the teams they see in American films such as Bring It On.
"The song we are performing in Florida is a real mash-up and there's even a bit of Michael Jackson in there.
"The two-and-a-half-minute routine is full of tumbles, jumps and pyramids and I think we have what it takes to win."
Staci said this is likely to be her last competition as she turns to full-time coaching for squads.
"I've been taught well by my mother Julie, who is also going to America with us for the contest," she said.
"It's going to be a really good experience for me as I learn more about coaching the team."
Along with Staci, her fellow team members travelling to America include brother Jordan, friends Lydia Knight and Beth Baxter and sisters Gentah and Leah Jackson.
Staci's mum Julie Rowan, who has been coaching the team for a number of years, joked that they can't come back to Hull unless they win the competition this weekend.
The six were brought together after she received a call from the World Cheerleading Coalition.
She said: "It is a massive achievement for them to get this far and it took us a long time to get people to understand what they are really about.
"The girls don't dress in revealing outfits and just dance around, they are athletes and finally people are realising this and they are supporting them.
"Hull FC have been brilliant for the team and even sponsored us.
"All of the fundraising and hard work is paying off.
"At competitions people used to say 'Oh, you're from Hull' and look down their nose at us but nobody does that any more and they realise that we have a great team.
"If we win the trophy, we will be bringing it back to Hull after being the only British team in the competition against nine others.
"The only problem we have is that it's 5ft tall and I don't know how we'll get it on the plane."
Her son Jordan, 18, who is also a talented rugby player having played since the age of five, said his classmates at school were unkind about his hobby when they first found out.
"They weren't very nice about it but after I did well in European competitions and went to the worlds, they realised what it meant," he said.
"This competition is at a lower level to ones I've done in the past but that doesn't mean I'll be too relaxed. It will be a lot different doing the routine on a stage on the beach.
"America is so much more advanced than Britain when it comes to cheerleading, which is why we want to get out there and prove what we can do."
