May 12, 2019 at 11:47AM
"Notorious'' in competition at the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, the event held by the U.S. All Star Federation. Handout/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network Handout Not For Resale
Cornwall has a world champion in cheerleading.
Olivier Juneau, 19, is back home in the city after competing at the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, Fla., the event held by the U.S. All Star Federation that is the governing body for all star cheerleading and dance.
"It's been by far my best experience (in athletic competition)," said Juneau, who was a versatile high school athlete and graduated from L'Heritage.
Juneau was a first-year member of the powerhouse Flyers All-Starz club out of Montreal, and more specifically with the team "Notorious," which made history in the place where dreams come true – it became the first Canadian co-ed team to ever win the USASF event, taking the title for International Open Global Coed Level 5.
Juneau's proud dad, retired RCMP Const. Jean Juneau, said his youngest son "played them all," when talking about Olivier's sports background, including at L'Heritage.
And he also participated for a couple of years in something that's not offered at the varsity level in high school – trampoline. But Jean Juneau, who was once ranked as high as seventh in Canada in the sport, founded the Air Gliders Trampoline Club in Cornwall, and it was one of the sports influences on his son that gave him a lot of the skills necessary to compete in the gruelling sport of cheerleading.
Olivier Juneau, 19, back home with a world title gold medal, earned at the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, the event held by the U.S. All Star Federation. Photo on Thursday, May 9, 2019, in Cornwall, Ont. Todd Hambleton/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network
Olivier's path to a world title is an interesting one. Recruited to play varsity volleyball at Trent University in Peterborough, Juneau found out he didn't make the team during the tryout process. But he didn't let the setback slow him down. At the athletic centre desk at Trent, he learned about cheerleading at the school, and got involved.
And then he decided to take it to a whole new level and try out for the vaunted Flyers. He made the team, and twice a week has been training in Montreal, usually a total of seven hours of workouts each week.
The Notorious team would get a partial paid bid for the worlds, and head to the Sunshine State, having perfected their three-minute routine in what's considered the second highest level of competition.
Notorious nailed it in Orlando, the 24 performers on the mat in the semifinal round finishing first out of 16 squads.
In Day 2, in the finals, Notorious eked out a gold-medal win over a California-based club, scoring 136.15 points out of a possible 160, compared to 135.05 for the silver medalists.
"It's three minutes, high intensity," Juneau said, and to anyone who's witnessed a competition, that is an understatement.
The routine requires perfect choreography and extreme athleticism – "stunting, dancing, jumping. . . it's 100 per cent cardio, all muscle power, flexibility and mental focus," Juneau said. "It's basically 48 eight-counts, and you have to know every single one of those counts."
Notorious had been knocking on the door, last year being the first non-U.S.-based team to finish in the top three.
This time, Notorious broke through, but now the season is over, and Juneau, like everyone else, will go through the tryout process this summer.
It's a sport that has some competitors still involved in their 50s, and Juneau plans to stay with it for a while.
"As long as it's still fun, as long as I can still do it," he said.
"Notorious'' in competition at the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, the event held by the U.S. All Star Federation. Handout/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network Handout Not For Resale
Cornwall has a world champion in cheerleading.
Olivier Juneau, 19, is back home in the city after competing at the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, Fla., the event held by the U.S. All Star Federation that is the governing body for all star cheerleading and dance.
"It's been by far my best experience (in athletic competition)," said Juneau, who was a versatile high school athlete and graduated from L'Heritage.
Juneau was a first-year member of the powerhouse Flyers All-Starz club out of Montreal, and more specifically with the team "Notorious," which made history in the place where dreams come true – it became the first Canadian co-ed team to ever win the USASF event, taking the title for International Open Global Coed Level 5.
Juneau's proud dad, retired RCMP Const. Jean Juneau, said his youngest son "played them all," when talking about Olivier's sports background, including at L'Heritage.
And he also participated for a couple of years in something that's not offered at the varsity level in high school – trampoline. But Jean Juneau, who was once ranked as high as seventh in Canada in the sport, founded the Air Gliders Trampoline Club in Cornwall, and it was one of the sports influences on his son that gave him a lot of the skills necessary to compete in the gruelling sport of cheerleading.
Olivier Juneau, 19, back home with a world title gold medal, earned at the Cheerleading Worlds in Orlando, the event held by the U.S. All Star Federation. Photo on Thursday, May 9, 2019, in Cornwall, Ont. Todd Hambleton/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network
Olivier's path to a world title is an interesting one. Recruited to play varsity volleyball at Trent University in Peterborough, Juneau found out he didn't make the team during the tryout process. But he didn't let the setback slow him down. At the athletic centre desk at Trent, he learned about cheerleading at the school, and got involved.
And then he decided to take it to a whole new level and try out for the vaunted Flyers. He made the team, and twice a week has been training in Montreal, usually a total of seven hours of workouts each week.
The Notorious team would get a partial paid bid for the worlds, and head to the Sunshine State, having perfected their three-minute routine in what's considered the second highest level of competition.
Notorious nailed it in Orlando, the 24 performers on the mat in the semifinal round finishing first out of 16 squads.
In Day 2, in the finals, Notorious eked out a gold-medal win over a California-based club, scoring 136.15 points out of a possible 160, compared to 135.05 for the silver medalists.
"It's three minutes, high intensity," Juneau said, and to anyone who's witnessed a competition, that is an understatement.
The routine requires perfect choreography and extreme athleticism – "stunting, dancing, jumping. . . it's 100 per cent cardio, all muscle power, flexibility and mental focus," Juneau said. "It's basically 48 eight-counts, and you have to know every single one of those counts."
Notorious had been knocking on the door, last year being the first non-U.S.-based team to finish in the top three.
This time, Notorious broke through, but now the season is over, and Juneau, like everyone else, will go through the tryout process this summer.
It's a sport that has some competitors still involved in their 50s, and Juneau plans to stay with it for a while.
"As long as it's still fun, as long as I can still do it," he said.