2011–12

The Founding Team

Laura Rolfsen & Nadja Krott gathered dance-passionate friends. Trained at Mac sports club with no formal technique. First competition: WHU Euromasters.

SEASON 2011/2012: THE FOUNDING TEAM

The Maastricht University cheerleading team was founded in 2012 by Laura Rolfsen (Captain) and Nadja Krott (Co-Captain) in order for Maastricht University’s teams (made up of SBE students) to join WHU Euromasters with a cheerleading team. Laura and Nadja gathered their friends that were passionate about dance (ballet, jazz dance, disco dance, and more) and some boys who were willing to help out. They trained at the Mac sports club in Maastricht, and in a sports hall nearby.

With no technique and some pretty intense stunt trainings, the team managed to lift some girls up in the air – just before Euromasters. The team of 2012 laid the foundation for the teams that came in the following years. 

Founded  Euromasters

2012–13

The Bridging Team

Carina Wagner & Vicky Sobiech. First ever tryout session. Facebook page. Performed at Basketball League in Trier. Just missed 3rd at Euromasters.

SEASON 2012/2013: THE BRIDGING TEAM

Carina Wagner (Captain) and Vicky Sobiech (Co-Captain) took over in 2013. Some members from the 2012 team left for their exchange semesters, so the team arranged its very first try out session. The turn up at the try outs, despite the team not being very well known yet was surprising. With members selected, motivation grew exponentially and more challenging stunts were attempted, and choreographies were stepped up.

The team created it’s Facebook page and even performed during the halftime of an official Basketball League game in Trier, Germany. Finally, Euromasters came about again, and according to the judges who had a tough time deciding, the team just missed 3rd place.

First Tryouts  Euromasters

2013–14

First Big Win

SEASON 2013/2014: FIRST BIG WIN

Janneke Geven (Captain) and Fez Kilic (Co-Captain) took over in 2014, and wasted no time setting up try outs to recruit new members to replace those who had left for exchange. Membership of the cheerleading team was originally limited only to SBE students, but with talent and previous cheerleading experience being displayed by students from other faculties, the cheerleading team recruited its first non-SBE members. The team was really motivated, learned lots of new skills and put together great performances, first at Champions Trophy where the team narrowly missed first place, and then at Euromasters – where the team finally experienced winning first place for the first time. We also started building our reputation in Maastricht by performing in Maastricht’s version of Happy by Pharell Williams and were featured in a Breaking Maas episode.

First non-SBE members. 1st at Euromasters — first major UM trophy. Featured in Breaking Maas and the Pharrell Williams Happy video.

🏆 1st Euromasters

2014–15

The UM Team

SEASON 2014/2015: THE  UM TEAM

Julia Kotamäki (Captain) and Fabienne Köster (Co-Captain) took over the leadership of the team in 2015. This years team took everything to a new level: new members, new uniforms (with “UM” since we were no longer just “SBE” students), new skills, new sponsors and more motivation. So far the team has performed at a local high school in Maastricht, at a Lacrosse game day in Maastricht, and in a Rabobank commercial. The team was overjoyed when  we won another first place at Champions Trophy with a routine full of new, more challenging stunts and choreographies. Watch our performance at Champions Trophy here. We were also honored to be able to perform at the first ever Royals Cup hosted at home in Maastricht. The winning streak did not end there. Maastricht University Cheerleading won another trophy at the legendary event Euromasters in Vallendar, which equates to two successful competitions with this unforgettable team of 2014/2015.

New “UM” uniforms. Won Champions Trophy and Euromasters Vallendar. Performed in a Rabobank commercial.

🏆 Champions Trophy  🏆 Euromasters

2015–16

Official Association — Two Teams

 SEASON 2015/2016: THE OFFICIAL CHEERLEADING ASSOCIATION 

Kimberly Dinnissen (Captain) Tobias Müller (Co-Captain) became team Captains of the Maastricht University at the end of 2015 and continued the prideful work of Julia Kotamäki. In addition, the UM Cheerleading team became an official association with its first board (President: Merel, Secretary: Leon, Treasurer: Louis, External Relations: Saskia) and thus joined UM Sports. The team also expanded by splitting into two separate teams, a Coed competitive team and an All-Girl team. The Coed-team successfully participated in the first round of the Dutch National Cheerleading Championships 2016 in February and won first place.

At the Second Round of Dutch National Cheerleading Championship we made second place but improved our performance by 3 points in comparison to the previous round. Nevertheless, our rivals improved as well.

In April, the All Girl team, accompanied by the Coed team, represented Maastricht
University at the sports competition Royals Cup 2016, which is hosted in our beloved home town Maastricht and got first place!

The Coed team also competed in the annual Champions Trophy in Hamburg and won first place against other amazing University Cheerleading teams.

In June, we got second in the Final Round of Dutch National Cheerleading Championship. This win qualified us to participate in the European Championship 2016 in July in Vienna. For this we combined the teams Partisans Athletics (Dutch National Champions) and Maastricht University Cheerleading (Vice Dutch National Champions) and won 7th place out of 10!
Official UM Sports association. Coed + All-Girl teams formed. 1st Dutch Nationals Round 1. 1st Royals Cup & Champions Trophy Hamburg. 7th European Championship Vienna.

Official  🏆 Royals Cup  Europeans Vienna

2016–17

National Champions — SMOED Established

SEASON 2016/2017: EXPERIENCED COED AND NEWLY ESTABLISHED SMOED

Our most experienced Captains yet, Jonas Canisius (Captain) and Fabia Feykens (Co-Captain) took over the Coed team in September 2016. This overly ambitious duo already established the ultimate winning routine for the upcoming Euromasters 2016 over the summer and are eager to teach us the required skills during the official practice times, as well as in our free time in the park. Jonas also became our official coach in the name of UM Sports.

In addition, the All-Girl team became a Smoed (Small Coed) team, i.e. including male cheerleaders. Christina Akinshina and Rebecca Busch from the Coed team became part of the Smoed team’s Captain Trio, together from Carolyn Gaumet from the former All-Girl team.

Both teams worked hard during this academic year and brought many trophies to Maastricht. The COED team won all three rounds of the Dutch National Championship, thus becoming National Champions 2017. They also participated at Champion’s Trophy, where their performance won them second place. The academic year ended with the participation of the COED team at the official European Cheerleading Championship in Prague!

In addition to that, the SMOED team celebrated their victory at Royals Cup 2017, which was their first major performance.

COED won all 3 Dutch Nationals rounds — Dutch National Champions 2017. SMOED team wins Royals Cup in debut. Europeans Prague.

🏆 Dutch National Champions  🏆 Royals Cup  Europeans Prague

2017–18

Leveling Up

SEASON 2017/2018: LEVELING UP

The academic year 2017/2018 was a very successful one. Both teams improved in skill level, participated in new competitions and won several trophies. Early in the year both teams competed at All-Level West in Germany. COED won first place, and the brand new SMOED won fourth place. It was followed by Royals Cup in April, where SMOED won second place, and Champions Trophy in May, where they won third place. Meanwhile the COED team participated in all rounds of Dutch Nationals, and again, became Dutch National Champions 2018. It was followed by the European Cheerleading Championship in Helsinki were COED placed 8th.

COED: 1st All-Level West, Dutch National Champions 2018, 8th Europeans Helsinki. SMOED: 4th All-Level West, 2nd Royals Cup, 3rd Champions Trophy.

🏆 Dutch National Champions  Europeans Helsinki

2018–19

3-Peat National Champions

SEASON 2018/2019: COED CONTINUES THE NATIONAL WINNING STREAK

The 2018/2019 season was another successful season. The season started off with try outs and forming new teams. Both teams got a lot of new members who improved quickly. the first competition was in December, the German All Level Championship West. COED got third place and Smoed placed eleventh. The SMOED team also participated in Royals Cup and got fourth place. Meanwhile the COED team participated and won all three rounds of Dutch Nationals and thus became Dutch National Champions 2019. Our SMOED team showcased their routine at the final round of Dutch National, making the 3-peat National win for COED even more special. 2019 was also the first year for our Coed team to compete in the Elite Cheerleading Championships where they placed sixth.

COED: 3rd consecutive Dutch National title. 1st Elite Cheerleading Championships (6th place). SMOED: 4th Royals Cup, 11th All Level West.

🏆 Dutch National Champions  Elite Championships

2019–20

Record Applicants — COVID Interruption
SEASON 2019/2020: A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

The 2019/2020 season started out successful with the most applicants ever! Both teams were filled with new members and we were ready to start the new season. Everyone was training hard and looking forward to all the competitions planned such as Dutch Nationals, German All Level Championship and the European Cheerleading Championships.

In December both teams could show friends and family what they had been working on in our winter showcase. After the showcase both teams continued to improve and increase the level of difficulty in their routine to prepare for the first competition of the year: German All Level Championship West. As always, this was an amazing competition where Heroes (previously known as SMOED) placed 7^th in the senior coed level 4 category and Angels (previously known as COED) placed 4^th in the senior coed level 6 division.

Unfortunately, soon after this the season came to a stop. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 trainings and competitions were canceled.

Most applicants ever. Heroes 7th and Angels 4th at German All Level Championship West. Season cut short by COVID-19.

COVID-19  German All Level

2020–21

The COVID Year

SEASON 2020/2021: THE COVID YEAR

As the Covid-19 pandemic was taking its turn, we switched around our practice times and places to different halls all around Maastricht in order to make up for the limited amount of people that were allowed at UM Sports. As we were mostly limited to groups no bigger than 15 people, we split the units and also offered other classes such as cardio, stretching or dance. Luckily, from March onwards we were able to practice on the field of the Stadion de Geusselt (under all weather, rain or shine).

As a replacement for our annual showcase, we filmed a video which is linked on our own YouTube channel, so our friends and family could still see our progress made throughout the year and support us nevertheless. Besides that, we had many online challenges going on to keep up the good work (at home).
Groups of max 15. Trained outdoors at Stadion de Geusselt. YouTube showcase video. All competitions cancelled due to pandemic.

All Comps Cancelled  Resilience

2021–22

Back on Mat — Stronger Than Ever
SEASON 2021/2022: UM CHEERLEADING IS BACK

With a great number of new applications, both our teams have built incredible combinations of current and new athletes. Luckily, the COVID-19 restrictions allowed us to be back on mat and practice with our fellow members. After lots and lots of practice sessions, a couple of athletes went to UCA Camp in Leuven working on some new skills. 

Even the annual Winter-Showcase took once more place, unfortunately without public visitors due to the latest restrictions. However, our athletes very much enjoyed the day, and for some, it was the first occasion of putting on a cheerleading uniform. 

After a short break, the teams were preparing for the upcoming competition season, including Royals Cup where Heroes placed 1^st in the division of senior coed level 4 and ELITE, where Heroes placed 19^th in division of senior coed level 4 and Legends placed 6^th division of senior coed level 6. After that, the annual Summer Showcase could finally take place in front of a live audience for the first time since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, Dutch Nationals were cancelled, however Legends kept preparing for European Cheerleading Championships in Athens, Greece. We finished the season in 4^th place. 

Heroes: 1st Royals Cup (L4), 19th ELITE (L4). Legends: 6th ELITE (L6), 4th European Championship Athens. Live Summer Showcase returns.

🏆 Heroes 1st Royals Cup  Europeans Athens

2022–23

National Momentum

Legends: 1st Summer All Level, 2nd All Level West. Building toward a national title run.

🏆 1st Summer All Level