It is the first time a Tasmanian leg of a national championship has been held in the state, AllStar Cheer and Dance Tasmania directors Tanya Lanham and Dee Gillen said. 

“The Australian AllStar Cheerleading Federation – they’re the biggest kind of cheer confederation. They have states all over Australia and they bring world judges down,” she said. 

“They’re bringing a competition to Hobart and we’re taking about 124 students down. They have pinnacle bids to nationals that they can win for dance and cheer.”

The Launceston-based group said it was “massive” for cheerleading in Tasmania. 

“Cheer is growing on the mainland as a sport enormously, too. So it’s a really good chance to show them that it’s also growing in Tassie and that it’s becoming really popular,” Ms Gillen said.

“All the clubs in Tasmanian are all working so hard to be recognised and represented at nationals because Tasmanian teams are hardly ever represented.”

There are six other cheer school taking part in the competition, with one group based at Swansea and the rest in Hobart.  

The duo said they were “super proud” of their students, who had mostly been with school for just seven months and have never performed in public before. 

“So they’re very new to it, but they’re doing an incredible job,” Ms Gillen said. 

The competiton will be held at the Kingborough Sports Centre on Saturday. 

Members of the public are welcome to attend.