5. WorldChampionshipMajorettes Sport
Excitement, fighting spirit, elegance, flexibility, make-up, styling mousse, colorful costumes – these were Majorettes in Prague, thus the 5th World Championship Majorettes Sports. The Majorettes are no longer about marching and baton spinning, it gives evidence about it not only the participation of 560 formations, when almost 4000 competitors from all over the world took turns on start, but also the excellent performances that make majorettes into the field of sport.
The Kralovka Sports Hall belonged to the Majorettes at the end of August – the 5th World Championship Majorettes Sport. Competitors raced their competition sets in colorful costumes from 23th– 26th August 2017. A strong starting field were filled with teams from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Italy, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Kyrgysztan …… The Championship was shielded by the Mayor of Prague, Adriana Krnáčová and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. Majorettes competed in four basic categories: cadet, junior, senior and grandsenior, either in teams or in small formations: solo, duo, and mini. The competition events were the same for all categories: the baton (stick), the pom-pom (fringes), the flag (flag), the mix (a combination of equipment), the majorettes show and the newly established “classic” event.
The Czech teams had the strongest representation, after all, the Czech Republic is the cradle of the Majorettes sport. It is no wonder, therefore, that the Czech teams reigned in medal positions.
There were given 59 gold medals, 56 silver and 54 bronze medals, most of them stayed at home clubs, and also groups from Poland and Russia were doing well.
The Czech representation have been astonishing the majorettes world not only in their number, but mainly in their performances. The original march is replaced in choreography by elements of dance sport, gymnastics, it also the ballet trainingis necessary. Everything is made more difficult by working with equipment, most often with baton(stick) and pom-pom (fringes), it grows as wellthe number of combinations of equipment and flags, eliminating is the majorettesshow. Of 99%, it is a sport for the girls, but also men have already found their way into the majorettes groups. During the championship they were represented mainly in grandsenior age groups (over 27), where they presented with their women perfect choreography with an idea. All of this, together with the appealing appearance, gives majorettes events the right style that attracts spectators of all ages.
The Vice President of the Majorettes Federation, Marta Pavelkova, evaluated this year’s championship as follows:
“If the majorettes sport will be developed by the current pace, it will be necessary to expand the world championship with another day (compared: to this year’s 560 formations, the first year 277 formations) and more than a third of the formations (36%) were from abroad. Almost fully occupied grandstands, issued accreditations, on-line broadcasting (on-line stream), broadcasting a record on CT Sports, these are proofs of interest in a new, modern, majorettes sport. We will continue to prepare both competitions and rules to promote the lifestyle development and feelings of the young generation, their musical, dance and costume hobbies, to support the natural creativity of choreographers, coaches and majorettes. It is a challenging task, but the reward is increasing interest in majorettes sport in both children and youth, as well as in organizing cities and towns, the audience and, last but not least, the media. “
Ing. Jana Poskerová, publicist
