Celtics Cheerleaders compete at Future Cheer

Ready to hit the floor

Future Cheer hosts the biggest University competition in Europe and on the 24^th February both Leeds Celtics Cheerleading teams travelled to Loughborough to compete and represent Leeds University. For those of you who have never visited a cheer comp it really is like Bring It On! With Squads from across the country competing in different divisions and all wanting that Grand Champ trophy. 

A sea of Cheerleaders

It was a long day starting with a 6am bus journey from Leeds. The All Girl team were to compete twice in the morning with Co-ed following with two performances in the afternoon. Ready and raring to go they took to the floor in front of the judges at half nine.  Throughout the routine bases were throwing high and strong, flyers were hitting their stunts and some brilliant cheer faces were out on show for everyone to see. For many on the All Girl squad this was their first cheer competition but this fact was not obvious during any part of their routine as they put on a performance to be envied by some of the cheer veterans from other Universities. Their second performance was no different and they blew the spectators and the judges away. 

Celtics All Girl lib sequence

The girls had worked hard in the run up to these comps and it has been very clear to many on the Co-ed team the close bond the girls have formed. 

Some of Celtics All Girl squad

With many Celtics thinking 'maybe they forgot to say our name.'

For a new team to rank in the top 20 out of a division of 24 would have been amazing but as the announcer passed the 20 mark and Celtics had not been called out it became very realistic that All Girl could place in the top ten. As the rankings edged closer to the top 3 places everybody in the sports hall sat with bated breath with many Celtics thinking ‘maybe they forgot to say our name.’  

Third place was called and the tension grew. 

Had All Girl placed second? 

For many on the team to place in the top 10 would have been an amazing achievement but first place had only seemed like a far fetched dream.

Finally it was announced that they had placed first in a division of 24! What an amazing achievement for a squad in its second year. They put on an amazing performance and truly deserved their trophy. The team has grown so much since last year with returning Cheerleaders emphasising how well the squad has adapted to and worked with the new girls. It really is inspirational and proves the true spirit of cheerleading, you work unbelievably hard as a team in the run up to a competition and then give it your all for those 2 and a half minutes on the floor.

Celtics All Girl over the moon about their win

Speaking of the win Holly Bird, an All Girl cheerleader, said ‘when I realised we came first I was so shocked but really ecstatic!!’

Many of the Celtics Cheerleaders praised the support from the other Leeds teams, Carnegie (Leeds Met Uni) and Titans (Leeds Trinity Uni). Historically Leeds Met and Leeds Uni are big rivals especially when it comes to sports, with a day every year devoted entirely to a Leeds Varsity. Yet despite all this rivalry the Cheerleading squads supported each other. All three teams are trained by Aviator Allstars coaches so that creates a bond between the squads but it is also due to a mutual respect that the Cheerleaders have for each other and knowing that having people cheering for you from the crowd can vastly improve your performance.

Carnegie Cheerleaders in action.

The spirit from all of the Leeds teams was amazing and you could feel that everyone was genuinely happy for the other squads and where they placed with one Titan even crying with joy when it was announced that Celtics All Girl squad had placed first. 

Some of Celtics Co-ed squad

All Girl set the standard very high for the Co-ed team. With Co-ed walking away with first place and the Grand Champ trophies last year all eyes were bound to be glued to this years Co-ed routine. They took to the floor at half five and after a first routine that wasn’t of the highest Celtics standard everyone was pumped up and ready to hit it on the next one. They pulled off a level four routine with some amazing stunts, a highlight being the pyramid that hit perfectly. Flyers and bases were on top form and basket tosses were high and tight. The squad really pulled together and worked as a team to create and amazing performance.

Celtics Co-ed pyramid

Co-ed is made of Cheerleaders with some amazing talent especially when it comes to tumbling and everyone pulled off an amazing performance which allowed them to maintain their champion status as they again won first place. They really did show everyone why they are reigning champions.

Celtics Co-ed basket toss

Alex Harrison described the win as being ‘awesome’ and ‘like a pie but with less pastry and more trophies’.

Celtics Co-ed after placing first

The whole day was a massive success for Leeds Celtics (and Leeds in general with Carnegie also placing first in their division). Everyone is excited to represent the University again at the next competition which will be in Blackpool on the 9^th March.

A massive thank you to the coaches Tim, Rachel, Kelly and Tats!!

Celtics All Girl squad

Celtics All Girl squad

Celtics All Girl squad

Celtics Co-ed squad

Celtics Co-ed squad

Celtics Co-ed squad

Celtics Co-ed squad

Celtics Co-ed squad

Celtics Co-ed squad

 Keep up to date with the Celtics journey this comp season with my blog and the Leeds University Student newspaper.

The Fast Diet! A new dieting craze.

Finally here is my review of the Hollywood diet. 

 A quick recap because I have been really bad at keeping up to date with blog posts!! 

Hollywood Diet

Recipe

 ♥ 1 cup low-fat vanilla soy milk

♥ 1 cup orange juice 

♥ 1 cup cranberry juice

♥ 1 cup yoghurt (plain) 

♥ 1/4 tsp. wheat-germ oil or 2 tsp. wheat germ

♥ 1/4 tsp.flaxseed oil

Blend all ingredients together, then divide into two portions (each portion is a full day's diet drink). Sip throughout the day, along with plenty of water.

I originally went in with the mindset that this diet would be easier than The Cabbage Soup diet that I have previously reviewed because it was a lot shorter. One of the main issues with The Cabbage Soup diet was finding the motivation to stick to it for 7 days.

You really do have to have a lot of will power to follow through with this diet. You have nothing solid during the two days and I found that extremely hard as it caused me to crave fatty foods such as pizza. A saving grace of the Hollywood Diet is that it is only 48 hours and the end seems like a realistic goal; by the end of your first day you only have 24 hours left and that is a comforting thought. It gives you the motivation to carry on. The last 24 hours can seem unreachable with diets that last a week or longer.

Fasting is always very hard especially when you aren't used to it. It's something that our ancestors did on a regular basis as food wasn't so readily available but through years of grazing our bodies feel like they can no longer cope on small amounts of food. 

During the two days I managed to lose 7 pounds which was brilliant for such a short period of time although since finishing the diet I have put 5 of those back on. Again like The Cabbage Soup diet I would recommend it if you have a big event coming up in a fews days just too shift those last final pounds but I wouldn't recommend it as a long term answer. 

♥

Following on from the idea of short periods of fasting I am now going to take on the Fast Diet. 

The Fast diet is the new dieting craze and everyone appears to be jumping on the band wagon with many newspapers covering it in their weekend issues.

The diet consists of fasting for 2 days a week (only consuming 500 calories for women and 600 for men) and then eating anything you like on the other 5 days ... Yes, you read right you can eat ANYTHING. 

On your 'off days' (when you aren't fasting) women can consumes 2,000 calories and men 2,500 but you can decide how to make up these calories. 

You could eat fish and chips (840 calories) or a cheeseburger (500 calories) or even a chocolate muffin (300 calories). 

Today is my first fast day and for breakfast I started with 2 eggs (180 calories) a dash of skimmed milk (15ml, 5 calories) scrambled in a non stick frying pan with no added fat. I then added half a red bell pepper (15 calories). I could have also added 50g of chopped smoked salmon (71 calories) instead of the peppers.

My breakfast came to 200 calories.

For dinner I will be making roasted vegetable salad. 

 Mix 10 cherry tomatoes (150g, 27 calories) with half a sliced courgette (50g, 9 calories) and half a sliced aubergine (75g, 11 calories). Scatter with basil leaves (1 calorie) and drizzle balsamic vinegar. Roast for 20-25 minutes. Serve with 2 tbsp Parmesan (20g, 90 calories).

 

What do you guys think of the Fast Diet? 

Has anybody got any healthy, low calorie meal recipes?

Charley x

The big 18

This weekend I have been back at home to celebrate my God sisters (don't ask) 18th birthday. 

Even though there are only two years between us I still couldn't believe she was actually turning 18! 

It made me feel old but that's probably because I still think of myself as being 18 (at least I act like I'm still 18)

Both of us only have brothers and therefore she is the little sister I never had. I had to make sure it was a memorable weekend.

My family are big on birthdays and go all out whenever one is around the corner especially one as significant as an 18th.

One of my friends received 21 gifts for her twenty-first birthday and I absolutely loved this idea so I gave my self a challenge.

I had one day to find and purchase 13 gifts (as a family we already had 5 main gifts to give). All the gifts had to be useful or have some sort of meaning. Basically I had to buy presents that she would enjoy not ones that would just sit in a draw. I decided the presents couldn't cost more than a standard pandora charm -£30- because this would be a typical present for an 18th.

Here is what I found:

1/2/3) This was the first present form my family. We thought it would be a good idea to have one main present and then lots of little ones.
I am in love with these sunglasses (mainly because they're Prada).
Lettie has recently booked a girls holiday for the summer so she will definitely be using these.
I love the shape of these sunglasses although the newest Prada range are slightly more square.
We also brought a cleaning pack and case for the glasses which makes up 3 presents.

4) For one year you can use everything that says 18 on it just to show everyone that you really are 18.
Therefore one of the most important things for an 18th birthday is a wine or beer glass saying 18.
The fact that you can legally drink is the most exciting thing about becoming an adult.
All card/ birthday shops sell glasses like this. I'm not positive where this one is from but different styles can be found everywhere.

5) My Mum loves making little bits and bobs in her spare time. She once went on a tiara making course and now insists that everyone receives a tiara on their birthday so they can be a princess for a day. I personally love the idea and think it's really sweet. She makes them completely from scratch.  I will post a blog about how to make them. The cost of the tiara depends completely on what you want to make it out of.

6) This is the first of the 13 presents I purchased. It's just a silly one.
Carrying on with the idea that you can now legally drink I thought a glow in the dark cup would be a fun idea.
It was from Pound World and you crack the glow sticks and it lights up. There were different colours but I went for the pink one. 

7) Being true Brits a coaster will always be useful to rest your cup of Tea on.
Lettie will be going off to University in September and this will be useful for her new room (and her current room for the time being).
I thought it was fun as it says 'lol laugh out loud'.
It was on sale from £5 to £1 from RED 5.
There's not really a lot else to say about a coaster so yeah ....

8) To celebrate the big day Lettie and some friends went to a day spa. I thought I would carry on with the pamper theme with these face masks. Its a brand that I've used before so I know they work very well.
These were also from Pound World and were on offer 3 for £2.

9) One Direction. Who doesn't love them aye?
This present is a funny one but also practical. It's a pack of 5 1D gel pens.
Lettie is a big fan of Niall and on the pack of this pack there is a cut out Niall bookmark. All in all it's a pretty perfect present!
These also cost a pound from Pound World and there is a whole One Direction section in there.

10) A pack of Thorntons heart shaped jelly sweets because lets face it who doesn't love a pack of heart shaped sweets!
(These were definitely found in the Valentines sections)
These were £1.99

 11) Everyone is loving caviar nails at the moment. This is essentially a starter pack it contains the base nail varnish and a funnel with which you can pour the beads through on to the nail.
I haven't had a chance to try these out myself but will hopefully be able to do a review on them.
These were from a shop called Dazzle in the Derby Westfield, I'm not sure if this is a chain or just the one but it sells known brands at discount prices.
This set cost £3.99.

12) On Friday the morning before her birthday Lettie passed her driving test. I thought that something relevant to this would be a cute present. I contemplated buying dice but they would be useless until a car was purchased whereas a keyring can be used on house keys as well.
This keyring is just another good way to show people you are now an adult.
:)
This was from Birthdays and cost £1.99.

13) Another gift from Birthdays and also saying 18.
 It's a sash that she wore on her first night out in town and it cost £1.99.

14) A BALLOON!!
I love balloons. I'm like a child but they are the best part of birthdays!!
There is no other reason for this present other than you have to have balloons on your birthday!
 It was about £2.50 from Clinton Cards and they blow it up for free.

15)  I love The Body Shop products so I thought it was a good idea to give her some shower gel.
Something you will definitely use and it smells so good!
This was on offer 2 for £5.

16) Shot glasses is what everyone needs on their 18th birthday.
These are shot glasses on a necklace and have 'one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.' written round the sides.
They were from Pound World and you get two in each pack.

17) This present is completely pointless but I think it's amazing! Maybe that's just because I am easily amused.
I thought it was a funny little present that would also be useful to take to Uni as fancy dress because there will always be a geek fancy dress theme in freshers week.
They're from RED 5 and were on sale from £5 to £2.
I loved them so much I had to get myself a pair.

18) Finally present number 18!!
I decided to make a sweetie tree. I will do a blog post about how to make them. This tree was a cone covered in mainly Moaom sweets and then decorated with caramel chocolates, lollypops and  Parma Violets.
Again this is one of those gifts than can cost as much as you want it too. The cone cost me £1.99 the sweets cost about £3 but you can spend a lot more or a lot less on this gift.







All together the 13 gifts I purchased cost £27.95. She loved all of them and definitely had a good 18th birthday weekend.

If anybody has any other good ideas about presents you can make I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks, Charley x