Lilly Walton has made the most out of her first year at university joining the university's cheer and dance teams.
Lilly said she always wanted to try dance when she was younger but instead she picked karate and stuck with the sport for eight years.
Lilly is now embracing the new found world of cheerleading and dance at the University of Wollongong.
"It was a spontaneous thing," Lilly said.
"I was just bored with all the free time I had at university, and when I saw the club advertising during orientation, I decided to apply online and give it a try."
Latest Stories
There is around 13 teams at the University of Wollongong cheer and dance club with Lilly a part of the opens cheer, pom and hip-hop teams.
"I like how cheer is different and it's not offered here in Parkes.
"I also like being a part of the teams as the club is very close, they call themselves the 'duck family' so it is very welcoming which is nice."
In October Lilly and the University of Wollongong cheer team competed in the Australian All Star Cheer Federation Classics Competition and were awarded the Grand Champion Cup.
"We hit zero in our routine which meant we didn't get any deductions and we also placed first in our division, winning the Grand Champion Cup."
The team won against other non-tumble teams from small gyms and earnt themselves a place at nationals against a division of thirteen teams placing fourth.
Lilly and the team have been working hard all year for their showcases and competitions with the university putting on two showcases for friends and family throughout the year and many competitions.
In August Lilly competed with her cheer team at Cheer Con.
"Cheer con was our first competition of the year, we didn't do so well as it was pretty stressful because it was our first competition and a lot of our team is level one non-tumble so we were just getting used to it."
At the Australian All Star Cheer Federation States Competition Lilly placed in the top three with her pom team.
In early December the team travelled to the Gold Coast for the Australian All Star Cheer Federation National Championships where over 12,000 athletes represented teams across Australia and the world.
"Over the year we have placed first, third and fourth for cheer, first, second twice and third for hip hop and fourth three times and second for pom."
Lilly said she is 100 per cent going to continue her new found love for cheer and dance next year.
"I would recommend doing cheer or dance it is a lot of fun," Lilly added.
