A young dancer is walking all the way from her home in Lanarkshire to the airport to help to get her to an international competition in the USA.
Georgia McIntosh, 14, from Wishaw has been selected to represent SportCheer’s Team Scotland at the World Cheerleading Championships in Florida.
SportCheer is the recognised governing body for cheerleading in Scotland by the International Cheer Union (ICU) and European Cheer Union.
However, the self-funded trip doesn’t come cheaply and Georgia’s family have set about raising the money needed for her to travel and compete in America.
Georgia, who has never travelled abroad before, is undertaking a sponsored walk the distance from her home in Etive Street to Glasgow Airport, which is approximately 24 miles.
Her proud mum Rhona told Lanarkshire Live: “We looked at the costing and overall it’s more than £5000 so we set up a Go Fund Me page. She’s also had monetary donations going into a fundraising bank account.
The costs the teenager will incur as part of Scotland’s Youth Hip Hop team include flights, accommodation for nine days, visa, passport and uniform. And, as she is under the age of 18, she has to travel with a chaperone.
Georgia’s dad Campbell McIntosh is a bus driver with First and has also helped the effort by being sponsored by his work mates to have his head shaved.
“As working parents, we get by, but there is very little money that we can add to the pot,” Rhona admits. “We just want it to be an amazing experience for her.”
“Rather than just open a GoFundMe page, Georgia decided to do a sponsored walk so we looked at Google maps and the distance from Pather to Glasgow Airport is 24 miles.”
The youngster will cover more than the equivalent distance by walking from her home to Strathclyde Park, around the loch and back home, twice, on two days. She will be supported and kept company on the route by her brother Nathan.
Georgia is thankful for the support she is receiving, and said: “I have loved competing since the first competition I went to, going to worlds has been something I have dreamed of for years. Now that it is happening I am really grateful for all the support from my coaches but especially from my family and friends. It has been such an amazing experience so far and I can’t wait for the next few months.”
The S3 Clyde Valley High pupil has been dancing for over a decade already and is a member of CDC dance school in Uddingston.
“She started at the age of three,” said Rhona. “Nathan is a year younger and when they were tots we were just finding clubs for them and things to do.
“Nathan plays football. Georgia just stuck at dancing. We tried her at gymnastics at Ravenscraig, she tried a couple of other clubs but she always went back to dancing, and she started competitions around the age of 12.”
Georgia has been training with Team Scotland since the start of October and that will continue into March, in preparation for the international competition in Orlando the following month.
On top of the international training and she has been getting through her school work and recently applied to do a five-day STEM course at University of Strathclyde in Engineering.
“Georgia’s a credit to herself and to us. She’s only 14 but keeps pushing her boundaries,” added Rhona. She’s also been going down to the gym at Wishaw Sports Centre. She never stops, she is amazing.”
Georgia’s fundraising page can be found at: gofundme.com/f/team-scotland-opportunity?
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