A new cheerleading team is getting ready to launch its regular classes in the Tenby and Manorbier area, with an inspiring 16-year-old qualified coach helping to lead the next generation.

‘Tenby Cheer & Dance’ has already had an amazing response, with 65 children attending taster workshops over the summer before its weekly classes have even officially begun.

Classes are taking place at Giraldus Centre in Manorbier, which has been hugely supportive of the team and provided a welcoming new base for the club.

One of the aims of ‘Tenby Cheer & Dance’ is to create more opportunities for local children to get involved in sport, particularly girls who may not be drawn to some of the more traditional sports available to them.

Cheerleading combines dance, tumbling, fitness and teamwork, giving children the opportunity to learn new skills, build confidence, make friendships and experience being part of a team.

‘Tenby Cheer & Dance’ is open to both boys and girls and hopes to make the sport accessible and welcoming to children with different abilities and levels of experience. But there is something else a little unusual about this new team - one of its qualified coaches is aged just 16.

Local teenager Ava Scale is a qualified cheerleading coach with the British Cheerleading Association, as well as a competition-level dancer and cheerleader.

Her achievement is particularly significant given the journey she has taken to get there.

Ava previously attended Manorbier Primary School and later experienced significant difficulties in mainstream education following the Covid pandemic.

She eventually moved into home education, where she found an environment in which she could thrive.Since then, Ava has passed her GCSEs, gained dance and coaching qualifications and continued to train and compete in dance and cheerleading.

Now, at only 16, she is putting those qualifications and experience into practice by coaching younger children and helping them discover the same enjoyment, confidence and friendships that she has found through dance and cheerleading.

There is also a lovely full-circle connection for Ava. Having once attended school in Manorbier herself, she is now back in the community at the Giraldus Centre, who have been very supportive and happy to be the base for the new team.

Ava said: “I honestly can’t believe how much support we’ve had already! I love seeing the kids enjoying cheer, making friends and getting more confident each week. I’m really proud to be coaching at 16 and I’m so excited to see where we can take the team.”

Ava has been supported throughout her journey by her mum, Suzanne Scale, who brings more than 26 years’ experience teaching dance, theatre and cheerleading to the new team.

‘Tenby Cheer & Dance’ is a member of Cheersport Wales, with a grant from Sport Wales, enabling the team to invest in important safety equipment including mats and tumbling aids to support the children as they develop their cheer and tumbling skills.

With 65 children already having taken part in the summer workshops, the team is now looking forward to starting its regular classes and giving even more local youngsters the opportunity to discover cheerleading.

For Ava, it marks another exciting step in a journey that has already taken her from struggling within mainstream education to becoming a qualified coach at just 16 — and now helping other children find something they can love and thrive in too.