Michael McIvor will sing the national anthem in front of 3000 people at the Bendigo Stadium today.
PROUD: Bendigo Spirit’s cheer squad at their final rehearsal on Friday before tomorrow’s historic grand final.
BENDIGO’S Michael McIvor is not nervous about singing in front of 3000 people before the WNBL grand final.
The 29-year-old will take centre stage at the Bendigo Stadium to sing the national anthem a cappella before the Bendigo Spirit and Townsville Fire match.
“I’m fine. I don’t really get nervous,” he said as he sized up the stadium.
“It’ll just be me and 3000 people singing along.”
It will be a dream come true for Mr McIvor, who wanted to sing the national anthem before the Australian basketball team played Portugal in Bendigo last year.
“There were rules saying I had to sing the Portuguese national anthem as well and I couldn’t learn Portuguese in a week,” he said. The avid basketball fan is hoping it will be the Spirit’s team anthem sung at the end of the match.
“You never know what can happen in a grand final but they’ve been the best team all year,” he said.
Cheerleaders to lift spirits
THE Bendigo Spirit cheerleaders have been a fixture on the Bendigo Stadium sidelines and today's WNBL grand final will be no different.
The group of 20 girls, ranging in age from seven to 13, will perform several routines and chants at the weekend’s big game.
Cheer N Dance’s Kim Manallack said the girls loved learning new skills, meeting new people and perfecting different aspects of cheerleading.
“There’s dancing, tumbling, jumps and chanting on the sidelines,” he said. “They all just really love it and enjoy every part of it.
“They have to work as a team so the girls make really good friends from it as well.”
The Golden Square dance studio also trains the cheerleading squads for the Bendigo Braves, the Bendigo gridiron team and other events such as last month’s Weet-Bix Kids TRYathlon.
Ms Manallack said cheerleading was becoming increasingly popular in Australia.
“Interest is growing fast and there are so many different forms of cheerleading and dance,” she said.
“We have more and more girls and boys interested.”
She said the girls would go over their paces at the stadium this morning before performing throughout the grand final.
