– A vitamin injection for the sport, to gather and build community

Championship Partnership

The Norwegian American Sports Federation (NAIF) has hosted the NM weekend in cheer at the Oslofjord Convention Center 11 times. The first NM weekend back in 2010 had around 1,000 participants, while in 2023 there was a total of more than 7,000 guests, including participants, athletes, support staff and visitors. Close cooperation over several years means that Oslofjord knows NAIF’s needs and challenges, and together they solve big and small problems with the goal of hosting a fantastic competition weekend.

– Oslofjord is the only venue where we can do what we want, namely, bring the entire cheerleading community together for one weekend. The uniqueness of Oslofjord is that everything is in one place, so we don’t need to spend time or effort coordinating transportation between hotels and other logistics. We feel great enthusiasm from Oslofjord about our sport, and it’s fun to see how the Norwegian Championship weekend gets better every year!

Thomas Kejser-Lervik
Sports Director at NAIF

Important to challenge old traditions

Ole Georg Nilsen is Sales Manager at Oslofjord with primary responsibility for the partnership with NAIF. For him, the NM weekend is one of the year’s biggest highlights, and believes that the reason it has become such a great success is largely due to the fact that together they have managed to think in new ways about how a sports event is organized.

– We at Oslofjord want to challenge some of the old traditions in Norwegian sports. Instead of holding a sports event and going home again, we want to create a 360-degree event, where people are together over several days, eat together, train together and have fellowship together. Gathering in this way does something to us and we feel a sense of community, which is difficult to create otherwise. In a sports day that is characterized by competitions and training going hand in hand, there is a huge need for teams to gather and spend time with each other. If you dare to renew the traditions, you can get enormous benefits, says Ole Georg at Oslofjord. 

More time for each other

Even after eleven years of NM weekend in cheer at Oslofjord, NAIF always aims to improve something from the previous championship. The TV production has improved every year, the slide show has gone from the usual backdrop to a starry sky and, not least, the new hotel at Oslofjord has enhanced the experience. In addition, Thomas at NAIF can point out that the division of labour is constantly improving.

– It is enough to think about when we work on gathering thousands of eager athletes for the NM weekend, and they understand this at Oslofjord. Before, we had to take care of bookin accommodation and catering for the athletes ourselves, and this was of course time-consuming. After dialogue with Oslofjord, we found that it was natural for the clubs to register directly at Oslofjord. This removed an intermediary, which in turn gave us more time for each other and to concentrate on the sport, says Thomas at NAIF.

Parent hotel

Ole Georg highlights that it is important for Oslofjord to listen to what the cheer community wants. One year he attended a club leaders’ meeting, where he asked if there was anything the community missed. The answer was unanimous: they missed a hotel for the parents to stay at. They were tired of having to stay in different hotels around the region, which made the experience fragmented for them.

– We naturally listened to their wishes, and in retrospect the parent hotel at Oslofjord has become a real success factor. It has developed as a unique concept, and has almost become a kind of side event. Committed sports parents want to be with their children during the NM weekend, without staying in the same hotel room. The young people should have time for themselves, but they would like to have their parents with them as the world’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders. In the lobby you can watch a TV broadcast of the competition, so you can always be a safe supporter, says Ole Georg at Oslofjord.

Everyone should be able to participate

Thomas Kejser-Lervik in NAIF emphasizes that it is important to them that the NM weekend is an inclusive event, where no one is excluded due to personal finances. He is satisfied with how they are collaborating with Oslofjord to achieve this.

– As in any sport, our goal is that as many people as possible can participate. We work closely with Oslofjord to deliver the most possible for the least possible cost, and I think Oslofjord is good at finding models that suit us as a voluntary organization. For example, we find solutions where more members of the team can sleep in the same hotel room, so that the cost is as low as possible for induvial members, says Thomas.

Next stop: the European Championship (EM)

The Norwegian Championship in Cheer at Oslofjord has grown year by year, and in 2024 there will be a bigger cheer championship at Oslofjord than ever before.

– As the NM weekend in Cheer has become bigger and more professional each year, more and more people have given feedback that we should organize the European Championship. Now it is finally becoming a reality, and it fits perfectly now that Oslofjord is completed. We expect as many as 10,000 people to come by during the European Championship. It will be an honour, and not least incredibly fun, to host talented cheerleaders from all over Europe, concludes Ole Georg.