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🏆 Laughter and success: Marco's journey to the top of cheerleading (S4.3)
Episode of September 15, 2026
Going from playing hockey in a small village in Bellechasse to winning three World Championship titles in cheerleading is not exactly the most predictable path!
In this episode of the Kick's Cheer Podcast, we welcome Marc-Antoine "Marco" Asselin, athlete and coach at ACE Athletics. With his energy and great sense of humor, Marco looks back on his journey, his successes, his disappointments… and his many attempts at retirement!
🏒 From hockey to cheerleading
Before cheerleading, Marco played hockey for several years. It was finally in high school, encouraged by his friends and influenced by his sister who was a coach, that he agreed to try cheerleading.
What was meant to be a new experience quickly became a true passion: team spirit, performance, spectacle and above all the feeling of being on a pole in front of a crowd.
His journey then led him to all-star cheerleading and ACE Athletics, where he gradually began to progress towards Worlds level teams.
😂 Laughter and success: a formula that goes far
Marco's journey is not a perfect succession of victories. He has experienced the virtual Worlds, the pandemic, an initial retirement, a return to competition, a world title, and then a 7th place finish that was particularly difficult to accept.
But he comes back again.
During the 2025-2026 season, his Red team finds what Marco describes as the perfect combination: talent and fun. Their philosophy becomes very simple: "laughter and success" .
At Worlds, after two performances without deductions, Rouge defied expectations and won the World Championship. Marco then became world champion for the third time.
🔄 A retirement… or almost!
After ten seasons, Marco thought he had found the perfect exit: to return to the podium at the Worlds and officially retire as an athlete.
One small problem: the cheerleaders clearly weren't finished with him.
In addition to coaching three teams at ACE Athletics, Marco is finally returning to Rouge for an 11th season. A very serious reason motivates this return: after winning Worlds, he desperately wanted the chance to wear the champion's uniform!
But behind the joke lies something much stronger: the feeling of performing on a mat is still impossible for him to replace.
🌎 From the countryside to the World Championships
Marco's story also reminds us that it is not necessary to start very young, come from a large center or have the "perfect" path to go far in cheerleading.
From Bellechasse to the Worlds, he built his career one season at a time.
And three world titles later, his recipe seems quite simple: work hard, love what you do… and never forget to have fun.
🎧 Listen to episode S4.3 of the Kick's Cheer Podcast to discover Marco's whole story, his anecdotes and the moments that marked his years at ACE Athletics.
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