🎙️ Paracheer – Coach (S3.15)
- janie724
- Dec 15, 2025
- 3 min read
Episode aired on December 9, 2025
In this episode of the Kick’s Cheer Podcast, Janie, Nadia, and Keaven welcome a guest who is making history in Quebec cheerleading: Joshua Koshuba, head coach of the 2025 ParaCheer team, ICU World Champion 2025. An exceptional coach, but above all, a deeply committed human being dedicated to inclusion and accessibility in sport.
This entire week is dedicated to Paracheer, and this episode offers the coach’s perspective: his journey, his motivations, the realities of adaptive cheerleading, and the tremendous work behind a team representing Canada on the world stage.
❓ Understanding Paracheer
Paracheer is a cheerleading discipline that allows athletes living with physical and/or intellectual disabilities to thrive within a structured competitive environment. Joshua explains the categories, athlete ratios, and the various divisions at the ICU World Championships.
Quebec stands out for its accessibility: here, a team can include athletes with ID (intellectual disability) or PD (physical disability) and compete in either regular or adaptive divisions, a rare privilege worldwide.
❤️ A Deeply Human Journey
Joshua shares how his younger sister, who lives with cerebral palsy, shaped his vision of sport: sport must be accessible to everyone.
For him, adapting a skill, modifying a transition, or adjusting a routine is simply normal. It’s a philosophy rooted in family, but above all in a deep, genuine understanding of inclusion.
🌍 Team Canada: A World-Class Experience
In 2025, his team Equinox - Faucons Cheer not only competed at the ICU World Championships, but won the world title.
Joshua breaks down:
the qualification process,
provincial and national selections,
strict technical criteria,
and the reality of representing an entire country on the international stage.
A historic victory for Quebec and for Paracheer.
🛠️ Coaching a Para Team: A Different Craft
Joshua explains the unique approach required to coach a Paracheer team:
Building the full routine from the very beginning
Reducing traditional progressions
Developing the person as much as the athlete
Valuing every single team member
Creating an environment where autonomy and confidence matter as much as technique
A methodology focused on lived experience, not just performance.
⚡ The Emotional Impact of Paracheer
A Para performance changes the energy in a room.
Even before introducing the team, Janie, Keaven, and Nadia admit their eyes are already filled with emotion, and they’re not alone. Arenas rise. Crowds vibrate.
Why? Because everyone recognizes that these athletes are fighting for their place on the floor, just like every cheer athlete, but with an even more demanding journey.
🎯 Pressure to Win… or Not?
After a world title, you might expect massive pressure. But Joshua puts things into perspective:
Athletes come first.
The original plan was not to return to Worlds in 2026.
It was the athletes themselves who pushed to continue the journey.
They organized fundraisers, collections, and involved their families.
The dream belongs to them. The coaches follow.
📣 Final Message from the Coach
Joshua shares a simple yet powerful message for anyone considering starting a Paracheer team:
“Go for it. Worst case, they say no.”
A team sometimes starts with one athlete. Then two. Then three. And sometimes… a world championship.
The resources exist: Cheer Québec, clubs, coaches, coordinators, parents. No one will leave you alone if you want to help Paracheer grow.
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