Special report on Soojin Cho

Having been a cheerleader in several "Good Luck Beijing" pre-Olympic events, such as beach volleyball and handball, Li Qi says she still loves basketball the best. This is partly because it is basketball that first introduced her to cheerleading.

Li Qi (R) and her teamates with the visiting NFL cheersquad. [China Daily]

Li was enrolled in the CBA's first cheerleading squad in 2002 when she was a college student. "I joined because I liked basketball. I had learned traditional Chinese dancing and I did aerobic exercise," she says.

"I often watched NBA games, but I didn't pay much attention to its cheerleading performances. I thought they were just dancing."

But under the intense training regimen of Soojin Cho, Li soon found that cheerleading was quite challenging. Her first assignment was to make her smile seem natural and confident.

"I had never felt that smiling could be such a difficult thing. I smiled before the mirror every day until my facial muscles became sore and stiff. When practicing, I imagined that I stood in the center of the sports field and smiled at the spectators," she says.

And the dancing was no walk in the park either. "I thought I knew how to dance. I was wrong. The moves Cho taught us were sophisticated and quick, blending many styles such as hip-hop, tap dance and even a little taekwondo that I was not familiar with at all.

"I had to memorize so many moves and I felt a lot of pressure in those days."

Li's efforts paid off after her squad won over the audience at the opening game of CBA's 2002-03 season. "I was nervous and made some mistakes during the performance. But I could feel people were surprised by our refreshing appearance," she says.

Li quit her job as an editor of a pre-school education website last year. She now works full time for the Soojin Dance Team, which has performed at several pre-Olympic events.

"Participating in the 'Good Luck Beijing' games has extended my knowledge of sports. I didn't know about handball before we performed for the handball games. And I am moved by the spirits of those handicapped basketball athletes," Li says.

Li says that to be a good cheerleader, you should first have a good personality, a positive attitude and the ability to work in a team. Her colleague, CBA mascot Zhao Kang, agrees.

"The mascot is also an important part of cheerleading. Girls only perform on the field, while I have more interaction with the spectators," he says.

Having performed at many CBA games across the country, Zhao says that people in Northern Chinese venues are the most responsive to the cheer squads.

Zhao hopes that he will make an appearance in his favorite dragon costume during the Olympics in August, in front of spectators from all over the world.