With pom-poms in hand, Mount Maunganui dancers Hannah Meredith and Leah Parkinson will be cheering for the Chiefs, after being selected as cheerleaders for the Super Rugby season.

Mount Maunganui dancers Hannah Meredith and Leah Parkinson will cheer on the Chiefs at the Super Rugby team's March 1 game at the Waikato Stadium field.

The two friends Hannah, 18, and Leah, 19, travelled to Hamilton on Waitangi Day to audition for the 18-strong team and were accepted. They will dance in the red, yellow and black colours for the first time on the Waikato Stadium field, when the Highlanders take on the Chiefs on March 1.

Both former Mount Maunganui Dance Academy students, Leah and Hannah are excited to be taking their skills and experience to the field.

'I think it will definitely improve my fitness,” says Leah, who's been dancing since age three. 'It's good to keep dancing…so you can keep pushing yourself and improving.”

Leah is returning to Hamilton in March to continue her second year of a social sciences degree at Waikato University.

'We are recognised in Hamilton but also in Tauranga too with all of our friends and people who know us there. It's good to be recognised and out in the public doing what I love doing.”

Hannah was at home when she received the acceptance call and was unsure if it was her or her mother who was more excited. 'Her face was priceless.”

Moving to Hamilton to study a Bachelor of Science majoring in chemistry, Hannah – who has been dancing since age seven – auditioned for the squad to continue dancing while she's away from home.

'I thought it would be a cool to get involved with while I was at university. I didn't want to stop dancing when I got there, so I was trying to find an opportunity to keep going.”