Now, 15 pupils from Balmacewen Intermediate School are the national jump jam champions.
Admittedly, the group were sick of hearing the 1979 Queen hit because they had spent every lunchtime since term 2 rehearsing their moves to it.
But it was all worth it, teacher in-charge Charlotte Cooper said.
"Actually, it felt great because they had put in so much hard work."
The school won the national competition based on points after they won the South Island competition in Christchurch earlier this month.
A week after they won the South Island competition, they were told their results had been judged against the North Island winners and they came out on top because they were more expressive and showed more enthusiasm.
"That was the difference, that they had such charisma and energy and smiles on their faces," Ms Cooper said.
The win was even sweeter because they had gone to regionals and had not placed two years ago.
They took a lot of pride in being the New Zealand champions for jump jam.
They usually only went to the jump jam championships once every two years, but since they won the competition this year they were keen to defend it next year — and with so many year 7s in the group, they believed they could.
The team was made up mostly of girls, with only two boys — Ms Cooper’s son Leon and his mate Kai Foote.
Although Leon never really had a choice to take part in the group, now he was a national champion he was glad he had joined.
