Cheerleading
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Cheerleading is an activity that uses organized routines made up of elements from gymnastics, dance or performance stunting/action to cheer on sports teams at games and matches, and/or as a competitive sport. A cheerleading performer is called a cheerleader. It is most common in North America, but has spread elsewhere in other countries.
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History
Cheerleading first started at Princeton University in the 1880s with the crowd chant, as a way to encourage school spirit at football games. A few years later, Princeton graduate Thomas Peebles introduced the idea of organized crowd chanting to the University of Minnesota in 1894, but it was not until 1898 that University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell stood in front of the crowd, and directed them in a chant, making Campbell the very first cheerleader. Soon after that, the University of Minnesota organized a "yell leader" squad of 6 male students.[citation needed] Although it is estimated that 97% of today's cheerleading participants are female,[1] cheerleading started out as an all-male activity. Females started to participate in cheerleading in the 1920s, due to limited availability of female collegiate sports. This is also when gymnastics and tumbling were incorporated into the cheers, the University of Minnesota was first to do this. By the 1940s, it was a largely female activity.
Cheerleading is most closely associated with American football, and to a lesser degree basketball. Sports such as soccer, ice hockey, volleyball, baseball, and wrestling rarely have cheerleaders. The only Major League Baseball team with cheerleaders as of 2006 is the Florida Marlins.
In 1948, Lawrence "Herkie" Herkimer formed the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) as a way to hold cheerleading clinics. The National Cheerleaders Association held its first clinic in 1949 with 52 girls in attendance.[1] The next year, the clinic had grown to 350 cheerleaders.[citation needed] By the 1950s, most American high schools had formed cheerleading squads.[citation needed] By the 1960s, cheerleading had grown to be a staple in American high school and collegiate sports.[citation needed] Organized cheerleading competitions began to crop up with the first ranking of the "Top Ten College Cheerleading Squads" and "Cheerleader All America" awards given out by the International Cheerleading Foundation (now the World Cheerleading Association or WCA) in 1967[citation needed]. In 1978, America was introduced to competitive cheerleading by the first broadcast of Collegiate Cheerleading Championships on CBS.[citation needed]
In the 1960s National Football League (NFL) teams began to organize professional cheerleading teams. It was the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders who gained the spotlight with their revealing outfits and sophisticated dance moves, which debuted in the 1972-1973 season, but were first seen widely in Super Bowl X (1976). This caused the image of cheerleaders to permanently change, with many other NFL teams emulating them. Most of the professional teams' cheerleading squads would more accurately be described as dance teams by today's standards; as they rarely, if ever, actively encourage crowd noise or perform modern cheerleading moves.
The 1980s saw the onset of modern cheerleading with more difficult stunts and gymnastics being incorporated into routines. Cheerleading organizations such as the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors (AACCA) started applying safety guidelines and offering courses on safety training for coaches and sponsors.[2] In 2003, the National Council for Spirit Safety and Education (NCSSE) was formed to offer safety training for youth, school, all star and college coaches. The NCAA requires college cheer coaches to successfully complete a nationally recognized safety training program. The NCSSE or AACCA certification programs are both recognized by the NCAA.
According to latest studies,[citation needed] there are nearly 3.5 million cheerleaders in the USA alone, and half as many dance team members and gymnasts, taking the total number of participants involved in cheerleading and allied activities in the USA to above 5 million. There are also tens of thousands of cheerleaders in Europe, Central America, Australia, and Asia.
All Star Cheerleading
In the early 1990s, cheerleading teams not associated with schools or sports leagues, whose main objective was competition, began to emerge.[citation needed] All-star cheerleading involves a squad of anywhere between 5-35+ females and/or males. The squad prepares almost year-round for many different competition appearances, but they only actually perform for up to 2½ minutes during their routines. The numbers of competitions a team participates in varies from team to team, but generally, most teams tend to participate in six or seven competitions a year. During a competition routine, a squad performs carefully choreographed stunting, tumbling, jumping and dancing to their own custom music. Teams create their routines to an eight-count system and apply that to the music so the team members execute the elements being performed with precise timing and synchronization.
All-star competitive cheerleaders are placed into divisions which are grouped based upon age, size of the team, and ability level. Judges at the competition watch for illegal moves from the group or any of its members. Here, an illegal move is something that is not allowed in that division, due to difficulty and safety restrictions. More generally, judges look at the difficulty and execution of stunts and tumbling, synchronization, the sharpness of the motions in the dance, as well as the cheer (if applicable), and overall routine execution.
All-star cheerleading is a relatively young activity, but is gaining popularity at a rapid pace. All- star competitions can be found nation wide and many include dance team competitions as well.
USASF World Cheerleading Championships
The foremost competition for all-star cheerleading is the annual USASF World Championships held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.[citation needed] Since its inception in 2004, teams must qualify for the event by finishing at or near the top at one of several qualifying competitions.[citation needed] US teams have won the vast majority of the medals, but an increasing number of strong teams from around the globe have come to compete in the event in recent years.[citation needed] This competition has grown in popularity and prestige since its beginning as a small competition in 2004.[citation needed] In 2006, over 100 teams from 11 different countries competed in the event.[citation needed]
2004
| Division | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior All Girl |  Cheer Athletics (Dallas, TX) |
Maryland Twisters (Glen Burnie, MD) |
American Cheer (Bakersfield, CA) |
| Senior Coed | Miami Elite (Miami, Fla.) |
Spirit of Texas (Arlington, TX) |
Memphis Elite (Memphis, TN) |
2005
| Division | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large Senior | Maryland Twisters (Glen Burnie, MD) |
Cheer Athletics (Dallas, TX) |
American Cheer (Bakersfield, CA) |
| Large Coed | Miami Elite (Miami, Fla.) |
Cheer Athletics (Dallas, TX) |
Top Gun (Miami, Fla.) |
| Small Senior | Stingrays (Atlanta, GA) |
Georgia (Atlanta, GA) |
Star Athletics (Boonton, NJ) |
| Small Coed | Spirit of Texas (Arlington, TX) |
The Cheer Zone Tigers (Evansville, IN) |
Twist & Shout (Edmond, OK) |
2006
| Division | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Large Senior | Cheer Athletics (Dallas, TX) |
Charlotte AS, (Charlotte, NC) |
Maryland Twisters (Glen Burnie, MD) |
| Large Coed | Cheer Athletics (Dallas, TX) |
Georgia (Atlanta, GA) |
Kentucky Elite (Lexington, KY) |
| Small Senior | Cheer Athletics (Dallas, TX) |
Stingrays (Atlanta, GA) |
Pro Spirit (McKinney, TX) |
| Small Coed | Gym Tyme (Louisville, KY) |
Spirit of Texas (Arlington, TX) |
Cheer Force (Simi Valley, CA) |
| International Coed | Gym Tyme (Louisville, KY) |
Star Athletics (Boonton, NJ) |
Extreme Cheer (Lubbock, TX) |
| International All-Girl | Georgia (Atlanta, GA) |
 GuangXi University (GuangXi, China) |
 Jaguars All-Stars (Bogotá, Colombia) |
Worlds Medal Count by Program
| Program | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheer Athletics | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 |
| Georgia | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Spirit of Texas | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Maryland Twisters | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Gym Tyme | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Miami Elite | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Stingrays | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Star Athletics | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| American Cheer | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
References
- ^ a b Cheerleading – Oh How far it has come!. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
- ^ About the AACCA. Retrieved on 2007-01-11.
External links
- National Council for Spirit Safety and Education (NCSSE)
- American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors (AACCA)
- National Cheerleading Association and National Spirit Group (NCA and NSG)
- United States All-Star Federation (USASF)
- British Cheerleading Association (BCA)
- UK Cheerleading Association (UKCA)
