The history of cheerleading is connected to the development of sports in the United States and crowd participation at athletic events. In 1869, the first American football college game took place at Rutgers University against Princeton University in Piscataway, New Jersey. This was where cheerleading initially began.
By the 1880s, the students at Princeton formed an all-male student “pep club” to lead chants and yells in order to support their team and create an exciting sports environment. To motivate their team, people in the stands would yell encouragements such as "Tiger, Tiger, Sis, Sis, Sis!" and 'Princeton, Princeton, Princeton!" In 1884, Princeton alumni, Thomas Peebles, successfully introduced the concept of cheer and pep club at football games to students at the University of Minnesota. That same year, two rugby players, John W. Adams and Win Sargent, created what they called a “team yell”, SKI-YOU-MAH, to inspire their team. They used the native battle cry “Ski”, which means victory, and a made-up word “U-Mah” to represent the University of Minnesota. It rhymed with “rah-rah-rah” to form a team cheer. Their “yell” became popular throughout the school, and later helped a student named Johnny Campbell with inventing what is known today as cheerleading. By 1889 pep clubs, cheers, yells, and fight songs rapidly developed in many schools all of the country.
The students in the "pep club" at Minnesota came up with a plan for more crowd involvement so they can win their game versus Northwestern University. The November 12, 1898 edition of the University of Minnesota student publication “Ariel” stated, “The following were nominated to lead the Yelling today: Jack (sic) Campbell, F.G Kotlaba, M.J. Luby, Albert Armstrong of the...
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... years cheer teams began traveling to other countries participating in World competition. In 2004, the USASF/IASF hosted the 1st World Cheerleading Championships at Disney World in Florida. About 14 of the top teams in the world competed for the title of “World Champion”. Today, more than 9 thousand athletes from over 40 countries compete at Worlds.
Cheerleading began as a male-only activity to cheer on their schools sports teams. Today it is a world-wide co-ed sport that incorporates leadership, athleticism, and entertainment. Cheerleading focuses on teamwork, dedication, and skills preparing participants for future challenges in life. It helps cheerleaders practice communication skills, confidence, and crowd management. Cheerleading has come a long way since the 1800s and is now a very popular sport in the US and a few parts of other countries around the world.
Ever experienced cheer camp a famous college? Surround by its famous color orange and blue? Well, I did! A tremendous amount of people have their different ideas an exciting experience in their life. Although out of all of the exciting experiences I’ve ever experienced , I would have to say my favorite is when I visited The University of Florida for cheer camp my sophomore year. I was overly excited about spending four days at The University of Florida; I stayed up all night the night before packing and getting ready to finally stay at a college for four days with my fellow cheer sisters. From that experience I learned a lot about sticking together as a team, and friendship! But, most importantly, I learned that bonding together as a team is what got us to finish strong at the end. Those four days really opened my eyes to a lot of different things and I’m glad I can say that I really enjoyed myself.
Cheerleading is fun! Of course we cheerlead because it’s fun! From cheer camp to laughing on the sidelines, cheerleading is always a good time, especially with your friends. The memories made my cheerleaders whether they be from practices, games, or spirit activities (like decorating for senior night or baking treats for football players) are memories that will be cherished for a cheerleaders lifetime. Cheering is such a positive and happy experience because we are always doing something fun or accomplishing something new, like learning our new pyramid or mastering our routine. I get to get dressed up in my uniform with my bow in my hair and my white, red-track stained cheer shoes and not only cheer on my favorite football team but run around and cheer and stunt with a team of fun-loving girls and bring my community
Cheerleading is just as much as a sport as football or basketball. We look forward to showing off our skills, too. Most cheerleaders are just as strong as a football player and just as flexible as a gymnast. Since when is cheerleading a girls sport? It isn’t. On a high school team you might not see many guys. However, in competitive cheerleading, they’re everywhere! No, they’re not homosexuals. Males provide strength, power and a much needed competitive edge. Just because we make something look easy doesn’t mean it is. Skills can take months to learn. It could take a while to overcome the fear of doing it. It all depends on the person. For some people it could come naturally, but some may have to work harder. A lot of things could go wrong if something isn’t done correctly. Most times when something goes wrong, someone gets hurt as
Have you ever just thought and engaged on curiosity on how it feels like to stand and balance on hands of people? Being thrown high in the air with just trusting three people to catch you? Lifting people together while exhibiting strength and trusting that the stunt won’t completely fall? Lastly, having the guts to cheer, shout and to put on that cheerful smile despite all the pain and sacrifices you made just to complete the routine? These people are extraordinary athletes. These athletes just don’t perform difficult stunts but they also uniquely combine the factor of performing and getting the crowd’s attention through their routine. They are called Cheerleaders. Most of the people who aren’t familiar of the content of the sport would think that Cheerleading is just for the purpose of performing and cheering for their own team or school, but to Cheerleaders, it’s more than just those conditions. It’s just something more special than that. It’s a vision and of course, pure passion.
RAH! RAH! GO TEAM! This is what most people think of when they hear the word cheerleading. Movies usually give people the impression that cheerleaders are just stuck up blondes that rule the school and cheer at football and basketball games. Although there are still stereotypical cheerleaders just like the ones in movies, cheerleaders are not just on the sidelines anymore. There are now competitive teams who only compete and do not cheer for anything. This is called competitive cheerleading. This type of cheerleading is very different from the cheerleading on the sidelines and is much more athletic. Competitive cheerleading is often underrated because cheerleaders make it look easier than it is. Society should consider competitive cheerleading a sport because it fits the definition, requires incredible strength and endurance, and considering it a sport would help prevent injuries.
“Cheerleading involves skills which require the strength of football, the grace of dance, and the agility of gymnastics” (“Sport”). Many categorize competitive cheerleading as just an activity without any skill needed: there is nothing further from the truth! Competitive cheerleading is a sport that is dedicated to competition, fits the definition of a sport, and possesses a goal.
Every sport has a strategy to win. On a competitive cheerleading team there is indeed is a way to keep score, therefore a way to win. There are many different score categories that make up a total score such as difficulty, style, tumbling, stunting, dancing, and sharpness of motions. When a squad messes up or makes mistakes, judges can deduct points from the overall score to make it known that a mistake occurred. This is similar to a foul or a flag on a play. There is a maximum amount of points that you can receive, but earning a perfect score is very hard to do. In the cheerleading world, the point system that can be so close and differ so little from other teams. Scores can differ as little as a tenth of a point to one hundred points or more. There is a winner and a loser just like sports that are classified as a sport or the ones that are competed on in the Olympics. Colleges are very biased when it comes to giving out scholarships and classifying cheerleading as a sport. It is very hard to attend college on a cheerleading scholarship. Most colleges make cheerleaders pay out of pocket for being on a cheerleading team. The college squads still compete for national titles and high school cheerleading teams still compete for state titles just like any other sports team would. It is all political when it comes to college sports due to the statistics of colleges and how the athletic department divides their money. Sports that are recognized as
Because some cheerleading squads don’t compete, society thinks of it merely as a physical activity. Even though cheerleaders’ main purpose is to support other athletic activities, cheer squads whom compete, follow all physical criteria to be considered a sport. Cheerleaders put forth an incredible amount of determination. They practice tirelessly to show off their skills, with little or no recognition for their efforts. Cheerleading is a sport because it requires physical fitness, skill, dedication, and stamina. Cheerleading should be considered a sport globally.
In Hatton’s article, he acknowledges many people and organization do not identify cheerleading as a sport. The premier collegiate sports organization in the country, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”), does not recognize cheerleading as a sport (“Equal Opportunity”). Also, according to the National Federation of High School Athletic Associations, fewer than half the states in country recognize cheerleading as a sport (“NFHS”). The fact that a respected national athletic organization and a majority of states do not recognize cheerleading as a sport implies that it is viewed primarily as entertainment.
It’s a time out, all of those Friday night lights, shining in your face as you toss your best friend into the air as she kicks and twists and lands right back in your arms. Football season, every high school cheerleaders favorite season. Down on the track, lined in perfect lines, they yell at the crowd, “Are you proud to be a Tiger?” and the immediate reaction from the football fans in unison was, “Yes we are!” Most people say they’re at the games for the attention during school, but if you’d take the time to ask the cheerleaders why they do what they do, you’d get the same answer that I got from my sister when I interviewed her. She took the time to explain to me why she became a cheerleader and then progressed into saying, “I stick with it [cheerleading] because
When most people think of cheerleading, they think of the spirit squads that attempt to pump up the local crowd at high school basketball and football games. People are not aware of what these athletes are doing when they are not in front of these crowds. Strangers to cheerleaders who do not follow the sport extensively do not know the exact involvement of the athletes in this sport, at all ages. Cheerleading requires athleticism like all other sports as you must be in shape and at a great fitness level to be involved in most circumstances. Cheerleaders have to know what they’re doing at all times; while knowing what everyone else on the team is doing as well, which involves a high level of mental preparation. Cheerleading, high school or club teams are now considered one of the most dangerous sports, and there is even a rule book for competition cheerleading now. The book consists of the same concepts that any other team sports such as football would include. The book has rules and regulations for jumps, stunts, tumbling, and many other conditions that involve the sport; School cheerleading, on the other hand, has very few rules and very seldom do they tumble or stunt. Most schools are not allowed to stunt they’re what is referred to as, “ground bound.” People that do not know the facts about cheerleading have deemed cheerleading as not being a sport, they usually call these teams a spirit club and show disrespect towards these athletes. If people knew all of the facts and strengths of cheerleaders, they would consider cheerleading to be a sport just as much as your common sports.
The New York Times states that cheerleading is the fastest growing girls’ sport, yet more than half of Americans do not believe it is a sport. A sport is defined as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature” (dictionary.com). Cheerleading at a competitive level is physically demanding and requires team work to be the best. The misconception of cheerleaders being weak, nonathletic crowd entertainers makes people believe cheerleaders are not athletes and that cheerleading is just a hobby but cheerleaders that compete at a competitive level are in fact athletes because it meets the standards of what a sport is, which includes rules and regulations, and overcoming air resistance.
Movies portray cheerleaders as the popular girls that everyone likes and aspires to be. But when reality hits at Salem High School, it’s a completely different story. Cheerleading was taken as a joke by the other athletes and even students. It was considered a hobby, but to me it was a passion and something I worked hard to be. Being on the cheer squad in high school was difficult to deal with in school because we were constantly being snubbed by the other athletes and students in our school ever since we were kids in junior high which should not happen because everyone has the right to do what they love and they should not be judged for it being different than everyone else. It was always us versus them up until my junior year of high school when we finally earned the respect of our peers.
When I first started cheering, I decided to participate because of two reasons: my mom forced me and my older sister, who I modeled after, cheered. As I got older and began to think for myself, I had engaged in cheer for so long that it became a habit. If my mom did not demand that I partake in cheer, I would not have been able to go through situations that sparked personal growth and knowledge. Cheerleading has given me opportunities to guide and interact with younger kids, which has influenced my decision to become a pediatrician.
Cheer, a diverse and dangerous sport is a very foggy subject for many. The majority of the population would say cheer is just a group cheering on a sports team. Before being able to define what cheer is, one must first look at current day competitive cheer. How cheer gained its stereotypes lays in its history, and rapidly evolved into a completely different function. With cheer being the number one cause of sports injury for girls under twenty, twenty thousand deaths from stunting, and seventy percent of girls sports injuries in high school, the statistics raises an eyebrow as to just what cheerleaders are doing. Cheer went from chants, to stunt groups, to worlds championships in just a century.