Cheerleading has not always been a feminine sport. In the 1880’s, Princeton University created an all-male pep club to the football game against the University of Minnesota. Since then cheerleading has evolved profoundly. In the late 80’s Cheerleading competitions began with the help of the Universal Cheer Association. Cheerleading Competitions require a vast majority of time dedicated to practices and teammates. The process of creating a routine no longer than two-minutes and thirty-seconds, with at least one cheer, and a segment of music is very time consuming and stressful on the squad. With the help of choreographers and leaders the squad is able to produce a routine that represents their school and exhibits all their hard work in a matter …show more content…
It’s a tough process because there is no set way for creating a routine. All cheerleading squads have their strengths and weakness’. Since the seniors quit after all the pep-rallies most of the “big” performances had already passed but all of the organizations had competitions in April, so the cheerleaders, amongst others are required to perform at other organizations competition showoff. The showoffs draw an audience city wide to perform all the dance teams routines that will be showcased at their competition that will represent our …show more content…
The pyramid is very difficult to produce because of the regulations that are set for high school competition squads. For instance, the flyer is unable to fly over anyone without being braced, or held on by another flyer, while being in the air. Amongst other rules and regulations that were set, I had to read ten pages on the rules and regulations that must be followed for high school competition squads. Since the start of cheerleading many rules and regulations have had to be set because cheerleading is a very complex sport and athletes may endure very harmful
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.
They would do very simple routines to make the crowed pumped up and they also just wanted to look pretty for the crowd but now it’s more far from that. A lot of things have changed, there are many types of cheerleading. People say that cheerleading cannot be a sport because the cheerleaders just want to show off their body and because anyone could dance in front of crowds and cheer them up but that is not true. It takes a lot to be a cheerleader, not everyone could do flips, gymnastics and all of the maneuvers that cheerleaders
School set regulations and the coach then make their own rules. An important part of the "cheer look" are, of course the uniform, cheer bows. Hair, nails, and make up are required to be natural on most squads. The uniform is school color except on special occasions, such as Breast Cancer Awareness month. White, athletic, cheer shoes are on every foot ("Cheerleading Uniform Decoration"). Pom-poms, different sizes and color for different squads, are a part of almost every routine. School that have a historically black culture can be seen with slouch
Ironically, cheerleaders get the name of a “snob” or a “brat”, however a cheerleaders job is to bring positivity and spirit to their school. To be conceited or a bully is the complete opposite of what a cheerleaders job is; which means their primary responsibility is to pump up the student body for the big game or to get others involved and support school functions. Aside from the stereotype that cheerleaders are snobby, another assumption is that cheerleaders only hang out with other cheerleaders, that they are very exclusive. In films, cheerleaders are seen as the girls that always sit at the same lunch table and no one else is allowed to sit with them, or the ones that walk the halls in the same cluster while they laugh and gossip about other girls. A cheerleader is taught to be inclusive and to get others engaged in activities throughout the school, and if cheerleaders are pushing others away by being exclusive they are not doing their
Before I get into “why”, you must first hear my story. You must understand how I began cheerleading, where cheerleading has stood in my life, and what it has meant to me before you can understand why I do it and why we, cheerleaders collectively, do it.
To stay on the JMU cheer team or to quit was a very hard decision that I had to make this past month. Knowing I had leadership responsibilities as a third year veteran on the team made this decision extremely difficult for me. I had to consider all the parties involved which consisted of myself, my teammates, and my coaches. Several factors fell into play when deciding what was best not only myself but for my team as well. The first and most important factor I had to consider was my physical health as I have back problems that requires annual back procedures in order to be able to cheer. A relatively new factor in my decision making progress was the hiring of the new JMU cheer coach, which was extremely difficult for the upperclassmen to adjust to. My last few personal factors that played a role in my decision consisted of getting a job and focusing more on my school work. Next I had to consider what was best for the cheer team. I knew as an upperclassmen I needed to support the cheer program to help keep it strong and consistent during the coaching transition. This was hard to do when several other upper classmen were quitting the team due to this change. I also knew I had a responsibility to teach the incoming freshman new skills the same way the juniors and seniors taught me when I was a freshman. Not only did my team need me but I also took into consideration the contract I signed when making the team my freshman year. After taking everything into consideration
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.
Last year, during one of my high school’s football games, a couple of students approached my friend and I. “Why do we need cheerleaders?”, “Don’t you think you guys are sort of distracting the football players?”, were the questions directed towards us. Because of my timid freshman self, I was unable to answer their question at the time. Why exactly did Cheerleaders matter? As the year went on, I couldn’t help but notice the drastic effects the
For example, they have practices every day after school to practice their routines and stunts (Remnick). They have to make posters for all sport teams, go to all of the sporting events, and support and volunteer for the community. Also, everything they do represents the school in some way, so they have to be on their best behavior all the time. Sometimes they even have to cheer for more than one sport at a time, so they will be cheering for a game every night of the week, and they are expected to get homework done and get to bed at a reasonable time for school the next morning. They are more busy than regular athletes, and sometimes cheerleading isn’t the only sport or activity the girls are involved in.
Cheerleaders are usually referred to as dumb, skinny, and un-athletic. The most commonly known cheerleaders are scholastic cheerleaders, or cheerleaders that cheer for school functions. Girls that cheer for their schools are often ridiculed for wearing too much make-up, or being stuck up. A large number stereotypes are given to cheerleaders through movies. Several people say that the typical cheerleader is skinny, and un-intelligent. Not all cheerleaders have a specific image, they’re all unique. Cheerleaders can come in a multitude of different sizes and shapes. To be a cheerleader being skinny is not a requirement. An innumerable amount of schools have cheerleaders who are bigger, these cheerleaders are the base of the pyramid-literally. Not to mention most cheerleaders are actually smarter than everyone thinks. Many cheerleaders are placed in honors classes and in advanced placement classes. Another stereotype introduced to cheerleading is that boys can’t be cheerleaders, and if there is a boy cheerleader, he’s often called gay ("Omni Cheer Blog"). Uniquely, boys are the sole reason that cheerleaders exist. Boys invented cheerleading to raise awareness and support for sports teams. Likewise, not all cheerleaders prance around in a short skirt, like everyone thinks. There are athletes who take the sport seriously. As of right now the odds are against competitive cheerleading to be considered a sport. People and schools refuse to accept competitive cheerleading as a confirmed sport because the “new” sport will require new guidelines and rules ("Competitive Cheerleading
Cheerleading is one of America’s oldest activities. Cheerleading started in the late 1880’s by all-male “pep clubs.” During a football game in 1898, Johnny Campbell was the first “cheerleader” to grace the field by leading the crowd in a now popular University of Minnesota chant. Afterwards, squads began to start up in colleges throughout the country as “yell leaders.” Although cheerleading is a considered a female sport, women didn’t show up on cheer squads until 1923. Female cheerleading became more frequent due to World War Ⅱ (Purvey). Many famous people are known to have been a part of a cheer squad, including George W. Bush who was “head” cheerleader at Phillips Academy in 1968 (Tho...
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.
“It’s the oldest story in the world. One day you’re 17 and planning for someday. And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And then someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” - One Tree Hill
The Saegertown Football Cheerleaders were in for a challenge. With only 4 veteran members and 10 new members, the older members had to work harder than before to teach the cheers, dances, and stunts to the newer members.
Tumbling is the next component we are going to talk about, and the three divisions are all the same, with a few differences. Start with running tumbling and synchronize tumbling, which are the something, expect in synchronized tumbling two or three cheerleaders are running and tumbling together. This type of tumbling is when a cheerleader runs across the mat and does a sequence of acrobatic flips. This skill takes a lot of muscle and endurance because if a cheerleader is not high enough in the air, their timing could be off and they could hurt themselves or lose points for the time. The other type of tumbling is standing tumbling, which is when a cheerleader stands in one spot of the mat and jumps backwards to do an acrobatic flip. Standing tumbling can be combined will a jump to increase the difficulty level and earn more points for the team. Tumbling is where the individual cheerleader’s skills are seen, because they cannot rely on anyone but their own