Beep, the buzzer has gone off, now all eyes are on you. You and your teammates pull all the tricks you know. One girl is being lifted by three others, standing on one leg high in the air. Another is hurling her body through the air flipping across the ground; a thud is heard every time her hands or feet meet the floor. You have a large megaphone in your hands and you are yelling through it with everything you have. This is cheerleading. It is a place to compete, but there is also a place on the sidelines. It is a place for friendship and teamwork. Cheerleading of yesterday is nothing like cheerleading today. Cheerleading may not have started as a sport, but now it has grown into a full-fledged sport that is enjoyed by many.
Cheerleading has
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come a long way. In the 1880’s, the first cheers were heard at Princeton University by the all-male pep club. It was nothing more than the students that lead student sections at high school games today. Throughout the late 1800’s, more pep clubs began forming, and more cheers were written On November 2, 1898, there was a breakthrough, one step closer to making cheer what it is today Johnny Campbell, the leader of the University of Minnesota’s pep club, grabbed a megaphone and jumped down onto the sidelines, something spirit cheerleaders still do today.
For this, Johnny is credited for founding the sport of cheerleading. In the 1900’s, more changes happened making the sport more recognizable to fans of today. In 1923, the University of Minnesota introduced the first female cheerleaders. In the 1940’s, because many young men were leaving for WWII, women became the majority. Cheerleaders started using signs, making arm motions, and flipping through tumbling passes. Then came the rise to prominence of the single most important man to the sport of cheerleading, Lawrence Herkimer. He held his first cheerleading camp in 1948. He continued to host thousands of cheer camps. In 1961, he founded the National Cheerleading Association, which is still one of the most important organizations in the sport of cheerleading. In 1974, cheerleading majorly expanded when the Vice President of NCA, Jeff Webb, founded the Universal Cheerleading Association. Growing the sport by teaching higher level material at his camps, and getting cheerleading events placed on ESPN, Webb was, and still is, an …show more content…
important figure in cheerleading. With all the new skills being invented, safety became a concern, and the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators laid out the first safety guidelines. In the early nineties, a new kind of cheerleading began to develop, one that firmly cemented cheerleading’s place as a sport (ICU) All-star cheerleading is not affiliated with a school and their members do not go to any sporting events they are not competing in. There are different levels and age divisions, but they all have the same goal of using their two minutes and thirty seconds to give it all they have to win a national and or international title. The best part of cheerleading is that you decide what you want to do. The sport of cheerleading has something for every athlete that joins, at any skill level. A common debate surrounding cheerleading is whether or not it is a sport. Oxford Dictionaries defines a sport as an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual competes against another or others for entertainment. Cheerleading involves physical exertion. Forget throwing a ball, they throw people. Cheerleading involves skill. Not anyone can come in off the street and just jump into the stunts. The athletes participating in cheerleading practice for days, weeks, months, and years to get to where they are. Cheerleaders compete against other cheerleaders. They attend many competitions at the regional, state, and national level competing against other cheerleaders from all over. Cheerleaders compete for entertainment. See how filled the stands are at any cheerleading competition. Everything in the definition is there in the sport of cheerleading. Not regarding cheerleading as a sport puts the athletes in danger because they are not given the same levels of safety standards as other sports. The NCAA does not recognize cheerleading, and as such, neither do many colleges and universities. So unlike their just as hard-working counterparts, many cheerleaders do not receive scholarships. However, official sport or not, cheerleaders still enjoy participating in their great sport. Cheerleading is an all around great experience.
It is so diverse that everyone has their favorite part. That feeling on Friday nights, the bright lights shining down on you, the screaming of the crowd, and that feeling in your heart that you want nothing more than for your team to come out on top. During a timeout, your teammates hoist you high into the air, the fans are cheering, they are excited. Then it is your turn, this is it, it is your moment, all that stands between you and that trophy is two minutes and thirty seconds on that big blue mat. This victory will be all yours. You think back to all that has gotten you here, behind the scenes at practice is where all the magic happens. This is where the blood, sweat, and tears happen. This is where you become a team, this is where you fall down, but you get back up and try, try, again. Cheerleading is the greatest sport there
is. The sport of cheerleading is an athletic, entertaining activity. What makes it so great is that there are so many different things to do. Whether you prefer watching others compete or competing for yourself, you can still be a cheerleader.
Unlike gymnastics, you must rely only on yourself to do what you need to do to win. Relying on the rest of your team, cheerleading is a much harder team sport. Gymnastics does have a team score but it only takes the top three scores form each event for the team score. Gymnast must perform wonderful but if they do not then they are the ones to blame. Cheerleading, the most team oriented team sport, relies on multiple people to get one job done.
You meet new people and enjoy the quality time with your teammates. We as a team, learned about sticking together, and friendship, not only that but as well as team bonding. Cheerleading camp provides a different experience that carries through the rest of the season. You get to know you’re your teammates and get to experience something not a lot of people do. You get to learn your team’s strengths and weaknesses to see what all we have to work on when we get back home as well as how to learn to do new stunts and learn new
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
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
“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
Many think of cheerleading as just an activity which is nearly mindless. They do not recognize the hard work and skill that is crucial in becoming a first-class cheerleader. They believe that there is no ability or athleticism that is needed. They almost demean cheerleaders as unintelligent. They believe that cheerleaders are only out to look pretty and to entertain a crowd.
By doing this, the school districts are portraying the message that cheerleading is a joke, and that it isn’t a real sport. It sets stereotypes for cheerleaders, and they have to work to overcome those stereotypes everyday. The school districts all over the US not classifying cheerleading as a sport are in the wrong. For several reasons, all school districts should recognize cheerleading as a sport.
Cheerleading is a controversial topic when it comes to being classified as a sport. Cheerleading has been around one hundred plus years. Cheerleading was not always as developed as it is today— just like many other sports into today’s culture. Some of today 's celebrities, such as George Bush, started their glory days being a cheerleader. The definition of cheerleading is in the name itself-- to lead cheers. There are different types of cheerleading such as spirit basketball, spirit football, high school competition, and competitive club cheerleading. All of which have different skill levels and qualifications. Most high schools offer many different types of cheerleading and not all classify as a sport in some people 's eyes. Spirit cheerleading
From an outsiders perspective one may see brainless and beautiful robots, which scream and perform neat tricks. This is not the case from the inside; cheerleading is so much more than that. Many people are under the impression that cheerleading is not a sport. I am the voice of reasoning that will let you in, and I will show you that cheerleading, in fact, is a sport. Cheerleading requires much physical demand from the body just as any other sport would. Cheerleading, in general, is a team effort. There are many sides to cheerleading, which make it a versatile sport. When it comes to cheerleading there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
New routines, stunts, and gymnastic aspects are constantly being discovered and mastered by cheerleaders every day. Eventually the number of injuries will rise and it will become evident to all that something should have been done. It is time to make this sport official before more injuries happen.
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.
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.
Conclusion Remarks: Although I never did competitive cheer, I did sports cheerleading and I can say that cheerleading is an amazing sport. I have gone to several cheer competitions and can see the hard work these girls and boys take into completing their routines.