Cheerleading

From Free net encyclopedia

Image:Cheerleaders.jpg Cheerleading is an activity that uses organized routines made up of elements from dance and/or gymnastics to cheer on sports teams at games and matches, and/or as a competitive sport. A cheerleading performer is a cheerleader.

1 History
2 Safety
3 Motions/Jumps
4 Stunting
- 4.1 Partner stunts
5 Tumbling
6 Cheers/Chants
7 All-Star Competitive Cheerleading
8 United Kingdom
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

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History

Cheerleading first started at Princeton University in the 1880s with the crowd chant, "Rah rah rah, tiger tiger tiger, sis sis sis, boom boom boom ahhhhhhh, Princeton Princeton Princeton!" 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 1884. 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 4 male students.

Although it is estimated that 90% of today's cheerleading participants are female, 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. 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 and wrestling rarely have cheerleaders, while sports like baseball have none at all.

In 1948, Lawrence "Herkie" Herkimer formed the National Cheerleading Association (NCA) as a way to hold cheerleading clinics. The National Cheerleading Association held its first clinic in 1949 with 52 girls in attendance. The next year, the clinic had grown to 350 cheerleaders. By the 1950s, most American high schools had formed cheerleading squads.

By the 1960s, cheerleading had grown to be a staple in American high school and collegiate sports. 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. In 1978, America was introduced to competitive cheerleading by the first broadcast of Collegiate Cheerleading Championships on CBS.

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.

The 1980s saw the onset of modern cheerleading with more difficult stunts and gymnastics being incorporated into routines. Cheerleading organizations started applying safety guidelines and offering courses on safety training for coaches and sponsors. In 1984, Cheer Ltd. Inc. (sic) established the National Cheer Conference (NCC) for cheer coaches to receive instruction and hands-on course work in cheerleading techniques. AACCA is the nationally recognized safety organization, conducting safety courses since 1987. A more recent organization to conduct safety courses is the NCSSE.

The spirit industry leaders were united with the unprecedented 2004 establishment of SITA, the Spirit Industry Trade Association. Founded by leaders of nine major cheerleading companies including American Championships, America's Best, AmeriCheer, Athletic Championships, Atlantic Cheer & Dance, Cheer Ltd. Inc, COA, ECA, and UPA, the industry trade association includes both cheerleading companies, affiliate companies, and safety organizations. Another trade organization, OSIP, the Organization of Spirit Industry Providers, consists of over 33 member organizations including Universal Cheerleaders Association, National Spirit Association, USASF, Fellowship of Christian Cheerleaders, Ross Athletic, CheerSPORT and others.

Today, cheerleading has grown to an estimated 4 million participants in the United States alone. Image:CheerleadingStunt,UTEP,29November2005.jpg

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Safety

The August 2005 death of Ashley Burns, a 14 year old cheerleader, from an injury sustained while practicing a stunt[1], drew attention to the risks in the development of cheerleading stunts. Although serious injuries are relatively rare in cheerleading (1.95 direct catastrophic injuries per year or 0.6 injuries per 100,000 participants from 1982-2002)<ref>"Catastrophic Cheerleading Injuries," The American Journal of Sports Medicine 31:881-888 (2003).[2]</ref>, it is associated with the highest number of direct catastrophic injuries for all sports in which females participate.<ref>"Direct Catastrophic Injury in Sports," J Am Acad Orthop Surg, Vol 13, No 7, November 2005, 445-454.[3]</ref>

The National Federation of High Schools, Universal Cheerleaders Association, and the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors joined together to develop and promote the NF Coaches Education Program. On the college level, the NCAA has required all college cheerleading coaches are AACCA safety certified by August 1, 2006.

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Motions/Jumps

Common cheerleading motions are high V, low V, half-high and half-low Vs, diagonals, K's, L's, T's, broken T's, touchdowns, low touchdowns, tabletops, daggers, candlesticks, and punches. The motions always need to be sharp and precise so that the cheerleaders do not look sloppy.
Toe Touch is a jump with legs straddled, and straight, toes pointed, knees up or back, and the arms in a T motion. This is the most common jump.
Hurdler The straight leg is either forward (a front hurdler) with arms in a touchdown, or out to the side (a side hurdler) with arms in a T. The bent knee faces the crowd.
Pike is among the most difficult of jumps. Both legs are straight out, knees locked. Arms are in a touchdown motion out in front to create a folded position in the air. This is often performed at a ninety-degree angle to the audience in order to show off the air position.
Around the World is a jump where the performer hits a pike and then whips his or her legs quickly back around into a toe touch. This jump is regarded as difficult to accomplish, because two positions must be reached in the very short time while the jumper is in the air.
Herkie, named for Lawrence R. Herkimer, the founder of the National Cheerleader's Association, is similar to a side-hurdler, except that instead of both arms being in a "T" motion, both arms are opposite of what the leg beneath them is doing. Example of this would be the straight arm would be on the side of the bent leg, and the bent arm is on the side of the straight leg. One other variation of this includes the bent leg is pointing straight down, instead of out like the side-hurdler. The jump is speculated to have been invented because Herkie wasn't able to do an actual side-hurdler.
Double Nine is a jump similar to a pike except one leg and one arm are bent in to form two "nines".
Double Hook is a jump where the legs are in the "cheer sit" position.
Doubles are where you perform any jump twice in a row.

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Stunting

Image:Cheer stunt.jpg

A stunt involves one or more bases holding or tossing a cheerleader in the air. In general, all-girl cheerleading stunts usually involve two or more bases while co-ed ("partner") stunts are comprised of only one one base (the male) and his partner (the flyer, usually female).
Flyers are cheerleaders held or tossed in the air.
Bases are the cheerleaders who hold and toss the flyers.
Backspots are cheerleaders who stand behind the flyer and the bases that have three duties: 1. To make sure that the stunt does not fall and to help catch the flyer if it does fall. 2. To help the bases by lifting some of the flyer's weight, making the stunt more stable and less heavy for the bases (in all-girl stunting). 3. To help ensure the safe dismount of the flyer from the stunt.
Frontspots have similar duties to backspots, but are generally used by younger teams or more inexperienced squads.
Pyramids or mounts are multiple groups of stunts connected aerially by their flyers. This connection may be made in a variety of ways, from a simple linking of hands to having a multi-level pyramid, with the flyers already in the air acting as primary bases for another flyer or flyers on top of them.

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Partner stunts

Toss: Most partner stunts begin with the toss. To perform a toss, the base stands behind his flyer with his hands on her waist. When the flyer jumps (often on a predetermined count) the base adds power to the jump, culminating in the "flick". As the flyer returns to earth, the base reaches for her waist and softens her impact.
Chair: The Chair is a basic cheerleading stunt that begins with a toss. Instead of maintaining body position throughought the toss, however, the flyer pulls her right knee up at the highest point of the toss. The base, upon finishing his "flick" proceeds to turn over his right hand and catch the flyer on it in a sitting position (thus the name). At the same time the base grips the left ankle of the flyer with his left hand in order to stabilize and support the flyer.
Shoulder Stands: The Shoulder stand can be attained in two ways. The safer method is called a purdue-up, and it poses less risk to the participants because contact between the base and flyer is maintained throughout the stunt. A purdue-up begins with the base behind his flyer. The flyers hands should be backward, with her palms upward. The base takes hold of the flyer's hands, and on a predetermined count drops into a crouching position. He proceeds to press up almost as in a front squat. The flyer locks her elbows and forces her hips backward, aiming her feet for the base's shoulders. When the flyer's feet are on the base's shoulders, she pulls inward with her feet and the base place a hand on each calf for stabilization. There is a more dangerous method of achieving the shoulder stand which is used at times at which speed is necessary (for whatever reason). In this method, the base tosses the flyer, and at the top of the toss steps forward slightly. The flyer should land on the base's shoulders, and stabilization should proceed as outlined above.
Hands: Hands is usually achieved via the toss. At the top of the toss (after the flick) the base catches the flyer's feet. Hands is rarely an end in and of itself. It often progresses to one of the stunts outlined below.
Extension: The extension is the safest of the "hands" stunts because contact between the base's hands and the flyer's feet is maintained throughout the stunt. To perform an extension the base and flyer first achieve hands. From this position the bases dips slightly and proceeds to power the flyer upward, extending his arms. A properly executed extension requires that the base's arms be locked as well as his head upward to ensure the flyer's safety. The flyer should maintain a very "tight" body position at the top of this stunt.
Liberty: The liberty is more dangerous than an extension, though once it can be achieved successfully, many other stunts become possible. From hands, the base again dips slightly and powers through the flyer. instead of maintaining his grip on both of the flyer's feet, however, the base lets go of the flyer's left foot and moves his left hand under the flyer's right foot to support the toe. When this happens the flyer pulls her left leg up (as she did with her right leg in a chair.) A properly executed liberty is characterized by the base having locked out arms and the flyer maintaining a "tight" body position.Image:Cheer with signs2.jpg
Stretch: The stretch is very similar to the liberty except that instead of merely pulling her left leg up until her thigh is parallel to the floor, the flyer whips her left leg upward and grabs it with her left hand. Proper execution is again characterized by the base's straight arms and the flyer's "tight" body position"
Side Stunt: Side stunts are actually a group of stunts that are characterized by part or all of the flyer's body being turned sideways to the audience. The base's grip, instead of the standard liberty grip, can be understood by thinking of it as the way he might hold a bar over his head if his hands were together.

A high torch is essentially a sideways liberty except that the flyer's torso is turned to face the audience.
An arabesque is a side stunt in which the flyer leans over, extending her left leg as close to horizontal as possible while lowering her torso as much as is needed.

Cupie: The cupie begins from hands and proceeds with the same dip as in the other stunts. At the top, however, the flyer pulls her legs together, and the base grips both of the flyer's feet in his outstretched right hand. The cupie is distinct from the "awesome" in that the left hand is placed on the hip during a cupie while in the awesome it is maintained in a "high-V" position

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Tumbling

In competition and most collegiate level cheerleading, tumbling is a requirement. The most basic tumbling is a cartwheel or a round off. The more advanced skills are back walkovers, double backwalkovers, cartwheel/ round-off backwalkover, back handsprings and round off back handsprings. Other more advanced skills include: back tucks, layouts, twisting layouts (fulls), and front tumbling, such as front handsprings, and punch fronts.

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Cheers/Chants

Every sideline cheerleading team has their "signature" cheers and chants. Most of the time the cheerleaders and coaches come up with these cheers/chants, although there are a few professional specialists, such as Krazy George Henderson. Cheers are often longer than chants and usually incorporate jumps, tumbling, or stunting. Chants are short and repetitive and usually involve crowd participation.

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All-Star Competitive Cheerleading

In the early 1990s, cheerleading teams not associated with schools or sports leagues, whose main objective is competition, started to emerge. All-star cheerleading involves a squad of anywhere between 3-30+ females and/or males. The squad prepares year-round, but they only actually perform for up to 2 1/2 minutes in their competitions. The numbers of competitions a team participates in varies from team to team, but generally, most teams tend to participate in 6 or 7 competitions a year. During a competition, a squad covers everything from stunting to tumbling to dancing. There is custom music for the entire routine. Teams apply an 8 count system to the music so the team members know how long stunts need to be held, when they are supposed to do their tumbling, the order the pyramid is assembled, and when specific dance moves are to be performed.

All-star teams are operated out of gymnastics facilities, or cheer gyms, which are entire gyms built to facilitate the needs of competitive cheerleaders.

All-star competitive cheerleaders are placed into divisions which are grouped based upon age 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 sport. The US All Star Federation (USASF) has emerged as the preeminent organization for all-star teams and gyms. Companies that run competitions include AmeriCheer, U.S. Spirit, Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA), National Cheerleading Association (NCA, the very first), Cheer Ltd. Inc, American Cheer Power, Cheerleaders of America (COA), World Spirit Federation (WSF), JAMfest Cheer and Dance, FCC (Fellowship of Christian Cheerleaders), CHEERSPORT, and many more.

Competitive cheerleading is a major time and financial commitment, yet it is a rapidly growing sport and industry. Experience in all-star cheerleading is also highly sought after by elite college cheerleading teams such as the University of Louisville, the University of Kentucky, the University of Houston, and Hawaii Pacific University.

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United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the American style of cheerleading at sports matches is seen by many as alien to British sporting culture, and some attempts to introduce it, for example in the early days of Premiership football (soccer), have been abandoned after receiving widespread derision. There are however several sports teams that use their support: these are usually rugby league teams, and include the Leeds Rhinos, the Warrington Wolves, the Bradford Bulls, the Castleford Tigers and St Helens. The teams that play in BCAFL, the UK College American Football League also follow the American tradition of having cheerleaders support them at games, as do the GB Bulldogs, the UK national American Football team.

Recently all-star competitive cheerleading has increased in popularity in the UK and several organisations such as the British Cheerleading Association hold national competitions every year. There is also a competing group, more recently formed than the BCA, called Future Cheer, which conforms to the relatively recent USASF coaching and safety regulations. Cheerleaders in Britain can range from the age of six or seven, up to university students, all of whom mix together and compete in competitions consisting of cheer, dance and stunt categories. Co-ed cheerleading is also a relatively popular form of cheerleading in the UK.

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