Cheerleading has been known as a crowd leading support groups, whose members are supposed to conduct chants at sporting events. This began in 1898 when the first cheerleading group at Minnesota University performed at a football game. It is now the year of 2012, and cheerleading has come a long way since then. Though many school cheerleading squads still hold this quality of being the schools athletic teams support system, cheerleading has also adapted a competitive side. School based cheerleading teams now have the opportunity to perform competitively. To be able to compete competitively adds an entire new spin to things. What an audience sees at sporting events does not begin to explain the techniques and skills that cheerleaders use in competitions. Cheerleading teams that perform at sporting events mainly do so to uphold the history of cheerleading, it's how it has always been done. Instead of completely changing tradition, cheerleading has kept this component and has added a more athletic component. Cheerleaders now demonstrate complex and dangerous skills which expose them to high risk of injury. The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators stated the following; "Today, cheerleading involves skills which require the strength of football, the grace of dance, and the agility of gymnastics. Complex maneuvers are performed which challenge the limits of the body. Safety organizations such as the AACCA were formed to develop safety rules to guide programs in the safe performance of cheerleading gymnastics, which include jumps, partner stunts, pyramids and tumbling" (AACCA). There has been a major shift in the athleticism required to participate in cheerleading now a days, and cheerleaders deserve proper recognition. As a previous cheerleader myself, I personally have always favored the competition season more then the preparation season, which is during the typical football season. I did enjoy attending the games and keeping the cheerleading tradition alive. I believe that is why many cheerleaders chose to still participate in performing at many school football and basketball games. Performing at school sanctioned events is a pleasure but it isn't the reason why I chosen to be a cheerleader for so long. The hard work a cheerleading team puts into their competition season would surprise many. In high school my team would begin preparing for our first competition before the start of football season. Typically, cheerleaders start preparing in September for the first competitions occurring in the end of December or beginning of January. Those who are not cheerleaders would not understand why a two minute and thirty second routine would take this long to practice, but that is because in the world of cheerleading it isn't about how much you practice, it's about how perfect you can execute the skills. Any cheerleading team can prepare and practice for months on end, but nothing helps mentally prepare ones self for before they hit the mat. Anything can happen out there, one is never positive that what they have been practicing and perfecting for months will go as planned. The competition aspect of cheerleading adds and entirely new twist, it's a completely different from what the majority of people see. My goal throughout this blog is to expose those to the excitement and athleticism cheerleading holds. We all work just as hard as all the other athletes who are admired, and because of the past it should not justified the future judgements of cheerleaders.
The bottom picture is of a pyramid from my high school cheerleading team January 2011.
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