Cheerleading

Cheerleading began during the late 18th century with the rebellion of male students.[4] After the American Revolutionary War, students experienced harsh treatment from teachers. In response to faculty's abuse, college students violently acted out. The undergraduates began to riot, burn down buildings located on their college campuses, and assault faculty members. As a more subtle way to gain independence, however, students invented and organized their own extracurricular activities outside their professors' control. This brought about American sports, beginning first with collegiate teams.[5]

In the 1860s, students from Great Britain began to cheer and chant in unison for their favorite athletes at sporting events. Soon, that gesture of support crossed overseas to America.[6]

On November 6, 1869, the United States witnessed its first intercollegiate football game. It took place between Princeton University and Rutgers University, and marked the day the original "Sis Boom Rah!" cheer was shouted out by student fans.[7]

Minnesota Gopher cheerleader Johnny Campbell

Organized cheerleading began as an all-male activity.[8] As early as 1877, Princeton University had a "Princeton Cheer", documented in the February 22, 1877, March 12, 1880, and November 4, 1881, issues of The Daily Princetonian.[9][10][11] This cheer was yelled from the stands by students attending games, as well as by the athletes themselves. The cheer, "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah! Tiger! S-s-s-t! Boom! A-h-h-h!" remains in use with slight modifications today, where it is now referred to as the "Locomotive".[12]

Princeton class of 1882 graduate Thomas Peebles moved to Minnesota in 1884. He transplanted the idea of organized crowds cheering at football games to the University of Minnesota.[13][14]

The term "Cheer Leader" had been used as early as 1897, with Princeton's football officials having named three students as Cheer Leaders: Thomas, Easton, and Guerin from Princeton's classes of 1897, 1898, and 1899, respectively, on October 26, 1897. These students would cheer for the team also at football practices, and special cheering sections were designated in the stands for the games themselves for both the home and visiting teams.[15][16]

It was not until 1898 that University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell directed a crowd in cheering "Rah, Rah, Rah! Ski-u-mah, Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity, Minn-e-So-Tah!", making Campbell the very first cheerleader.[17]

November 2, 1898, is the official birth date of organized cheerleading. Soon after, the University of Minnesota organized a "yell leader" squad of six male students, who still use Campbell's original cheer today.[18]

Cheerleaders at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1948

In 1903, the first cheerleading fraternity, Gamma Sigma, was founded.[19]

In 1923, at the University of Minnesota, women were permitted to participate in cheerleading.[20] However, it took time for other schools to follow. In the late 1920s, many school manuals and newspapers that were published still referred to cheerleaders as "chap", "fellow", and "man".[21]

Women cheerleaders were overlooked until the 1940s when collegiate men were drafted for World War II, creating the opportunity for more women to make their way onto sporting event sidelines.[22] As noted by Kieran Scott in Ultimate Cheerleading: "Girls really took over for the first time."[23]

In 1949, Lawrence Herkimer, a former cheerleader at Southern Methodist University and inventor of the herkie jump, founded his first cheerleading camp in Huntsville, Texas. 52 girls were in attendance.[24] The clinic was so popular that Herkimer was asked to hold a second, where 350 young women were in attendance. Herkimer also patented the pom-pom.

In 1951, Herkimer created the National Cheerleading Association to help grow the activity and provide cheerleading education to schools around the country.[17]

During the 1950s, female participation in cheerleading continued to grow.[25] An overview written on behalf of cheerleading in 1955 explained that in larger schools, "occasionally boys as well as girls are included", and in smaller schools, "boys can usually find their place in the athletic program, and cheerleading is likely to remain solely a feminine occupation".[26] Cheerleading could be found at almost every school level across the country; even pee wee and youth leagues began to appear.[27][28]

In the 1950s, professional cheerleading also began. The first recorded cheer squad in National Football League (NFL) history was for the Baltimore Colts.[6][29] Professional cheerleaders put a new perspective on American cheerleading. Women were exclusively chosen for dancing ability as well as to conform to the male gaze, as heterosexual men were the targeted marketing group.[30]

By the 1960s, college cheerleaders employed by the NCA were hosting workshops across the nation, teaching fundamental cheer skills to tens of thousands of high-school-age girls.[8] Herkimer also contributed many notable firsts to cheerleading: the founding of a cheerleading uniform supply company, inventing the herkie jump (where one leg is bent towards the ground as if kneeling and the other is out to the side as high as it will stretch in toe-touch position),[31] and creating the "Spirit Stick".[19]

In 1965, Fred Gastoff invented the vinyl pom-pom, which was introduced into competitions by the International Cheerleading Foundation (ICF, now the World Cheerleading Association, or WCA). Organized cheerleading competitions began to pop up with the first ranking of the "Top Ten College Cheerleading Squads" and "Cheerleader All America" awards given out by the ICF in 1967.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders soon gained the spotlight with their revealing outfits and sophisticated dance moves, debuting in the 1972–1973 season, but were first widely seen in Super Bowl X (1976). These pro squads of the 1970s established cheerleaders as "American icons of wholesome sex appeal."[20]

In 1975, Randy Neil estimated that over 500,000 students actively participated in American cheerleading from elementary school to the collegiate level. Neil also approximated that ninety-five percent of cheerleaders within America were female.[32]

In 1978, America was introduced to competitive cheerleading by the first broadcast of Collegiate Cheerleading Championships on CBS.[18][19]

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (1983) performing in the USO show "America and Her Music" on the deck of the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser USS Bainbridge (CGN-25)

Cheerleading is a mainstream activity in the U.S.[33] Picture shows U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld posing with U.S. Army cheerleaders, 2004.

The 1980s saw the beginning of modern cheerleading, adding difficult stunt sequences and gymnastics into routines. All-star teams, or those not affiliated with a school, popped up, and eventually led to the creation of the U.S. All Star Federation (USASF). ESPN first broadcast the National High School Cheerleading Competition nationwide in 1983.

By 1981, a total of seventeen Nation Football League teams had their own cheerleaders. The only teams without NFL cheerleaders at this time were New Orleans, New York, Detroit, Cleveland, Denver, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and San Diego. Professional cheerleading eventually spread to soccer and basketball teams as well.[30]

Cheerleading organizations such as the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors (AACCA), founded in 1987, started applying universal safety standards to decrease the number of injuries and prevent dangerous stunts, pyramids, and tumbling passes from being included in the cheerleading routines.[34] In 2003, the National Council for Spirit Safety and Education (NCSSE) was formed to offer safety training for youth, school, all-star, and college coaches. The NCAA now requires college cheer coaches to successfully complete a nationally recognized safety-training program.

Even with its athletic and competitive development, cheerleading at the school level has retained its ties to its spirit leading traditions. Cheerleaders are quite often seen as ambassadors for their schools, and leaders among the student body. At the college level, cheerleaders are often invited to help at university fundraisers and events.[35]

Debuting in 2003, the "Marlin Mermaids" gained national exposure, and have influenced other MLB teams to develop their own cheer/dance squads.[36]

As of 2005, overall statistics show around 97% of all modern cheerleading participants are female, although at the collegiate level, cheerleading is co-ed with about 50% of participants being male.[24] Modern male cheerleaders' stunts focus less on flexibility and more on tumbling, flips, pikes, and handstands. These depend on strong legs and strong core strength.[17]

In 2019, Napoleon Jinnies and Quinton Peron became the first male cheerleaders in the history of the NFL to perform at the Super Bowl.[37]

Kristi Yamaoka, a cheerleader for Southern Illinois University, suffered a fractured vertebra when she hit her head after falling from a human pyramid.[38][39] She also suffered from a concussion, and a bruised lung.[40] The fall occurred when Yamaoka lost her balance during a basketball game between Southern Illinois University and Bradley University at the Savvis Center in St. Louis on March 5, 2006.[40] The fall gained "national attention",[40] because Yamaoka continued to perform from a stretcher as she was moved away from the game.[40]

The accident caused the Missouri Valley Conference to ban its member schools from allowing cheerleaders to be "launched or tossed and from taking part in formations higher than two levels" for one week during a women's basketball conference tournament, and also resulted in a recommendation by the NCAA that conferences and tournaments do not allow pyramids two and one half levels high or higher, and a stunt known as basket tosses, during the rest of the men's and women's basketball season.[41] On July 11, 2006, the bans were made permanent by the AACCA rules committee:

The committee unanimously voted for sweeping revisions to cheerleading safety rules, the most major of which restricts specific upper-level skills during basketball games. Basket tosses, 2+1⁄2 high pyramids, one-arm stunts, stunts that involve twisting or flipping, and twisting tumbling skills may be performed only during halftime and post-game on a matted surface and are prohibited during game play or time-outs.[41]

Most American elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges have organized cheerleading squads. Some colleges even offer cheerleading scholarships for students. A school cheerleading team may compete locally, regionally, or nationally, but their main purpose is typically to cheer for sporting events and encourage audience participation. Cheerleading is quickly becoming a year-round activity, starting with tryouts during the spring semester of the preceding school year. Teams may attend organized summer cheerleading camps and practices to improve skills and create routines for competition.

In addition to supporting their schools' football or other sports teams, student cheerleaders may compete with recreational-style routine at competitions year-round.

In far more recent years, it has become more common for elementary schools to have an organized cheerleading team. This is a great way to get younger children introduced to the sport and used to being crowd leaders. Also, with young children learning so much so quickly, tumbling can come very easy to a child in elementary school.[42]

Middle school cheerleading evolved shortly after high school squads were created and is set at the district level. In middle school, cheerleading squads serve the same purpose, but often follow a modified set of rules from high school squads with possible additional rules.[43] Squads can cheer for basketball teams, football teams, and other sports teams in their school. Squads may also perform at pep rallies and compete against other local schools from the area. Cheerleading in middle school sometimes can be a two-season activity: fall and winter. However, many middle school cheer squads will go year-round like high school squads. Middle school cheerleaders use the same cheerleading movements as their older counterparts, yet may perform less extreme stunts and tumbling elements, depending on the rules in their area..

High school cheerleaders

In high school, there are usually two squads per school: varsity and a junior varsity. High school cheerleading contains aspects of school spirit as well as competition. These squads have become part of a year-round cycle. Starting with tryouts in the spring, year-round practice, cheering on teams in the fall and winter, and participating in cheerleading competitions. Most squads practice at least three days a week for about two hours each practice during the summer. Many teams also attend separate tumbling sessions outside of practice. During the school year, cheerleading is usually practiced five- to six-days-a-week. During competition season, it often becomes seven days with practice twice a day sometimes. The school spirit aspect of cheerleading involves cheering, supporting, and "hyping up" the crowd at football games, basketball games, and even at wrestling meets. Along with this, cheerleaders usually perform at pep rallies, and bring school spirit to other students. In May 2009, the National Federation of State High School Associations released the results of their first true high school participation study. They estimated that the number of high school cheerleaders from public high schools is around 394,700.[44]

There are different cheerleading organizations that put on competitions; some of the major ones include state and regional competitions. Many high schools will often host cheerleading competitions, bringing in IHSA judges. The regional competitions are qualifiers for national competitions, such as the UCA (Universal Cheerleaders Association) Archived 2009-09-20 at the Wayback Machine in Orlando, Florida, every year.[45] Many teams have a professional choreographer that choreographs their routine in order to ensure they are not breaking rules or regulations and to give the squad creative elements.

Collegiate cheerleaders for the University of Florida perform a high splits pyramid during a Gators college football game

Most American universities have a cheerleading squad to cheer for football, basketball, volleyball, wrestling, and soccer. Most college squads tend to be larger coed teams, although in recent years; all-girl squads and smaller college squads have increased rapidly. Cheerleading is not recognized by NCAA, NAIA, and NJCAA as athletics; therefore, there are few to no scholarships offered to athletes wanting to pursue cheerleading at the collegiate level. However, some community colleges and universities offer scholarships directly from the program or sponsorship funds. Some colleges offer scholarships for an athlete's talents, academic excellence, and/or involvement in community events.

College squads perform more difficult stunts which include multi-level pyramids, as well as flipping and twisting basket tosses.

Not only do college cheerleaders cheer on the other sports at their university, many teams at universities compete with other schools at either UCA College Nationals or NCA College Nationals. This requires the teams to choreograph a 2-minute and 30 second routine that includes elements of jumps, tumbling, stunting, basket tosses, pyramids, and a crowd involvement section. Winning one of these competitions is a very prestigious accomplishment, and is seen as another national title for most schools.

Youth cheerleaders during a football halftime show. Youth cheer—high school ages and younger—make up the vast majority of cheerleaders and cheer teams.

Organizations that sponsor youth cheer teams usually sponsor either youth league football or basketball teams as well. This allows for the two, under the same sponsor, to be intermingled. Both teams have the same mascot name and the cheerleaders will perform at their football or basketball games. Examples of such sponsors include Pop Warner, American Youth Football, and the YMCA.[46] The purpose of these squads is primarily to support their associated football or basketball players, but some teams do compete at local or regional competitions. The Pop Warner Association even hosts a national championship each December for teams in their program who qualify.

"All-star" or club cheerleading differs from school or sideline cheerleading because all-star teams focus solely on performing a competition routine and not on leading cheers for other sports teams. All-star cheerleaders are members of a privately owned gym or club which they typically pay dues or tuition to, similar to a gymnastics gym.

During the early 1980s, cheerleading squads not associated with a school or sports league, whose main objective was competition, began to emerge. The first organization to call themselves all-stars were the Q94 Rockers from Richmond, Virginia, founded in 1982.[47] All-star teams competing prior to 1987 were placed into the same divisions as teams that represented schools and sports leagues. In 1986, the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) addressed this situation by creating a separate division for teams lacking a sponsoring school or athletic association, calling it the All-Star Division and debuting it at their 1987 competitions. As the popularity of this type of team grew, more and more of them were formed, attending competitions sponsored by many different organizations and companies, each using its own set of rules, regulations, and divisions. This situation became a concern to coaches and gym owners, as the inconsistencies caused coaches to keep their routines in a constant state of flux, detracting from time that could be better utilized for developing skills and providing personal attention to their athletes. More importantly, because the various companies were constantly vying for a competitive edge, safety standards had become more and more lax. In some cases, unqualified coaches and inexperienced squads were attempting dangerous stunts as a result of these expanded sets of rules.[48]

The United States All Star Federation (USASF) was formed in 2003 by the competition companies to act as the national governing body for all star cheerleading and to create a standard set of rules and judging criteria to be followed by all competitions sanctioned by the Federation. Eager to grow the sport and create more opportunities for high-level teams, The USASF hosted the first Cheerleading Worlds on April 24, 2004.[48] At the same time, cheerleading coaches from all over the country organized themselves for the same rule making purpose, calling themselves the National All Star Cheerleading Coaches Congress (NACCC). In 2005, the NACCC was absorbed by the USASF to become their rule making body.[47] In late 2006, the USASF facilitated the creation of the International All-Star Federation (IASF), which now governs club cheerleading worldwide.

Competitive cheer - Paramount Cheerleaders doing a scale

As of 2020, all-star cheerleading, as sanctioned by the USASF, involves a squad of 5–36 females and males. All-star cheerleaders are placed into divisions, which are grouped based upon age, size of the team, gender of participants, and ability level. The age groups vary from under 4 years of age to 18 years and over. The squad prepares year-round for many different competition appearances, but they actually perform only for up to 2+1⁄2 minutes during their team's routine. The numbers of competitions a team participates in varies from team to team, but generally, most teams tend to participate in six to ten competitions a year. These competitions include locals or regionals, which normally take place in school gymnasiums or local venues, nationals, hosted in large venues all around the U.S., and the Cheerleading Worlds, which takes place at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. During a competition routine, a squad performs carefully choreographed stunting, tumbling, jumping, and dancing to their own custom music. Teams create their routines to an eight-count system and apply that to the music so that the team members execute the elements with precise timing and synchronization.

All-star cheerleaders compete at competitions hosted by private event production companies, the foremost of these being Varsity Spirit. Varsity Spirit is the parent company for many subsidiaries including The National Cheerleader's Association, The Universal Cheerleader's Association, AmeriCheer, Allstar Challenge, and JamFest, among others. Each separate company or subsidiary typically hosts their own local and national level competitions. This means that many gyms within the same area could be state and national champions for the same year and never have competed against each other. Currently, there is no system in place that awards only one state or national title.

Judges at a competition watch closely for illegal skills from the group or any individual member. Here, an illegal skill is something that is not allowed in that division due to difficulty or safety restrictions. They look out for deductions, or things that go wrong, such as a dropped stunt or a tumbler who doesn't stick a landing. More generally, judges look at the difficulty and execution of jumps, stunts and tumbling, synchronization, creativity, the sharpness of the motions, showmanship, and overall routine execution.

If a level 6 or 7 team places high enough at selected USASF/IASF sanctioned national competitions, they could earn a place at the Cheerleading Worlds and compete against teams from all over the world, as well as receive money for placing.[3] For elite level cheerleaders, The Cheerleading Worlds is the highest level of competition to which they can aspire, and winning a world championship title is an incredible honor.

NFL Cheerleaders at the 2006 Pro Bowl.

Professional cheerleaders and dancers cheer for sports such as football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, or hockey. There are only a small handful of professional cheerleading leagues around the world; some professional leagues include the NBA Cheerleading League, the NFL Cheerleading League, the CFL Cheerleading League, the MLS Cheerleading League, the MLB Cheerleading League, and the NHL Ice Girls. Although professional cheerleading leagues exist in multiple countries, there are no Olympic teams.[49]

In addition to cheering at games and competing, professional cheerleaders often do a lot of philanthropy and charity work, modeling, motivational speaking, television performances, and advertising.

Cheer Canada acts as the Canadian national governing body for cheer, as recognised by the International Cheer Union.[99][100][101] There are a number of provincial sports organizations that also exist in Canada under Cheer Canada, each governing cheer within their province which BC Sport Cheer,[102] Alberta Cheerleading Association,[103] Saskatchewan Cheerleading Association,[104] Cheer Manitoba,[105] Ontario Cheerleading Federation,[106] Federation de Cheerleading du Quebec,[107] Newfoundland and Labrador Cheerleading Athletics, Cheer New Brunswick[108] and Cheer Nova Scotia.[109] Cheer Canada and the provincial organizations utilise the IASF divisions and rules for all star cheer and performance cheer (all star dance)[110][111] and the ICU divisions and rules for scholastic cheer.[112] Canadian Cheer (previously known as Cheer Evolution) is the largest cheer and dance organization for Canada, and currently comply to Cheer Canada's rules and guidelines for their 15 events.[113][114] Varsity Spirit also hosts events within Canada utilising the Cheer Canada/IASF rules.[115] There are currently over 400 clubs and schools recognised by Cheer Canada, with over 25,000 participants as of 2023.[99]

There are two world championship competitions that Canada participates in. The first is the ICU World Championships where the Canadian National Teams compete against other countries. The second is The Cheerleading Worlds where Canadian club teams, referred to as "all-star" teams, compete within the IASF divisions. National team members who compete at the ICU Worlds can also compete with their "all-star club" teams at the IASF World Championships.[116] Although athletes can compete in both International Cheer Union (ICU) and IASF championships, crossovers between teams at each individual competition are not permitted. Teams compete against the other teams from their countries on the first day of competition and the top three teams from each country in each division continue to finals. At the end of finals, the top team scoring the highest for their country earns the "Nations Cup". Canada has multiple teams across their country that compete in the IASF Cheerleading Worlds Championship.[117] In total, Canada has had 98 International podium finishes at cheer events.[99]

The International Cheer Union (ICU) is built of 119 member nations,[118] who are eligible to field teams to compete against one another at the ICU World Championships in a number of divisions in both cheerleading and performance cheer, with special divisions for youth, junior and adaptive abilities athletes.[119] Cheer Canada fields a national team, with up to 40 athletes from around the country for both a senior national all girl and senior national coed team training at three training camps across the season in Canada before 28 athletes per team are selected to train in Florida, with 24 athletes going on to compete on the competition floor at ICU Worlds.[120] In the 2023 ICU World Championships, Canada won a total of 4 medals (1 gold and 3 silver) with teams entered in the Youth All Girl, Youth Coed, Unified Median, Unified Advanced, Premier All Girl, Premier Coed, Performance Cheer Hip Hop doubles, Performance Cheer Pom Doubles and Performance Cheer Pom divisions.[121][122][123]

In total, Team Canada holds podium placements at the ICU World Championships from the following years/divisions:

	Year	Place	Team	Source
	2023	1st	Adaptive Abilities Unified	[122]
	2023	2nd	Youth All Girl Median	[122]
	2023	2nd	Youth Coed Median	[122]
	2022	1st	Adaptive Abilities Unified Median	[124]
	2022	2nd	Youth All Girl Median	[124]
	2022	2nd	Youth Coed	[124]
	2022	3rd	Junior Coed Advanced	[124]
	2019	2nd	Coed Premier	[125]
	2019	2nd	Special Abilities Traditional	[125]
	2019	2nd	Junior Coed Advanced	[125]
	2018	2nd	Junior Coed Advanced	[126]
	2018	3rd	Coed Premier	[126]
	2017	1st	Junior All Girl Advanced	[127]
	2017	2nd	Junior Coed Advanced	[127]
	2017	3rd	All Girl Premier	[127]
	2013	1st	Coed Elite	[128]
	2012	1st	All Girl Elite	[129]
	2012	1st	Coed Elite	[129]
	2011	1st	All Girl Elite	[130]
	2011	1st	Coed Elite	[130]
	2010	1st	All Girl Elite	[131]
	2010	1st	Coed Elite	[131]
	2010	2nd	All Girl Partner Stunt	[131]
	2009	1st	All Girl Elite	[132]
	2009	1st	Coed Elite	[132]

Cheerleaders associated with the Borregos Salvajes, called "Borreguitas" at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico City.

In Mexico, this sport is endorsed by the Mexican Federation of Cheerleaders and Cheerleading Groups (Federación Mexicana de Porristas y Grupos de Animación) (FMPGA), a body that regulates competitions in Mexico and subdivisions such as the Olympic Confederation of Cheerleaders (COP Brands), National Organization of Cheerleaders (Organización Nacional de Porristas) (ONP) and the Mexican Organization of Trainers and Animation Groups (Organización Mexicana de Entrenadores y Grupos de Animación) (OMEGA Mexico), these being the largest in the country.[134]

In 2021, the third edition of the National Championship of State Teams was held and organized by The Mexican Federation of Cheerleaders and Cheerleading Groups, on this occasion, the event was held virtually, broadcasting live, through the Vimeo platform.

In Mexico there are more than 500 teams and almost 10,000 athletes who practice this sport, in addition to a representative national team of Mexico, which won first place in the cheerleading world championship organized by the ICU (International Cheer Union) on April 24, 2015, receiving a gold medal;[135] In 2016, Mexico became the second country with the most medals in the world in this sport. With 27 medals, it is considered the second world power in this sport, only behind the United States.[136] In the 2019 Coed Premier World Cheerleading Championship Mexico ranked 4th just behind the United States, Canada and Taiwan. In 2021, the Mexican team won 3rd place at the Junior Boom category in World Cheerleading Championship 2021 hosted by international cheerleading federation.[137][138]