Cheer in the United States 

What Is Cheerleading?

Cheer Is a sport mostly based on tumbling, stunts, jumps, and dance. People who cheer are cheerleaders who are mostly young men and women who want to get involved in the cheer world. There are many places where you can cheer at different levels. ome of them include competition recreation  teams, school teams, college teams, and professional teams. Competition cheerleaders are able to cheer all year around because of indoor competitions, but football cheerleaders only cheer in the fall because it is cold outside. There are so many people involved with cheer.   There are coaches who have cheer experience, cheerleaders, parents, and judges. Cheer Is important because it is encouraging and enjoyabl It also makes people feel a part of a team. I think cheerleading is such a great sport because I have learned so much from it.  It has taught me how to be a part of a team and made me meet so many amazing people.

History Of Cheerleading

You may not know this about cheerleading,  but it has a long history. In 1884 Princeton University’s  Thomas Peebles was the man to have the idea. Then,  In 1898 Jonny Campbell was the first man to yell the famous cheer rah-rah-ski-u-mah. Until the World War , two cheerleaders were male. After World War II , in 1949,  Lawrence Herkimer invented the Herkie. In that same year,  he was asked by the Texas Teacher’s College to administer a cheerleading educational clinic, and fifty two people showed up. This promoted a second clinic,  and even more people showed there were 350 people. Lastly,  in 1970,  after the Title IX law was made and that means womens cheer sports had to be equal to mens. (“History of Cheerleading”).

Competitive Cheerleading Vs Football Cheerleading

Competitive cheerleading and Football Cheerleading are two things people get mixed up a lot, so I am gonna tell you the differences. Competitive cheer and football cheer are more different than similar. Both of them require dedication and enthusiasm. Sunting, Jumping,tumbling, and dancing are performed in both. Uniforms such as skirts and bows are worn in both sports. However, competition cheer is performed to win. Competition Cheer does not use pom poms.  It is played all year round because it is indoors. Football cheer’s purpose  is to make fans excited. They use pom poms. It is only in the fall because it is played outdoors.

College Scholarship 

You may think differently,  but getting a college scholarship for cheer is not that simple. One of the main reasons it is hard to get a full ride scholarship for cheer is because it is not a sanctioned sport. Since it is not a sanctioned sport,  there is less funding which means less money to give out scholarships. Another reason is because cheer is not that competitive and the more competitive the sports is the more funding they get for scholarships. Male cheerleaders are more likely to get scholarships because they designate some money for male cheerleaders. The only reason they do this is,  so they can keep men in the sport. It is even harder to get a D1 scholarship to get one you need to be able to make an impact on the team. Coaches look for cheerleaders with elite tumbling,stunting,dancing, and jumping skills. (“ How…Scholarship”).

Cheer is Not a Sport                                                         

One of the biggest problems cheerleaders face are people telling them that cheer is not a sport. Cheer is a sport because it takes a lot of hard work and physical training. One other reason that people should consider it as a sport is because it is very dangerous from all of the flips and tricks they do. It takes a lot of teamwork to make a great routine. I personally think it takes more teamwork than any other sport. It also takes a lot of hard work to stay in shape which makes cheerleaders do a lot of conditioning. Even if things change,  people are always going to  hate,  so mostly the end result of this is that people who don’t know much about the sport don’t consider it one. As I am sitting here with my broken arm,  I can say that cheer is  a dangerous  contact sport,  and how can it not be a sport if I am sitting here with this injury?

                                                              Works Cited

“History of Cheerleading.” USA Cheer. n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2022.

“How to Get a College Cheerleading Scholarship.” NCSA. 2022. Web. 6 Dec. 2022.