When someone says cheerleading, you probably immediately think of pom poms, high kicks and the Dallas Cowboys. And if you've seen Bring It On, you'll see cheerleaders as preppy, other-enthusiastic and sometimes rather bitchy. But the world of competitive cheerleading is an entirely different story. In America - where the sport rose to fame - both all star and college squads compete at the highest level to bring both triumph to their team and recognition to their sport. Many people will think that all you need to be a cheerleader is good looks and an extremely enthusiastic personality. But in truth, you need a lot more than that. You need strength, agility, flexibility, endurance and a whole lot of sass. In the two and a half minute routines, cheerleaders use all of these things to cram as many different aspects of the sport in as possible.
STUNTS
The main part of the routine is the stunts. To explain it simply, stunts involve a person lifting another person above their head. And yes, that is entirely possible. Cheerleading stunts range from levels 1 to 6, with 6 being the highest and most difficult. Young girls often start out on Mini 1 teams, working up through the ages and levels until they reach Senior 5, then many often go onto college cheer (which is usually level 6) once they 'age out' of competitive cheerleading at 18.
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| A level 6 pyramid (Top Gun All Stars) |
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| A level 1 stunt: 'gut lib' (California All Stars) |
There are 4 main positions in a cheer stunt. At the centre of the action, you have the flyer. She is the one in the air, the one standing in the hands of her bases. She is lifted up, thrown and caught again, she pulls stretches and is the face of her team. But beneath the smiles and sass of the flyer, you have the base team. The bases are the 2 people under the flyer's feet. They use their incredible strength to lift her up and throw her around, with the help of the trusty backspot. Often missed out from the action photographs (speaking from experience here!), the backspot literally spots the back of the stunt and never lets his/her flyer hit the mat. When these 4 people work together, some truly amazing stunts are produced. But cheerleading is a team sport; if just one person in the stunt team is not putting in 100%, the usually amazing stunts may become messy and even dangerous. That's why teamwork is so important in cheerleading!
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| Level 6 basket tosses (Team unknown) |
Depending on the level, there are many types of cheerleading stunts. There is the simple prep, where the flyer stands in the two bases' hands with a backspot behind. These then develop into extensions, where the bases' arms are fully extended above their heads, and to libs, where the flyer stands on one foot with the bases holding the single standing foot at extension level. But these are just the traditional stunts. Once you hit level 2, you enter the amazing yet equally terrifying world of basket tosses. This is when the flyer literally leaves her bases' hands and soars several feet into the air, before falling back and landing in her base team's arms. As you rise up the levels, the tosses become more spectacular and sometimes more dangerous. Level 6 sees the introduction of tucks and twists, which look incredible! But I think I'll stick to simple basket tosses for now.
WHAT ELSE?
Although the stunts take up the majority of the routine, teams are also scored on other things. Most of these are self-explanatory, such as:
Jumps: There are several types of cheerleading jump, which are often done in a choreographed sequence. The toe touch, herkie and pike are the most common jumps seen in routines.
Tumbles: This is where the gymnastics side comes in. Starting at level 1 with cartwheels and walkovers, then reaching the higher levels with handsprings, tucks and eventually twists, the tumbles section sees athletes performing often complicated passes across the mat in a style similar to gymnastics floor routines.
Dance: Often the last part of the routine, the dance is where the athletes can truly let out their sass. Not restricted by any levels, cheer dancing is always fast, fierce and gets the crowd on their feet by the end of the routine.
YES, IT'S A SPORT.
Many people will see cheerleading and think "how can that be a sport?". Well, after some lengthy internet research, I have come to the conclusion that in order for something to be classed as a sport, it needs to require physical exertion and have some form of competitive organisation. Whilst cheerleading may be completely different to football and rugby in the way it is performed and scored, that does not mean it isn't a sport. Blood, sweat and tears go into cheer routines, and many teams have lost athletes due to serious injury (e.g. concussions or even broken bones). Cheerleading has recently been named as one of the most dangerous high school sports in America, and one of the most dangerous sports for young women. And of course, it is competitive. The USASF is the all-star competitive body, whilst the ICU represents international teams. Several countries have their own teams, and I am proud to say that Team England's all-girl elite team have recently been crowned World Champions at the 2017 Cheerleading Worlds in Florida! And, as if this wasn't enough, cheerleading has just been granted provisional recognition as an Olympic sport! That's right, cheerleading could be at the Olympics one day! So if someone says that cheerleading isn't a sport, just ask them to try and lift a human in the air. Then, hopefully, they'll see how hard it is.
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