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Cheerleading is an activity or sport that combines many different physical activities to raise energy of the spectators. There are many different varieties of cheerleading, each with its own set of rules, goals, and required skill sets.
The first cheer was called in 1869 in New Brunswick, New Jersey by Princeton fans as their football team took on the team from Rutgers. Instead of calling it a “cheer” they called a “yell.” It was a locomotive-style “Sis-Boom-Rah!” In the early 1880s Princeton formed the first pep-club. The University of Minnesota organized the first group of yell leaders, who chanted to get their football team motivated to help break a three-game losing streak.
By the early 1890s many more universities had begun to form yell leading teams. In the 1920s, the University of Minnesota innovated again by incorporating gymnastics and tumbling into their cheers. In 1923 they formed the first coed team by allowing women to join. During World War II, with so many college-aged men off fighting, cheerleading became a female-dominated sport.
Modern day cheerleading really took shape in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the introduction of basket tosses and national cheerleading competitions. The first well-known All Star-type team, the Q94 Rockers, was started in Richmond, Virginia in 1982. More advanced stunts were developed and perfected during the 1990s. The movie Bring It On was released in 2000 and brought even more attention to the evolving sport.
Cheerleading has also been at the center of controversy. The University of Maryland College Park attempted to create a new all-girl, competition-only cheerleading team to help it meet the requirements of Title IX in 2003, and in 2009 Quinnipiac University attempted to replace their women’s volleyball team by boosting their cheerleading program in order to satisfy Title IX.
For more on the history of cheerleading, see the February 2010 issue of American Cheerleader, or go to Varsity.com
Other sports like football, basketball, and soccer each hold matches during certain seasons. The same is true for cheerleading. Cheerleaders traditionally perform at football and basketball games, which usually take place during a fall and a winter season. In addition to game time participation, cheerleading also has a competition season, which can begin as early as October and run until as late as April.
Like many other sports, even though there is an active season, cheerleaders tend to practice all year long. Because most cheerleaders are students, the cheerleading year is based on the academic calendar. Often teams have tryouts in April or May for the following season’s teams. These teams then practice through the summer and into the following academic year. Because of the length of the season, many coaches are more relaxed with beginning practices during the summer months.
In cheerleading, stunting is defined as one or more bases moving an additional person through the air. Different stunts have different degrees of difficulty and danger. Depending on the type and level of the cheerleading team, some stunts may even be prohibited for performance or competition.
Because stunting involves moving people through the air, there are many different safety concerns. People learning to stunt should always have qualified instruction.
Tumbling is the process of vaulting oneself into the air. Taken from gymnastics, cheerleading tumbling has evolved into its own style. Since tumbling involves inversion of the body, it is important to have a qualified instructor to teach tumbling in order to avoid injury.
As cheerleading has evolved, it has developed many different forms. Cheerleading is still a changing, dynamic sport.
Youth cheerleading is run by youth sports organizations such as Pop Warner. Youth cheerleaders normally cheer for youth sporting events, usually football. Sometimes they compete, but the focus is on cheering at games. Youth cheerleading is an entry point for many people. There aren’t many required skills. Basic balance, agility, and a little strength come in handy. Most programs stunt and some involve gymnastics, but usually at a basic level.
A high school cheerleading team is made up of high school students, and the primary responsibility of a high school program is to support the school and the school’s sports teams. Because of this, tumbling is less important to high school programs, where there is more focus on crowd motions and crowd involvement. Some high school teams also compete. Teams that do compete usually compete throughout the year. Because high school cheerleading is generally more organized than youth cheerleading, there is typically a higher level of difficulty and skill required. High school teams will do more advanced stunts and tumbling, and in the U.S. they are governed by National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS) rules.
College cheerleading is similar to high school cheerleading but founded around a college or university. Most college programs are significantly more demanding than high school programs. Many have tumbling and stunting skill-level requirements. Often college teams compete in only one or two competitions per year. Some college programs also do publicity events for their schools. College programs also tend to travel more and farther with their sports programs than their high school counterparts do. College cheerleading ranges in difficulty from intermediate, similar to high school-level difficulty, to some of the most intricate and difficult cheerleading. At the advanced levels, some schools even offer scholarships for cheerleading. Strength and tumbling ability are required for this level of performance.
All Star Cheerleading is run by organizations, as opposed to school-run programs. Some All Star programs are non-profit. All Star Cheerleading programs primarily focus on competition. They normally compete on spring floors instead of carpet bonded foam floors. All Star programs usually participate in many competitions throughout the season. One All Star organization will have many teams organized by skill and age level. Levels go from one to six, increasing by difficulty. At the basic levels of All Star Cheerleading, no skills are required, but as difficulty increases additional tumbling and stunting skills may be required by some teams. For more information on All Star Cheerleading you can go to .
Professional cheerleading is centered on professional sports teams like football and basketball teams. These teams differ from the above types of cheerleading because their role is to support the sports team they represent. They do not compete and they tend to emphasize rhythmic movement instead of stunting and tumbling.
Performance cheerleading teams are groups of cheerleaders that work only for performances. These teams do not necessarily train to compete. They are normally founded on a mission like raising awareness for charitable causes. Performance cheerleading is a relatively new and growing genre of cheerleading, therefore the skill set required is not yet fully defined.
The answer is that it depends. Some programs treat it as a sport, others do not. It also depends on your definition of “sport.” Merriam-Webster defines a sport as "physical activity engaged in for pleasure." By this definition, cheerleading is indeed a sport.
In a recent lawsuit with Quinnipiac University, the NCAA stated that it does not recognize cheerleading as a sport or even an emerging sport. Traditional sports are built around competition, and competition is not the focus of most cheerleading programs.