It has been argued that you can’t go “Pro” in cheerleading. This is not true, Cheerleading has a team that is made up of the best cheerleaders in the world. This team is called team USA. Team USA goes and competes in what is called “Worlds” and cheerleading teams from all over the world come to compete against each other. Team USA competes against teams like China, Puerto Rico, Mexico and teams from all over the world. If you are on team USA you are considered a pro cheerleader.

Cheerleaders on team USA are hand selected from all over the country to represent the team of America. These cheerleaders are the most elite cheerleaders of the country and have a large expectation of them to make the team. Cheering for team USA is considered a huge honor especially now that cheerleading is in the olympics. The University of Kentucky is the team that will be competing in the olympics to represent America.

Cheerleaders will now be able to receive gold medals along side other olympic athletes. Most of the University of Kentucky’s cheerleaders are on team USA because The University of Kentucky has the most elite cheerleaders out of all the college teams in the country. Every year they win a National Championship as the best college co-ed cheerleading team. Down below I am going to display the videos of the routines to both the University of Kentucky and Team USA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXdA8XxdQoA

The Bring It On movies were created to give an inside look on what it’s like to be a cheerleader. Although I do enjoy watching these movies, they did not depict what it’s really like in real life. Throughout these movies, the cheerleaders regularly wear their cheer uniform to school and that is something that just doesn’t happen in real life. These films depict cheerleaders as the snobby rich girls who are unkind to others. In real life not every cheerleader is snobby nor rich, they are just normal teenage girls apart of a team that becomes family.

Another difference between movies and reality are the “Head Cheerleader” roles. In real life, we have coaches that are in charge of us and they are the ones who call the shots. The films make it seem as though the head cheerleader is the one in charge of the team and the one who makes all the decisions for the team. This is not the case, we do have girls on the team who take on the role of a head cheerleader but her job is to simply uplift the team and be a good example for them, not be in charge of them.

The bring it on films focused primarily on the stereotypes of cheerleaders, in the films they depict the cheerleaders the way society depicts them, snobby, pretty, rich, and thin. Unfortunately, this is not the case for every cheerleader… There is a TV series on Netflix that gives a perfect example of what it’s actually like to be a cheerleader. The TV series is called Cheer Squad and it’s about an All-Star competitive team in Canada who have amazing talent. Down below I am adding a video from the TV series that represent real life challenges in cheerleading, Enjoy!

Something you may not know is how large competition is in the cheer world. Not only are they competing against other teams, they are competing against their teammates. In cheer, it is vital you are always progressing skill levels to make sure you are in lead parts of the routine. The thing about cheerleading is that there are spots in the routine where some girls may be stuck doing the crappier parts of the routine when in most cases want to be avoided. There are roles such as “Head Flyer” or “Head Base” that most cheerleaders strive to take on. By being the leader of these positions you are most likely to be in all the important parts of the routine.

The competition is constant, these athletes are working persistently to withhold their positions or replace other girls in the routine. There is absolutely no room for slacking in cheer, once you feel like you have room to relax, another person sees an opportunity to come and take your spot. There is always room for improvement, there is no such thing as the “Perfect” cheerleader. There is so much pressure when it comes to keeping your lead spot, no matter if you’re a veteran on the team rookies can come in and bring more to the table than you can and your positions will automatically be given to whoever will help the team be the best it can be.

Cheerleading is considered to be one of the most dangerous sports for a female to be in. Cheerleading is at risk for concussions and dreadful injuries it is voted above football for the most dangerous sport. Something that causes cheerleading to be the most dangerous sport is the fact that cheerleader try and progress too fast before they are ready. It is vital for a cheerleader to have close to perfect technique in oder to avoid injury, with that being said everyone is far from being perfect. Cheerleading involves throwing people in the air which you could imagine can be very dangerous.

Some coaches took a stand on taking away some of the most dangerous stunts to take a protective stance to protect the cheerleaders. By doing this, it would take away the concept of competitive cheer and push cheerleading back into game time cheerleading. Cheerleading injuries can affect all the areas of the body, wrists, ankles, ACL’s,MCL’s, and head are the most common injuries. Because stunting can cause the most injuries 96 percent of concussions and head injuries is caused from stunting.

Restrictions have been put in place for the wellness of the cheerleaders, they must keep the pyramid at one level with several people spotting all around to assure the top girl will not hit the ground. Mats must ALWAYS be used during practice because in cheerleading injuries are more common during practice than they are at a competition.

Below are some clips of some insane injuries that have occurred during practice or a competition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4uFKatMozEhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCuENgsQBYY

Cheerleading requires more dedication and commitment than most people realize .

Something that is not mentioned about cheerleading is the amount of hours you spend in the gym. It is a given that any sports you are in you spend a lot of time practicing, cheerleading unlike the rest of the sports has no off season. Tryouts happen around April and the final competition is the last weekend and March. This means cheerleaders have only a couple of weeks to rest before their season starts up again. When competition season comes around, they’re having practices up to three times a day. Cheerleaders spend more time at the gym practicing than they do with their actual families.

Being a cheerleader includes a huge commitment to the team, although every team requires commitment cheerleaders are not able to put on a performance without every single team member. Some teams are still able to play games with players missing, that doesn’t happen with cheerleading. Every single person on the team is needed to put on a performance. Missing practices without a logical excuse is not acceptable without punishment.

The difference between being a School and All-star cheerleader.

I’m sure many of you have not realized that there are two different types of cheerleading out there. In the cheerleading world, there are many differences in School and All-star cheerleading. All-Star cheerleaders are a very competitive team that travels almost every weekend to compete in competitions all over the world. School cheerleaders are at every game cheering for their school team and only competing at one major competition. They are not required to compete where as All-Stars only compete.

For All-Star cheering it all begins at the age of five years old, that is the age you’re able to join your first mini team. The reason all-star cheerleaders tend to be more competitive is because they have been able to start at such a young age. They develop a great experience with performing which grows with them for all the years they put into cheerleading. They tend to spend almost all of their time in the gym practicing for their next competition, most teams compete every week.

School cheerleaders spend most of their time practicing sideline cheers and routines for cheering games. They are at every school function such as pep rally’s and basketball/football games. They are supporting their school teams and representing the school they are from. At the end of each school year, there is a State competition they are able to compete in with other teams throughout the state. This competition is a major competition for some teams who like to be competitive. Competing for a State Championship is a great way to represent where they’re from and their school. Here are two separate links that demonstrate an All-Star competition and a school competition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHl0JsVUwJY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhAXDtayrAY

Hello Everyone!

My name is Alyia, I have been a cheerleader since I was 5 years old. Cheerleading has always been one of my favorite topics of discussion being that it was my life for so long and I know so much about it. Something I find myself doing so often while discussing cheerleading is defending this sport that I love so much. There has been this controversy for as long as I can remember, whether or not cheerleading is considered a sport. Throughout this course I am hopeful that i can provide you all with information of why I believe cheerleading IS and SHOULD be considered a sport to everyone.

Being that I was a cheerleader for 16 years of my life, I am going to share with you experiences of being both a competitive and school cheerleader because there is a tremendous difference between the two that most people have no idea about. Each week of my blog I am going to be sharing with you all videos of everything that cheerleading entails, all the ins and outs of being a competitive cheerleader, and facts that will help proof cheerleading meets ALL of the athletic specifications. Here is a link to a video that demonstrates just how athletic cheerleaders are capable of being. I hope you all enjoy and are back next week for a better insight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYWmBcHwbs

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton