The History of Cheerleading

Cheerleader Cornell University Postcard 1906

John E Campbell was the first cheerleader in November 2, 1898 at the University of Minnesota. Campbell was a medical student and began leading cheers in front of the crowd when the football team was going through a loosing streak. Minnesota won the game 17-6. Ten days later it was reported that a squad of yell-leaders was forming for the football game.
   Fun Fact: My name is Jasmine Campbell and John Campbell was born April, 3 1875 and I was born April 3, 1986.

Cheerleading Accidents Flying Under The Radar

   "There is a zero system for holding anyone accountable," said Kimberly Archie, the executive director of the California-based National Cheer Safety Foundation. "It's a self-governed, $2 billion industry with no regulations for a child's welfare. In football you can say X number of people died. Well, in cheerleading, it's hard to find any numbers at all because nobody has to report anything." Reported by the Dallas News. In Texas cheerleading is not considered a sport therefore it is not overseen by the University Interscholastic League. Safety regulations are ultimately up to the individual coordinator. In many cases it seems as though the athletes know more about the sport than the sponsors or coaches. I can vouch for that. Rule book and regulations are a great idea except they are rarely enforced unless the team is competing. Varsity the parent company of National Cheerleading Association and Universal Cheerleading Association which host multiple cheer camps over the summer throughout the country. Camps are a great idea they give squads the opportunity to bond, learn new stunts, practice techniques, most importantly teach participants and coaches safety techniques. Texas is not required to follow certifications put in place in other cities or states.

Cheerleading Risky Business

   KU's coach Mike Peterman says cheerleading is naturally hard on the body and feels that because athletes have to work jobs as well to pay for cheerleading many of the girls are exhausted which increases risk. Like most Division I schools cheerleading is not recognized as a sport therefore are provided little to no funding from the schools.

KU cheerleaders

    

After a KU cheerleader left a game on a stretcher the NCAA tightened regulations concerning safety and cheerleading.  KU cheerleaders point out that not only do the girls get hurt but so do the males in cheerleading. Male injuries are less catastrophic and more of an enduring injury such as muscle strains and bruises. The above picture(male) shows a bloody nose acquired during practice. Cheerleading has come second to football in claims filed with the NCAA totaling in $12 million dollars. NCAA insurance company has raised the deductible so coaches have increased their qualifications and set new limitations to add ease for the NCAA.  Live coverage video

In an article title "whats the point of cheerleading?" it raises the question if cheerleading has evolved too far from its roots and intended purpose. Cheerleading originated in the 1800's at a students attempt to arouse the crowd from the slump it was in. Cheerleading was started and meant to get the crowds interest and spirit involved in the game.  Now cheerleading involves stunting and gymnastics which is the cause of many of the catastrophic injuries in the sport.
     In Wisconsin, Supreme Court ruled cheerleading as a contact sport in that state to prevent law suits against schools,coaches, and other cheerleaders. I think the problem is although cheerleading squads originated to cheer on the team and crowd a spin off of school cheerleading has been created. All star cheerleading which is not meant for cheerleaders to cheer but rather to show off their athleticism by doing stunts,jumps, and tumbling. When cheerleaders for schools start doing what All Star cheerleaders do thats when a majority of the injuries will happen. It is hard to track the amount of injuries because the amount of cheerleaders is not recorded. Some researchers think that the number of injuries and visits to the emergency room may be a little bit more than other sports that have team doctors.
     As you can see there are many different levels of athleticism involved in cheerleading.

College

NFL Colts Cheerleading

'Helcats' Cheerleading Show

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

Hellcats is a T.V. show about competitive cheerleading team. The clip above is a trailer about the show. Ahley Tisdale from the Disney channel is the lead character. Tisdale describes the show as 'Bring it On' meets 'Friday Night Lights'. Tisdale also tells MTV cheerleaders do not take themselves lightly and it is hard work. She is having a blast filming the show.

Sport Science Cheerleading Vs. Football

Sport Science did a study to find out if a football hit has as much force as a cheerleader falling from stunt. The study involved NFL player Hassim Osgood tackling a crash dummy. The football hit had a force of 1,800 lbs. The study also used a crash dummy falling from 18 ft. in the air to measure the pressure of a cheerleader falling from the highest performed stunt a basket toss. The cheerleading dummy fell with a force of 2,000 lbs. The force of the fall is greater than the force of a football hit. The falling cheerleader is equal to the force of a Heavy Weight Rampage Jackson body slam. The highest recorded on Sports Science.

PR Tips for your own Cheerleading Gym

   In order to have a productive all star cheerleading gym many things need to happen to make that happen. The first most important thing is getting a turn out at your gym. Whether it is athletes trying out or other teams from schools/team, and individual open gym sessions. For people who are not familiar with cheerleading, paying for open gym sessions can get expensive. Cheerleaders go to open gym sessions for a one on one training with a coach to improve their skill typically tumbling(gymnastics).
  
    To get publicity for your gym there are many things you can do. Some ideas that Kentucky Elite uses are to have the members of the gym wear bright colored shirts that promote their gym, and every time they get seen with the shirt on in public they receive a free pass for an open gym session. Another tactic is to reach out to the public schools and the coaches of cheerleading to get those teams to use your gym for practice or specific training.
   
   The most convenient way is to reach out with social networks or through the media. Twitter, and Facebook are so popular and widely used it is a good way to get the word out about your gym. These networks leave room for conversations and comments which can make a huge difference. Also using the media especially the local media that looks for stories to cover.
    
    Of coarse advertising the normal way through magazine, penny savers, etc are always a good way to get the gym name out to the community.
 
Here is sample press release of an actual press release put out by Kentucky Elite CATS

Premier Athletics Kentucky

Singer Ciara as a Cheerleader

Ciara
"I loved cheerleading — dancing, the game, the excitement, the energy — just everything was fun about it to me," said Ciara.

The MTV show 'When I was 17' featured Singer/Artist Ciara which revealed she was a high school cheerleader. Ciara actually ended up becoming the captain of her cheerleading team.

"I was really excited when I was elected captain my senior year," Cici said, giddily reliving the memory. "It was big, like, 'OK, we in the house right now.' " Ciara enthuses to MTV.

Sneak Peak at episode 11'When I was 17'

MTV Shows

Girls, most dangerous Sport

           Fox News reports that two thirds of High School Catastrophic injuries for women come from cheerleading. Cheerleaders are gymnast but acquire many more injuries due to stunting. In the video above, it shows cheerleaders doing stunts which tosses the the cheerleader around 30 ft in the air. The fact that cheerleading is not recognized as a sport the data can be under reported, some schools consider cheerleading and activity or sport. Dr. Jake Deutsch from Hackensack University Medical Center tells Fox that cheerleading needs to be done in a controled environment, credited training, monitor children, and that regulations are in place. Cheerleading accounts for 65% of injuries in high school and 67% in college.

Booty Cheer

     Faylene Frampton a sixth grader from Nebraska tells the coach of her cheerleading team that she no longer feels comfortable doing a cheer that focuses the fans eyes on the athletes butts. The cheer is "jump shake your booty, jump shake your booty". The cheer does not have anything to do with football the sport the team cheers for but sometimes cheerleading is about getting the fans involved and not always about the sport that the cheerleaders are cheering for. Although, I don't think it is appropriate for young girls ranging from 5 yr old to 11 yr old to do a cheer that focuses the crowds eyes on the girls butts.

      There are alternatives to this problem. The cheer is telling the fans to shake their booty so if the moves are changed to take the staring off the butts it will eliminate both problems. However, no alternatives were attempted and after sharing her feelings with her coach she was off the team and the coach requested she apologize to the whole team for "disrespecting them". To me it seems as though there is something missing in the story, like the other side.

Faylene tells NBC Sports that she feels she made the right choice.

Cheerleading Safety Month

 All the years of being a cheerleader and a cheerleading coach i never knew that their was an actual cheerleading safety month. The month of March. Safety is the number one priority in cheerleading and should be with any sport. With injuries increasing every year in the sport many of the injuries come from common lack of knowledge of safety procedures and just knowing the skill set of the cheerleaders that are being coached and performing.  In the state of Florida coaches have to be certified and attend many safety seminars, I can not say the same for all the States. Even in Florida alone all the counties have their own rules on the level of difficulty with stunts and tumbling the members are allowed to perform. In Brevard County, FL the cheerleaders are not allowed to perform basket toss.  According to the National Center of Catastrophic Sport Injuries, research showed an dramatic amount of injuries over the last 20 years from 5,000 to 28,000 injuries. In the November 2009 Journal of Athletic Training published three studies that were done about cheerleading injuries. The study included fall related injuries, the type of team and events over the year, and the surfaces on which practice occurred. The studies showed that the softer the ground the better, no duh, and that stunts are dangerous and the harder the levels(less regulations) the more injuries. For more exact statistics check out the Journal of Athletic Training. I myself tore more ACL and Meniscus in my knee making me have arthroscopic knee surgery from cheerleading.

For more safety tips you can visit National Cheer and Safety and Parents Guide to Cheerleading Safety

Former Cheerleader, Current NFL quarterback (Quinn Porter)

        Pom-Poms is his nickname. Quinn Porter is his real name.
Porter was just signed by NFL Washington Redskins as a Running back. He cheered at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, AL. He never intended on cheering when he went to orientation but after being approached by to girls and offered scholarship money Porter jumped on board. Being on the sideline gave him the chance to study the offense as well as keep in shape and learn cool flips, not to mention tossing up cheerleaders. Porter is now on the Redskins but was previously with the Green Bay Packers. I love a man that can do both!

pictures from yahoosports.com

For more on Quinn Porter.

Cheerleading Bloopers!!

Bloopers!!! Everybody loves Bloopers!!!  There are many cheerleading falls, tumbles, and unsyncrinized routines. I wanted to blog and post some funny falls, but none that any athlete is seriously injured.
 If a routine is not rehearsed well enough to perform either water it down or take our the girl on the end who clearly missed a few practices.

One fall in a routine is bad, but two is even worse.

I'm not sure what happened to the girl in this flip but it looks like her feet slipped. Either way it looked painful. OOooohhhChhhhh!!!!!

I cant tell if this is real but it looks awesome. I cant help but to think of how her head made it through, but if you watch after the flip she is holding her head like it hits the rim. That is what i call a "slam dunk".

What are they thinking?? A human cheerleading field goal. I hope their kicker made it through the post better than they did.

The dancing is horrible and am I the only one who notices that they keep repeating the same moves over and over. This ends like "ring around the posey" "they all fall down". Word of advice for fliers, never grab onto another teammate when falling because as this video shows it will just bring down the whole pyramid.


This is just funny. I'm sure the idea is that they all do back tucks while still holding each other in a line. Brandon Allstars are Awesome, Ive seen them in person.

This routine is at Cheersport in Atlanta, Georgia which is one of the hardest competitions because of how many teams register in every division. In 2004 I was on Miami Elite and we took first place at this competition. This routine shows how great Brandon Allstars are but a routine is never perfect. At about 1 min and 30 sec a boy falls during the tumbling sequence, and as always trained in cheerleading the team will keep performing around the injured athlete. With or without him.

Cheerleaders Outraged Over Uniforms!!!!!

A couple Connecticut high school cheerleaders went to the School Board in an outrage over their cheerleading uniforms. The cheerleaders complaints are that the uniforms expose their midriffs and as a Connecticut Post reports another cheerleader felt uncomfortable in the uniform and lessened her self esteem.  The Daily News reports that assistant superintendent Denise Clemons backs the uniforms because, the school has ordered black body suits to wear under their uniforms.

My opinion is that wearing the uniforms increases their self esteem because no matter how you look in your uniform, the cheerleader usually feels a sense of belonging to a team or something greater/important. If cheerleaders want to be considered athletes than they have to also look at the sports that the athletes wear less than the cheerleaders such as gymnastics, swimming, ballet/dance.

San Francisco State University coach faces embezzlement charges!!

In  September Ashely Haley, 23, the Cheerleading Coach at San  Francisco State University is facing embezzlement charges. Haley is accused of embezzling close to $22,000 from the team. She can possibly be charged with 12 counts of grand theft, 16 false pretense with money, and one count of embezzlement. Haley has pleaded not guilty to the San Francisco Supreme Court. Haley allegedly collected money from the cheerleaders and used it for personal uses such as, trip, .rent, clothing, food, etc.

Local Bay area news KTVU reports live.
If Haley is convicted guilty, I find that very disturbing. Haley wasn't a hired coach she was a member herself. Her stealing from her own teammates is just a shame. College life is hard enough financially and to be stolen from can really set anybody back.

On a Fun Tip: Online Cheerleading Games

So most of my blogs so far have been on a serious/controversial side. I figured i would post a blog that was a little more fun, especially for cheerleaders. I saw a preview for a new wii game that is a cheerleading game, and it got me thinking if there were any online games. I found a couple games but one really stood out to me as  relatively accurate Spirit Fever . Although it could be improved as far as directions, helps and tips to figure out the game.

This is a character from the game. You can pick hair color,eye color, skin color, outfits, etc and even buy different outfits, as well as win trophies.

This game allowed the coach(the user) to hold tryouts and train the squad in areas such as stunting, dancing, jumps, fundraising, and tumbling.






Another online game Highschool Cheerleader gives you the ability to play one or two player mode which is nice. However, to me it is a lot like Dance, Dance, Revolution. Arrows move across the screen and the player has to mimic the arrows and create the dance moves.

Cheerleading is a Sport!!!!!

Basket Toss

I want to start by saying Thank You to Leif-Herald Nesheim who wrote Cheerleading-As-a-Sport-and-Its-Dangers. It is nice to see other people out there who talk in favor of cheerleading as a sport. I'm hoping that this blog will help put the word out and give some people a better understanding of what it really means to be a cheerleader. Cheerleading is dangerous for many reasons. Girls are thrown 20ft in the air in stunts called basket toss. Cheerleading is also dangerous because coach's lack knowledge and safety tips. Gymnastics is a part of cheerleading which also increases the dangers.


                                    

Court Ruling: Cheerleading a federal gender equity requirements of a Title IX sport.

Many Universities have been struggling with court rulings on whether or not cheerleading is considered a sport. The court ruling in Connecticut that cheerleading does not meet requirements as a Title IX sport.  Even at high school levels safety issues and securities leave cheerleading in a gray area. Some schools consider cheerleading a  club rather than a sport. Some groups like USA cheer are pushing to establish cheerleading as a sport recognized by the NCAA. This Sports Illustrated  article brings up some good points and concerns about making cheerleading recognized by the NCAA and how it differs from Gymnastics. One problem is that cheerleading competitions do not all have the same rules and regulations. Every competition has different levels of difficulties allowed. I have competed in many competitions and it would make it easier on the teams if there were the same rules and regualtions across the board. Every competition we had to change our routine to either spice it up or water it down to meet the regulations in the division your team is put in to. In example, one competion would allow team standing back tucks, but a different competition didn't allow team standing back tucks.

Famous People/Leaders, former cheerleaders

On cheerleading.about.com list several past leaders and famous people who have been cheerleaders. Some people on the list include:



Aaron Spelling
T.V. producer




George W. Bush
Philips Academy Andover, MA



\

                                         

Dwight D. Eisenhower



Actress Sally Field



Samuel L. Jackson

           

Actor Michael Douglas

There are many more leaders and celebrities who were previous cheerleaders so for more details about the above cheerleaders and other cheerleaders use the link at the top of the blog. To my surprise there are many male cheerleaders that are an older generation. I wasnt under the impression that male cheerleaders have been around for a long time. Even i learn new things about cheerleading.

Cheerleading Injuries/Deaths

This article cheerleading injuries in high school and collegiate settings holds some interesting facts about cheerleading how and when it started and statistics of participants as well as injuries. Being a cheerleader the statistics do not surprise me.

In Memory:

Lauren Chang was a cheerleader from Worcester, Mass who died during a cheerleading performance, after being kicked in the chest. Below is a video of a tribute performance put on by her teamates.


In Memory:

Ashley Burns died from a lacerated spleen after falling from a stunt. I dont agree with suing the cheerleading gym for her death. It is an accident and it is just as dangerous as any other sport.

Tactful or Tasletless Cheer?

Kennedy Tesch is a 6 yr old girl who was kicked off her cheerleading squad after her mom complained about the words of a cheer.

I have always known this cheer to be 'My back aches, my skirts too tight, and my hips shake from left to right'. Different parents feel their kids are allowed to be exposed to different things at different ages. I have never been on a team that approved of this cheer. I don't think it was ever brought up as a legit cheer. People have forgotten the whole point of having cheerleaders at a game, or event is to 'cheer for a team'. That cheer no matter how the words have changed it still has nothing to do with supporting a team or the squad itself. It is still important to keep in mind the job that cheerleaders are there to do, entertain and support, but to do it in a tactful way.
The little girl is going to be the only one suffering from this drama. The coach kicked her off a team over something she couldn't control. Sports are about the kids and nobody at the school or the team seems to be thinking about the kids and how being kicked off might change her views on this sport forever.  Any organization that doesn't think possible inappropriate cheers are a problem, and follow it up with expelling the athlete from the team, find a different team with better role models. 

South Florida Cheerleading Competitions

Cheerleaders, and Cheerleading fans,
It is that time of year......cheerleading season.  With the winter coming up it means competition season is nearing.  South Florida is home to many cheerleading competitions. Check out the links below and possibly find the one that is best for your squad.

South Florida Fair
FIU

And here are some other cheerleading competitions in Florida.

Jacksonville---
Clash of the Titans

Orlando---
Disney:contest of champions
High School-Disney
Universal Studios

Multiple Cities---
Jacksonville, Orlando, Daytona
Jacksonville and Orlando

Cheerleading a Sport? Debate

After reading the article Cheerleading a Sport? Spare me,please written by Gary Stein from the Sun-Sentinel. I had to discuss how wrong and uneducated he is about cheerleading.

Competitive Cheerleading- Cheerleaders from different teams compete against eachothers scores on their performance, level of difficulty, spacing, voices, creativity, sharpness, etc.
Competitive cheerleaders can be on allstar teams, high school, recreation league, middle school, elementary school, and college. Cheerleading has evolved throughout time just like every other sport. Every generation the skills become more advanced and cheerleaders are able to do things that were never imaginable with the human body. Even the looks and gender of cheerleaders have changed.



For people who do not think that what these athletes do in this video is a sport your wrong. Nothing in this routine is easy or simple.
To Mr. Gary Stein if you think cheerleading is so easy and simple maybe you should try and do it for one day or find any athlete that you know and see if they think cheerleading is easy or simple.

INTRO

Hello,
     My name is Jasmine Campbell and this is my blog about cheerleading, especially the debate about cheerleading being a sport or not. I cheered for many years for my middle school team East Millbrook in Raleigh,NC then for Boca Jets rec league in Florida, Spanish River High School, and Boca Allstars and Miami Elite allstars. I have also coached boca jets for multiple years and West Boca High school. I hope you enjoy my blog.