Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to entertain the audience, or for competition. Cheerleading routines typically range anywhere from one to three minutes, and contain components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting. Cheerleading originated in the United States, where it has become a tradition. It is less prevalent in the rest of the world, except via its association with American sports or organized cheerleading contests.
The UAAP Cheerdance Competition is an annual one-day event of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines for cheerdancing. The sequence of the performance are determined by drawing of lots prior the competition.
National Football League Cheerleading or simply NFL Cheerleading, is a group of professional cheerleading organizations in the United States. 24 of the 32 NFL teams include a cheerleading squad in their franchise. In 1954, the Baltimore Colts became the first NFL team to have cheerleaders. They were part of Baltimore's Marching Colts.
Cheer Athletics is one of the largest All-Star cheerleading programs in the United States, with thousands of athletes competing on 80+ teams from Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Frisco, Texas; Omaha, Nebraska; Pensacola, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Plano, Texas; Rochester, New York; Rockwall, Texas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Telford, England. Cheer Athletics has won 24 World Championships at The Cheerleading Worlds sponsored by the USASF.
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Spirit Squads comprise the cheerleading organization at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. Being the first program ever to form worldwide, the University of Minnesota is consequently considered the "Birthplace of Cheerleading". Today, the Gopher Spirit Squads consist of four separate squads: a cheer squad, a dance team, a hockey cheer squad, and the school's mascot, Goldy Gopher. The squads consistently perform well at national competitions including 21 national championships in dance since 2003, a 2nd-place finish for All-Girl in 2013, a fifth-place finish in 2017, and four-time national champion Goldy Gopher in 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2018. The current head coach is Sam Owens.
World Cup All Stars, founded by Elaine Pascale and Joelle Antico, is home to the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2017, and 2019 USASF Cheerleading Worlds champions in the Large Senior All Girl division, the World Cup Shooting Stars. In the International Junior All Girl division, the World Cup Starlites are the 2007 and 2008 World Champions. World Cup was founded in 1994 in Freehold, New Jersey by owner Elaine Pascale and her daughter Joelle Antico. World Cup is one of the most respected all-star programs in the U.S.
The National Cheerleading Championship, commonly known as NCC, is the Philippines’ first and oldest National cheerleading competition. The annual competition, which started in 2006, is modeled after U.S. competitive cheerleading competitions.
Cheerleading is a sport that is practised all throughout the world, with increasing popularity within the United Kingdom. Cheerleading has over 89,000 athletes within the United Kingdom, with just over 900 teams in England alone, with the newfound success and passion of UK based teams on the international stage helping to change perceptions within the region. Teams from the United Kingdom have gained international recognition, with the Olympic Channel producing a 10 minute short documentary following United Allstars' team Ruby to highlight the increase momentum of competitive cheerleading within the United Kingdom.
Kiara Nowlin is an American gymnast, World Champion power tumbler and an internationally ranked Cheerleader. She was a part of the 2007 World Age Games held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (WAG) Gold Medalist in Tumbling, the 2008 and 2009 USAG Winter Classic First Place Tumbler, and the 2009 USASF Gold Medal Young Athlete Merit Scholarship Recipient. She was at the 2009 World Age Games held in St. Petersburg, Russia, gold medalist in tumbling and gold medalist in double-mini trampoline. Nowlin also competed for the California Allstars in the Small Senior Co-Ed division (Smoed) and competed in the Unlimited Co-Ed division, and has won three U.S. All Star Federation Cheerleading Worlds Gold medals with her team. She was on the acrobatic gymnastics team at Baylor University from 2013 to 2017.
Varsity Spirit, LLC, also known as Varsity, is an American cheerleading company owned by Varsity Brands. Founded in 1974 as the Universal Cheerleaders Association, the company is a manufacturer of apparel for cheerleading and dance teams, organizer of cheerleading competitions, and operator of training camps and sanctioning bodies.
Cheer Extreme Allstars is a branch of cheerleading and competition dance gyms found throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Illinois, Florida and Virginia. Cheer Extreme is most well known for its Small Senior and Large Senior teams, which received numerous national titles and have ranked in the Cheerleading Worlds competitions, with Cheer Extreme Senior Elite winning the first-place title in 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2023. At the 2015 Cheerleading Worlds, Cheer Extreme's Coed Elite won first place. Also at the 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2021 Cheerleading Worlds, Cheer Extreme's SSX won first place. Cheer Extreme has over 850 National Champion titles.
JAMfest Super Nationals is one of the biggest competitions that JAMfest Cheer and Dance offers. This competition has been held in Indianapolis, Indiana since 1999 inside the Indiana Convention Center, where this event has been and will be held until 2020. This event is planned around the second or third weekend in January and is a two-day competition. The first day of competing is worth 25% of your total score and the second and final day is worth the other 75% of your score. For the last 5 years there have been over 400 cheerleading teams that have attended and competed and those teams have come from over twenty states and two countries. This event is one of the biggest steps for All Star Cheerleaders and can hopefully land them a bid to The Cheerleading Worlds. The Cheerleading Worlds is the "final destination" in an All Star Cheerleaders life. It is where they show everything they have in two minute and thirty seconds in hopes of becoming World Champions. The day before JAMfest Super Nationals actually starts, another competition is held for certain elite teams from all over. This smaller competition is only a one day event, and your team must be invited to compete. This one day event is known as the Majors and the teams that compete in it, are classified as "the best of the best".
The University of North Carolina has run cheerleading teams since 1914, performing at Tar Heels sports events. They have frequently participated in cheerleading competitions at the national level. Currently there are two teams: JV and Varsity.
The International Cheer Union (ICU) is the worldwide sports governing body of cheerleading and was founded in 2004. It is recognized by SportAccord / Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF), and is a member of the Association of IOC Recognised International Sports Federations (ARISF). Its membership includes 116 national cheer federations on all continents - reaching over 5 million athletes globally.
The Cheerleading Worlds, or Cheerleading World Championships, colloquially known as "Worlds", is an annual international championship event for competitive cheerleading held in the United States hosted by the U.S. All Star Federation in partnership with the International All Star Federation. Teams from around the world annual to receive a bid to go on and compete in Orlando, Florida, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports. The event is typically held across a three-day span in April or May, featuring preliminary competitions, semi-finals and finals. Only level 5, 6 and 7 cheerleading teams with bids from regional and national competitions are eligible to participate, being offered a "paid" bid covering all expenses up to $25,000, or an "at-large" bid which does not cover any costs. Around 9000 athletes from around 40 countries compete annually, with routines being judged on difficulty, execution, creativity and overall composition. The top teams from each round advance, with the winners in each of the 22 divisions receiving championship rings.
Cheerleading is a recognized sport in Japan that requires physical strength and athletic ability. Cheerleading is available at the junior high school, high school, collegiate, club, and all-star level. Teams can either be all female or coed featuring males and females.
In Australia, competitive cheerleading is a minor sport, seeing over a 10,000% increase in athlete participation between 2000 and 2022. This growth happened through a 15–20% increase in participation each year between 2006 and 2016.
Jeff Webb is an American entrepreneur and business executive primarily focused on the development of cheerleading. He is the founder of the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) and Varsity Spirit. He is the founder and current president of the International Cheer Union, the world governing body of the sport of cheerleading, as well as founder and chairman of The New American Populist.
Cheer is an American sport television docuseries airing on Netflix starting in January 2020. The six-part series follows the nationally ranked forty-member Navarro College Bulldogs Cheer Team from Corsicana, Texas, under the direction of coach Monica Aldama, as they prepare to compete in the National Cheerleading Championship held annually in Daytona Beach, Florida. The episodes focus especially on five individual Cheer Team members and include elements of the history of cheerleading, including the formation of the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA).
