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.
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) is a collegiate athletic conference, mostly consisting of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). CIAA institutions affiliate at the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
A dance squad or dance team, sometimes called a pom squad or song team, is a team of participants that participates in competitive dance. In a routine, a squad will incorporate a specific dance style, technical work, and, depending on the routine, pom-poms and/or cheers. A pom squad slightly differs from a regular dance squad in that it uses pom-poms in all its dance routines, whilst a regular dance squad may or may not do pom work in a dance routine. Dance teams are also popular in performance dance, especially at sporting events, most commonly performing during the pre-game and halftime periods of football and basketball games. A dance team can also include: a jazz team, ballet team or any kind of religion dance team. Dance is a highly competitive activity. Youth/association, middle school, high school, collegiate, all-star, and professional teams, compete on local, regional, state, national, and international levels. Teams are judged on a number of criteria including form, team unison, showmanship, precision of motions, jumps, leaps, turns, choreography, enthusiasm, and, in the case of pom squads, visual use of poms-poms. Pom squads are like cheerleading or dance, but they use poms (pom-poms). Pom squads also use kicklines in their routines, after they set down their poms, or choose to hold them during the kickline. A kickline routine is a routine of kicks, which cheerleaders also use: high kicks, fan kicks, low kicks, and kicks that go to their waist. Pom squads regularly compete in competitions and perform at sporting events.
National Football League Cheerleading, or simply NFL Cheerleading, is a group of professional cheerleading organizations in the United States. 25 of the 32 NFL teams include a cheerleading squad in their franchise. Cheerleaders are a popular attraction that can give a team more coverage/airtime, popular local support, and increased media image. In 1954, the Baltimore Colts became the first NFL team to have cheerleaders. They were part of Baltimore's Marching Colts.
Bring It On: In It to Win It is a 2007 American Cheerleading teen comedy film directed by Steve Rash and starring Ashley Benson, Cassandra Scerbo and Michael Copon.
Cheer Athletics is one of the largest All-Star cheerleading programs in the United States, with thousands of athletes competing on 80+ teams from Plano, TX, Austin, TX, Frisco, TX, Charlotte, NC, Columbus, OH, Pittsburgh, PA, Denver, CO, St. Louis, Rochester, NY, Pensacola, FL and, Dallas, TX. Cheer Athletics have won 24 World Championships at The Cheerleading Worlds sponsored by the USASF.
The U.S. All Star Federation (USASF) is the governing body for all star cheerleading and dance in the United States. The USASF was founded in December 2003 by cheerleading competition sponsors National Cheerleaders Association, Universal Cheerleaders Association, Cheersport, and America's Best to develop a standard set of safety rules and competition regulations and conduct the Cheerleading Worlds.
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 19 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 6 time International Champions, 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.
All Star Cheer Squad is a rhythm video game developed by Gorilla Systems for the Wii and Nintendo DS. It was released on October 27, 2008.
Cheerleading is a sport that is practiced all throughout the world, recently studies have showed increasing popularity in the United Kingdom. It has been noted that 'Great Britain's newfound success and passion for the sport is helping change perceptions throughout the country and the world.' The Olympic Channel produced an original 10 minute film following an English Cheerleading Team as an example of the increasing momentum of competitive cheerleading within the UK, and how the ongoing debate about its legitimacy of a sport is slowly diminishing, as well as an example of the increasing international aspect of the sport
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. Kiara 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 currently is on the acrobatic gymnastics team at Baylor University.
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.
The National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) was established as a way to bring cheerleaders together to learn new skills. From 151 on the NCA held summer camps, and is credited with the invention of the herkie jump, the pom pom and being the first uniform manufacturer.
Mary Maddison "Maddie" Gardner is an American news reporter, who was also an internationally recognized Allstar Cheerleader. She was the point flyer for the Senior Large All Girls Level 5 competitive cheerleading team Senior Elite of the Cheer Extreme Allstars from 2006-2012, winning the gold medal at the Cheerleading Worlds in 2010 and 2012.
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. It is hosted by the U.S. All Star Federation in partnership with the International All Star Federation, the global organization of professionals and athletes involved in a club or All Star Cheer. Teams from around the world compete each year to receive a Bid to worlds. It is many cheerleaders dream to compete on the worlds floor The competition is held in Orlando, Florida at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in April or May and is a three-day event consisting of preliminary competitions, semi finals and finals. The first Cheerleading Worlds took place in 2004, and have recurred annually with the exception of the 2020 World Championships, which were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The National Dance Alliance (NDA), originally named NCA Superstar, was established in 1999. NDA is the sister company of the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA), which was founded by Lawrence Herkimer in 1948. In 1976, NCA created NCA Superstar to make a distinction between the dance and cheerleading aspects of the company. Eventually in 1999, NCA Superstar changed its name to the National Dance Alliance.
In Australia, competitive cheerleading is a rapidly growing sport.
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).
