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 Minnesota Golden Gophers are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Ten Conference.
YoUDee is a mascot of the University of Delaware, along with Lil Blue. It is an anthropomorphic "fighting Blue Hen", and its species is the blue hen, as the state bird of Delaware. While YoUDee appears masculine and can have male or female performers, it is "officially androgynous", "neither female or male".
Goldy Gopher is the mascot for the University of Minnesota and the associated sports teams, known as the Golden Gophers, as well as the 2011, 2013, 2017, and 2018 UCA Mascot National Champion. During the year, Goldy makes over 1000 appearances and is at virtually all home games for University teams, usually wearing the appropriate sporting attire. The mascot is based on the thirteen-lined ground squirrel, colloquially referred to as a “gopher” in Minnesota.
A dance squad or dance team, sometimes called a pom squad or song team, is a team that participates in competitive dance. A dance squad can also include: a jazz squad, ballet squad, or any kind of religion dance squad. Dance squads are a type of performance dance.
Cheerleader Nation is a reality television series based on the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School cheerleading team's ups and downs on the way to Nationals, of which they are the three-time champions. The show also explains how cheerleading is an intense physical activity. It takes place in Lexington, Kentucky. The team is on a quest to win a third national championship. It was broadcast on the channel Lifetime.
The Universal Cheerleaders Association Division I-A College Championships were first introduced in 1978 on CBS Sports. Top cheerleading teams from colleges across the U.S. and foreign countries perform routines consisting of gymnastics, partner stunts, dance moves, pyramids and high-tosses called basket tosses. The championship is split into large co-ed, small coed and all-girl divisions, with large co-ed being the most prestigious of the three. The University of Kentucky has won the most co-ed championships with 25 national titles. The University of South Florida won the most recent co-ed event in 2023, making it three championships in a row for the Bulls. The 2023 all-girl competition was won by Western Kentucky University, their second title in three years. Only four teams have ever won consecutive championships in UCA Division I-A history. The University of Kentucky has done it five times. The Wildcats first accomplished this in 1987-1988 and, most recently, from 2016 to 2019. The other cheerleading squads to achieve consecutive championships are the University of South Florida (2021-2023), NC State (1990-1991) and Ohio State University (1981-1983). The competition is run by Varsity Spirit.
Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team is an American reality television series that premiered in 2006 on CMT. The series follows the auditioning process and the forming of the Dallas Cowboys' annual Cheerleading squad. The series features director Kelli McGonagill Finglass and choreographer Judy Trammell.
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. 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.
Thomas Peebles was the father of American cheerleading and the first college football coach at the University of Minnesota, in 1883. Peebles coached the team in three games in that early season. They lost two and won one.
The U.S. All Star Federation (USASF) is one of the four main governing bodies 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.
Newton C. Loken was an artistic gymnast and coach of gymnastics, trampolining and cheerleading. While a member of the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's gymnastics team, Loken was NCAA all-around gymnastics champion in 1942 and the Big Ten Conference all-around champion in 1941 and 1942. He was the coach of the University of Michigan gymnastics team for 36 years from 1948-1983. Loken's gymnasts won the NCAA championships in 1963 and 1970, as well as 12 Big Ten championships. His record as Michigan's gymnastics coach was 250-72-1. Loken also coached the Michigan trampolining team to NCAA championships in 1969 and 1970.
Several Green Bay Packers cheerleading squads have performed in Green Bay Packers' history. The Packers became one of the first professional football teams to have a cheerleading squad, having first used cheerleaders in 1931. The squad performed for 57 years under three separate names. In 1988, it was decided that the team would cease having a professional squad cheer for them. Since 1988, the team uses collegiate squads in a limited role to cheer during home games.
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 US National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) was established as a way to bring cheerleaders together to learn new skills. Since 1951, the NCA has held summer camps, and is credited with the invention of the herkie jump, the pom pom, the spirit stick and being the first uniform manufacturer.
Memphis Pom is a collegiate dance team from the University of Memphis. The team has won 15 national titles.
Laura Lynette Vikmanis is an American dietitian, personal trainer, and dancer who was a professional cheerleader for the Cincinnati Ben–Gals, the cheerleading squad of the Cincinnati Bengals. She was the oldest cheerleader in National Football League history, at 40 years of age when she joined in 2009. She is also a co-author of the book It's Not About the Pom-Poms.
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.
Radical cheerleading is a performative style of political activism, derived from mainstream cheerleading. Radical cheerleading combines elements of peaceful protest or non-violent direct action with theatrical elements including costuming, spectacle and choreographed dance. Radical cheerleading was created by sisters Cara Jennings, Aimee Jennings and Coleen Jennings in Miami, Florida, USA in 1996. It grew to become an international movement with squads in the United States, Canada and the European Union. Radical cheerleaders create and adapt cheers that promote feminism and left-wing ideals.
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.
