Is cheerleading a sport? This is a question that many people ask, and when they ask this question, the most common answer is no. I 100% disagree with that. Cheerleading is one of the most difficult, time consuming and dangerous sports one can participate in. I have been cheering since I was 14 years old and have never regretted the decision to make sacrifices for this sport and my team.
There are many components to competitive cheerleading. The stunting, tossing, cartwheeling, jumping, and dancing sections are some of the most important parts that make up a routine. All of these sections are scored for technique, quantity, difficulty, and creativity. Most people will ask, “How do we maximize our score in a routine?” Simple enough, there are usually charts online that tell you how many people you need to participate in each section to maximize your team’s score.
Stunting is when one person (usually known as a fly girl or higher) is held in the air by 3 or less other people (known as bases), when stunting the bases must find a creative way to get the girl into the air and then just catch her feet. This usually means that the flyer will have to turn or flip from the ground to get to the top of the trick with the help of her bases launching her up. This can be the most dangerous part of cheerleading if the guards and flyer are not properly trained. The flyer must know how to control her body and her bases must be able to catch the flyer as she twists and turns when climbing up or down from a stunt.
As we come to the tumbling section, many people need to understand the mental and physical strength that goes into this specific part of cheerleading. Tumbling is what you see at the Olympics when the gymnasts are twirling all over the place in their floor routines. While cheerleaders and gymnasts make this look easy, it takes a long time to acquire all of these important skills for the team you’re on. A good example of a team maxing out their high-level tumbling abilities is Top Gun: TGLC.
Tosses are almost like stunting, except the goal of a toss is to launch the flyer as high as you can in the air and then catch it on the way down. While the girl is between 10 and 15 feet in the air, she must kick, spin, or flip, depending on the level at which she competes on the team she is on. The bases should focus on the girl who is in the air the whole time as she does her spins, kicks and somersaults while there are bright lights shining on the stage shining in her eyes. Everyone needs to make sure they do their job because if the flyer misses a base and they don’t catch it, if the bases look the other way or get distracted, the flyer hits the ground and can be seriously injured.
For the 2017-2018 cheerleading season, at least 75% of the athletes on the team must perform 2 jump jumps with an additional jump or 3 jump jump jumps to maximize their score. Jumps require the cheerleader to jump off the ground and hit a position with her legs. Jumps are my biggest problem because they require a lot of time and hip flexor strength to get to the right height. Depending on the level of the team, some of these athletes even have to add a tumbling pass connected to a jump.
Dance is where most teams will get super creative. This is usually at the end of a routine and only lasts about 15 seconds. The trainers will go step by step and section by section to make sure that every movement and movement is done at the exact moment it is supposed to. Most teams will incorporate hip-hop or other dance styles to give the end of their routine some flair and sass.
Most people don’t realize how much work goes into a cheerleading routine. For the entire 2 minutes and 30 seconds, these athletes are focused and committed to this routine. Just like football or baseball, they spend hours upon hours in the gym working on honing those skills to succeed. Cheerleading is a sport and children are the most challenging athletes.