Confidence Boost

The real reason why I started the whole cheer leading blog was not to just say the good & bad things about cheerleading, but it was also to show how fun it could be. This specific sport gives girls/guys a significant amount of confidence. It develops them to be more outgoing, and encourages them to be happy with what they do. Cheer leaders do a tremendous amount of charity work and fund raisers, so they get the sense of accomplishments of helping others. Also, every time they step up to the competition mat, when they win they get a sense of joy that over takes them..Proving to everyone that cheerleading is a sport.

Tips for the Wise.

Need some great cheerleading tips? Well, I've got some for you. When you go to tryout keep in mind that the judges really pay a great deal of attention on your facial expressions, and how you deal with the skills that don't always go as you plan. To be a good cheerleader you should always be smiling, and determined to finish whatever you have started. If you are doing a stunt and it falls, just keep moving on to your next formation or your next placement in the cheer. Don't let the audience know that you have messed up by your facial expressions. If you don't make an expression, the audience may not even notice something got messed up, they might think that, that is what was supposed to happen. Well, if a stunt falls then that is obvious that it wasn't supposed to happen, but if a cheer motion got a little messed up or confused they might not even notice. You just have to keep smiling and look confident and positive. Your claps must always be clean and tight. Your voice needs to be heard in what they like to call a "man-voice." When doing drills, don't take shortcuts...you're only hurting yourself. The coaches give you the drills to do for a reason, obviously. Just remember, if you feel the burn then you know its working..
All in all, my last tip for you is to just do your own thing. Yes, the team has to do all the moves and motions the same way, at the same time.. but you have the chance to do it in your own style, and how you like to do things.

Confessions..

I participated in cheer freshmen year for sideline & competitive season. After that I quit for Sophomore year, and then decided to pick it back up Junior year.. I missed the fact of being on a team, and all the hard work and responsibility that was tagged along with it. Also, I felt like it was time to get back into shape. I am no longer part of the cheer team. In a way I do feel like a quitter because I keep joining and quitting, but I quit for many reasons. For example, it took up my WHOLE summer. I had to literally schedule all my plans around my practices, and on top of that I hated the gymnastics portion more than anything else. I could do the skills, and did a decent job at them, but I hated the fact that I was forced to do it when I was uncomfortable doing it by myself. Cheerleaders have gotten severely injured by lack of confidence in their skills. I do miss it though, I'm too far behind on my gymnastics skills to go back right now, but maybe one day I will.

Competitions

When competitions roll around the corner, it is important to remember that there are a lot of do's and donts fo cheerleading. The judges for cheerleading competitions are very critical, they will deduct you points for even the smallest minor mistakes. For example, if your team goes onto the mat before they are told to take the floor, that's a deduction. If you have nail polish on, or different colored shoes than your team you get an deduction. If you go to do a skill such as a flip and back out at the last minute and don't do it, well guess what...ANOTHER deduction. One of the biggest and most important deduction in a competition is, when you're in a stunt group the flyer is NEVER EVER EVER EVER allowed to touch the ground. If she falls & actually hits the ground in anyway, you get a pretty big deduction.
Claps all need to be together, on time, and in the proper placement as the rest of the team. Jumps need to be on time, and prepped the same way. Never start the cheer round until you are told to do so, or that is a big deduction as well.
While there are a lot of things that could go wrong, there are a lot of things that can go right. If you practice enough, you can nail the competition, do great, and win! :)

Passion; what you love

To some who don't ,care cheerleading is a extracurricular activity. There are those who think that it is just a sport, but for many cheerleading is a passion. Passion generally means you do something that you love. Well in this case some people think that cheerleading is their passion. They LOVE to do it! I think that cheerleaders feel as if it is their passion because it gives them something to believe it, & something to fight for. To them it's not just a sport, they dedicate their time and energy into it because it's something they don't want to go a day without doing. Passion wise, in competitions they are compassionate about cheering and supporting their schools/ teams. They put their all in it..

Spirited Fun

I personally think that cheer leading is a really fun thing to do. It helps you to make a lot of new friends, and gives you responsibilities. What I mean by responsibilities is, you have to always make sure the people in the stunt groups are safe, you have to be at practice on time, & you MUST give it your all every time. Learning new cheers can be frustrating. I know when I tried to learn new cheers for the first time, it literally took me forever! Cheer leading is honestly a memorization skill, no lie. You have to remember cheers, counts, positions, formations, an placements. Along with memorizing all the different types of jumps, their counts, preps, & landings. After you get used to it, it becomes a lot more simple....which then makes it even more fun. Along with having fun, it also helps to keep you in shape. The warm ups, drills, and conditioning all helps to keep y0u fit and builds up muscles. I don't do cheer anymore because when I was on cheer I honestly loved it, but the gymnastics was a downfall for me. I could do the skills, and I had them.. but I was just to afraid to pursue them independently. Like I said it is a lot of fun you just have to be careful when doing this particular sport, be careful doing any sport.

Tryouts!

Cheerleading tryouts are always scary and nerve wrecking. I've personally always hated tryouts. Even though I knew if I made the team I would have to be cheering in front of a large crowd, but I just always hated the idea of actually trying out; one on one. I don't like single attention. When it came time for my tryout I would start to get real nervous and not want to do it. I didn't like the fact that all eyes would be on me. Plus, everyone gets so scared for tryouts they are bound to mess up a little bit.
During tryouts they usually ask you to do almost every type of jump; counting and all. You are asked to do splits or switch splits, which is basically just calling out a set of numbers and doing each split.. right, left, & middle to the counts. The counts are similar to "Ready set, down one out two, hold one, two, three, switch one, two, three, hold one two three, switch one two there. hold one two there, and then you go on with the counts and get up with the counts. Tryouts also requires a specific cheer that they would have taught you at an open gym. Then after all that is done is the gymnastics/skills portion of the tryout. You can either be spotted or not. Then the last might be an interview. When I was on the cheer team, for the tryouts the judges or the coaches would ask us certain questions that we would have to answer. Nerve wrecking, but HOPEFULLY worth it.
After all the hard work is done, you just have to wait for the results & hope they're good!

$cholarships

More and more schools are starting a scholarship program for cheer leading. Before, in recent years..cheer leading wasn't even considered or something to think twice about. There weren't any cheer leading scholarships at any college. Well, now things have changed. People figured that having a scholarship for cheer leading is a positive thing. They could energize the fans, be friendly & spirited, and also can help to maintain a decent relationship between the fans and players. The scholarships that are being offered for cheerleading is honestly no different than a scholarship that is offered to any other sport, cheer leading is a sport, & the girls/guys should get the decent amount of credit that they deserve. Some of the scholarship options are either you could be able to get away with them paying either half the semester..or if you're REALLY good you can get the whole tuition paid off for you. CHEERLEADING SCHOLARSHIP LINK

Every Little Thing Counts!

That's right, every little thing counts when it comes to cheerleading. This includes: voices, positions, placements, jumps, skills, and stunting. OH! and also formations. Everything has to be done in a tight clean matter. Voices need to be loud & deep. In jumps you need the correct prep and landing, and in stunts and skills you have to be patient and on time. When I said being on time, I didn't mean on your own time, but when the WHOLE team is ready and goes. Conditioning is a big factor in cheerleading, it helps the cheerleaders to be patient and take their time on things. Everyone needs to give their best 100% in doing the conditioning drills. No one wants to do it, but it has to be done in order to help train them. Moving from place to place in a formation is extremely important as well. It's important to move to the RIGHT place where you belong; in a neat clean matter. Voices need to be loud and deep. The words in the cheers can't be dragged out, they have to be short & cut.

History of Cheerleading

Back in the 1950's cheerleading was a popular thing. It was somewhat like a competition, because it was mainly based off popularity. The girls had huge skirts, along with paper-like material that was used for poms until later on. It wasn't til the 1960's that cheerleading become extremely popular & recognized. What really caught peoples' attention was how they cheerleaders were dressed and the types of moves they performed. That's what really drew in the crowd, but that wasn't til the 1970's, at a football game. Everyone thought it was exciting for the girls to cheer for the guys on the football teams, and that;s how it all really started. Then, in 1980, coaches and cheerleaders were trying to throw in difficult, but cool looking stunts and gymnastics skills into their routines. Dangerous, yet entertaining, cheerleading has become a very popular sport.

Camps!

I've heard of a few different types of cheerleading camps in Michigan, but I've personally have only been to one of them, so I can only speak from experience whether or not the camp was decent. The cheer camp that I went to was called C!M. Which stood for Cheer Michigan. C!M was the cheer program that ran the camp, but the one I participated in was at Lawrence Tech, Southfield. There are a few different locations for cheerleading camps such as:

• Grand Rapids Aquinas
• Lawrence Tech, Southfield
• Eastern Michigan, Ypsilanti

The staff of C!M is extremely nice and helpful. They are filled with energy and patience. Camp is obviously during the summertime. Usually in July, depending on when you signed up to go. At camp there are a lot of different activities to choose from. Usually, you get split up with your team and go to a certain "station" until told to rotate. One station will consist of new cheers and chants to learn. Another station will be focusing on new stunts, along with a dancing station, and maybe even a station that will help perfect jumps or voices.
Camp is generally about 3 days long, and by the end of the 3rd day you perform in front of the whole camp & the parents. Also, the last night you all get together and have a campfire, which is done for the seniors on the team so they have something to remember.
All in all, the C!M staff is extremely helpful. They teach you loads of new stunts, chants/cheers, drills for the season, along with dances, & even games to help bring the team together.
For more information here is the link to C!M cheerleading camp.

Dangers & Serious Risks of Cheerleading

Along with having a good time & showing some spirit, cheerleading also comes with a bad case of serious injuries. A great amount of cheerleaders are constantly getting injured due to this fun, yet dangerous sport. And yes, cheer is most likely a sport! Not all injuries are serious, but there are a lot of serious injuries. The most common injuries that come from cheerleading are: ankle, back, spine, neck, and head. Ankle, not so serious..but all the others are.
I've personally never had a serious injury happen to me, but I've known people and of people that have broke their necks doing this dangerous sport.
If stunting, then it is crucial to make sure that the flyer NEVER touches the ground. With that being said, it is the base(s), and back spots responsibility to keep an eye on the flyer and to catch her when she falls. The main injuries for the flyer would be a broken bone if they fly out of the bases and back spots reach.
Stunting is not the only time that someone can get hurt. The time that someone gets hurt the most would probably have to do with the gymnastics portion of cheer. All the cheerleaders practice and practice to perfect themselves in all they do, including their gymnastics skills. There are a required set of flips and tumbling that they must know such as: back walkover, back handspring, tucks, layouts, and even fulls. All of those things are pretty scary to do when you first learn them. If you are not focused or confident that you can do the specific skill, then you shouldn't do it. Anything could go wrong, worst comes to worst, your flips is too low & you hit your head on the floor, or injury your neck or spine pretty bad. There have been cases so serious that people have died from doing this. Most of the time the girls just get paralyzed. If they are lucky they will be able to walk and continue doing cheer again. Cheerleaders & people in general need to take note of how serious this sport actually is.

Burn a Hole In Your Pocket

It is not lie or secret that cheer leading is pricey. For sideline season you have to purchase all the camp clothes along with shoes and everything else you need. Plus, you need to buy the uniform for the season & that is pretty pricey. It's about $120 for all the camp clothes & shoes is about $50.
For competitive season, you have to pay for bags, uniforms, and two different kinds of shoes. Round one uses a ballet type shoe, while the other two rounds use the normal tennis shoes.
So, all in all, cheer leading is pretty expensive. So, it's better to be completely dedicated to the sport before paying a load of money for something you don't even enjoy doing.

Sideline & Competitive

Sideline cheerleading is mainly for football and basketball, so sideline season would be football and basketball season. In sideline cheer, you generally learn a large amount of different cheers/chants that you have to call out. This is basically to just get the school, and fans excited and full of spirit & make them want to support your team. It will also help to get the football/basketball players full of energy knowing that they have a crowd that's supporting them. In sideline season, you go to a cheerleading summer camp where you learn a whole bunch of new cheers, techniques, and skills to carry on and take back home with you. You also learn a bunch of new stunts and things. Sideline season is usually the season where everyone first comes together and gets to know each other & gets the chance to see how their team is, so they can develop a trusting relationship with them. I was on sideline seasons for two years & I have to say it was really fun.


Competitive Cheer is completely different from sideline cheer. Sideline cheer is no where near as strict as competitive. Competitive cheer consists of 3 rounds.

1. chants
2. skills
3. stunting

Each round is about 1-3 minutes. All the girls have to be on time, & get everything together.
the first round is basically just a chant & cheer. The second round is mainly focused on skills such as splits, jumps, and flips. & the last round is focused on stunting.
Competitive cheer is very critical. You get point deductions for the smallest things, that's why practicing & trying your hardest is the best option.
When I did competitive cheer we got point deductions for the stupidest things. There are so many things that you have to know, did you know there is such thing as an illegal cartwheel? Who knew a cartwheel of all things has only a certain way of doing it.

Jumps

In cheer leading there are a few different kinds of jumps such as:

• Toe-Touch
• Right/Left Herky
• Right/Left Hurdler
• Pike

Each type of jump is different, but all the preps, landings, and endings are all the same. Jumps are done with a certain amount of counts, if you don't get the counts right, then your jump will be off and different from everyone elses'.
It is also important to focus on the height of you jump & all the little imperfections. Every little thing is critical if you're in a competition. You need to be on time with your team, and look the same way as your team. Claps have to be tight & in the right place in front of you. When you are coming down from a jump you need to snap your legs down and make it look clean.

Stunting

In cheer leading there are a varied set of skills required. Stunting is basically where you rise people in the air and continue to cheer. In stunting there are specific positions, such as: flyer, base(s), and back spot. These positions are pretty much self-explanatory. The flyer is usually the smallest, shortest, and/or lightest of the group. The base are two people generally around the same height that stand on both sides and firmly hold the flyer's feet. Lastly, the back spot is usually the tallest person in the group. The back spot in my opinion has the most responsibility. The back spot should NEVER take their eyes off of the flyer. In case of any accidents or falls the back spot needs to be there and make sure the flyer does not fall and break her neck.
Stunting is a very dangerous skill, even if it is done with spots and is watched. Anything could go wrong.
Stunting takes a lot of time & patience in order to master the skill. It can get really frustrating, but if the team works together the job will get done.

Is Cheerleading a sport or not?

To begin, I should probably tell you exactly what Cheerleading means. Cheerleading: is a physical activity that requires skill and dedication. Any sport requires time and dedication to achieve the goal to win.In cheerleading, you compete by jumping, tumbling, dancing, and stunting. There are two different types of cheerleading. Sideline & Competitive. Sideline is cheering for football team, while competitive is obviously where cheer teams from all over compete with other cheer teams.
There are debates on the subject where or not cheerleading is a sport or not. Many like to think that it is not a sport, while others want to prove that it is. Most cheerleaders hate the fact that everyone say its not a sport, they strive to prove that it is.
Cheerleaders spend just as time and dedication into their practices as any other athletes would in their sport. Just because there is no official ref does not mean that it can not be considered a
sport. Cheerleaders are trying to make it known and show everyone that it is a sport and that it does have a significant meaning behind it because it is something that they believe in, and is their own passion. It's to be determined whether or not it's a sport, but in the mean time of being absent-minded on this subject we'll just continue on with our own opinions.
All in all, the decision basically stands in the hands of you and what you think, as of now cheerleaders will continue to believe that it is a sport & the people who are not involved in the sport will continue to believe that it is not a sport.