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The Great Cheerleading Debate
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Cheerleading As A Sport
An AACCA Position Paper on Cheerleading as a Sport.
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Cheerleaders are Athletes too!
1. Basic Training. In order to be treated like athletes, you have to act like athletes. It’s a good idea for other people to be able to see you practicing hard. Your squad should go jogging at the beginning of practice. You should also make an appearance in the weight rooms (if your school has any). Your practices should be tough, no standing around talking. If you’re not doing anything you should be stretching or doing conditioning. If you practice hard, people can’t help but take you seriously. But if every time they stop by you’re talking and giggling, well then you don’t deserve respect anyway.
2. Present a Good image. What I mean by this is whenever you’re at school, you are representing the squad whether you are in uniform or not. If you keep your grades up, participate in class and follow the rules you will gain respect for your team. If you are a snob, a whiner, a player or a slacker you will loose respect and as a consequence your whole squad will look bad.
3. Ditch the attitude. What I mean is stop playing the whiny “no one cares about us” role. So what if the crowd doesn’t yell back at games? Who said cheerleading was easy? Whining will get you nowhere.
4. You can’t change the crowd, you can only change yourself. Many cheerleaders wrote me and said that they don’t even want to cheer at games anymore because no one cheers back and the crowd ignores them. They only want to do competitions. Well, I think games are not only essential to cheerleading but they are great places to show off and get FREE exposure. If your crowd isn’t taking notice of you then that means you aren’t exciting enough. A bunch of girls (and guys) yelling and jumping around just isn’t exciting to watch, I’m sorry. Even just going out there and performing a routine isn’t enough anymore. Your squad MUST come up with something spectacular, exciting and different if you want people to notice you. Think awesome stunts. Think neat transitions. Set off fireworks if you have to! And always cheer with your heart and soul. That is one thing that people WILL notice.
5. Choose your battles and be A-G-G-R-E-S-S-I-V-E. Cheerleaders are only allowed to walk on each other (during stunting). Don’t let anyone else push you around. Fight the battles that need to be fought but know that you just aren’t ever going to get the funding that football and basketball does. Not in this decade anyway. Concentrate on safety, you should be granted access to the training rooms, weight rooms and have a safe place to practice. You should be given a qualified coach. Anything beyond that are bonuses. Choose your battles carefully. If you get free uniforms, you’re not likely to also get a free trip to Nationals.
If anyone else has ideas, please email me or post a notice. We all deserve respect, as cheerleaders and as athletes. Let’s fight the battle together!
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Practice makes perfectBy iHigh.com Staff
Jul 31, 2001
You've heard it before-practice makes perfect. But there's more to success than simply showing up at workouts. Practice alone doesn't make perfect-perfect practice makes perfect (Well, almost!). Successful teams know that a structured practice spells success. Most squads have only a few hours each week to hone their skills, but the top teams know how to maximize that time. With the right attitude and a few helpful hints, your squad can be on its way to a successful season in no time.
„h Make sure you are on time and ready to go when practice starts. This means getting to practice 10-15 minutes early to warm-up and stretch out, giving the squad more time to work on necessary material.
„h As a coach or captain, schedule out each practice beforehand and be as specific as possible. This is especially helpful for new coaches who have a hard time deciding what to work on once practice has started (or turned into chaos). Set a certain amount of time to work on each skill and diagram out pyramids and stunts so you aren't setting them up and taking time away from actually practicing these skills. And, most importantly, stick to your schedule!
„h When one group is working on a skill you may not be involved in, don't sit down, start to gossip with friends or do your homework. Walk to the side and work on your jumps or tumbling or go over cheers and dances. Your coach can't be your shadow all the time, so take it upon yourself to improve your skills-even when no one is watching.
„h Practice is not the time to spend hours going over cheers, sidelines and dances each week. This is stuff you can-and should-work on outside of practice. The same is true of jumps and tumbling. Schedule extra gymnastics classes if you know you are behind the rest of the squad and do the exercises your coach recommends to improve your jumps. You can not become a great cheerleader by simply working three days a week.
„h Work out on your days off. This includes weekends. If you simply put cheerleading aside on the days you have off, you'll show up at the beginning of each week rusty and behind those who spent a couple hours each day at the gym, running laps and going over their material.
„h Teach everyone on the squad how to spot tumbling and stunting. This way, when you break to practice back handsprings, there is not a long line behind the coach or the one person on the team who can spot. Everyone should be able to spot any member of the team.
„h Cheerleading is -- and should be -- fun. But save the goofing off for after practice. Once you start working, the talking should be kept to a minimum and it's important to pay constant attention and focus. This is especially true when you are working on stunts and pyramids. During this time, your coach should be the only person speaking at all. Too much noise causes confusion-and injury.
When working on pyramids and routines, follow these steps to maximize your time:
1. Set counts
2. Mark it a couple of times until everyone knows the counts well
3. Pyramid: Work only on hitting the stunts without the counts. / Routine: Walk through the pyramid/routine working only on hitting the stunts
4. Routine: Walk through the routine working only on nailing the tumbling
5. Pyramid: Run through it full out to counts until you are satisfied. / Routine: Put everything together and run through the routine full out a few times or until you are satisfied.
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Cheerleading safety: misinformation in the media Alyssa Roenigk
iHigh.com Correspondent
Apr 23, 2003 -
Cheerleading is receiving more attention than ever. It was the subject of a blockbuster film. It’s popping up in music videos, TV shows and magazine articles. It’s more popular than ever before and more athletes are fleeing other sports for the chance to jump, stunt and tumble their way to a national championship.
But as the sport (activity, if you prefer) increases in popularity, so does the scrutiny of it by the national media. And, unfortunately, most of the information printed about cheerleading does little to boost its image.
Stories about an increase in injuries and a decrease in safety are abundant lately. But if the people writing these stories were to do a little more research into the sport they are covering, they would realize, as you should, that cheerleading is as safe, fun and meaningful as any sport played in high schools across the country.
Many news stories surfaced after the University of Nebraska athletic department decided to ban their cheerleaders from stunting and tumbling and sent a press release announcing their decision to universities and media outlets around the country. Much of the information included in that press release was outdated and factually incorrect, but many articles including the information on that release were written without much further research.
The press release frightened many cheerleaders, parents and coaches when they read that, “cheerleading injuries accounted for 15,600 visits to hospital emergency rooms nationwide.” But what the stories didn’t tell you was that when compared with the number of cheerleaders in the U.S., that number accounts for 7.02 cheerleaders per 1,000 who made emergency room visits. Compare that with 75.38 per 1,000 in football and 15.14 per 1,000 basketball players. That number doesn’t sound so scary now, does it?
Many articles, broadcast reports and website stories include a piece of data from that release that says, “cheerleading is responsible for 57 percent of the catastrophic injuries to female college and high school athletes.” What you aren’t told-this data is from a research study published in 1982—20 years ago, before college and high school programs set specific safety guidelines. In a 2000 report by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, the center found that there were 126 catastrophic injuries and 25 deaths reported for football between 1995-2000 and only eight catastrophic injuries and zero deaths for cheerleading.
Lots of articles also talk about the fact that cheerleaders miss more days due to injuries than any other athletes. But if the writers of those stories read further into the study that discovered this information, they would have seen the explanation given by Mark R. Hutchinson, MD, the author of this study.
“The sport requires that all extremities be completely functional for stunts and tumbling runs,” he says. “Football players can play in hand casts, and throwing and racket sport athletes can still perform if their non-dominant arm is mildly injured. Cheerleaders, however, must often lift a partner, perform a tumbling run, do a dance routine and balance atop a pyramid—all within the span of a few minutes.”
Too bad no one ever reads about this vital piece of information.
So the next time you pick up a newspaper or magazine and an article you read is trying to convince you that the sport you love is unsafe and hazardous to your health, read a little further, do your own research—and judge for yourself.
Compare The Numbers: Cheerleading Is Safe
Check out this info, from a story in American Cheerleader, August 2002.
Comparing The Risks
*Football injuries associated with the brain occur at a rate of one in every 3.5 games.
*Football is responsible for more than 250,000 head injuries in the United States.
*In any given season, 10% of college and 20% of high school players sustain brain injuries.
*The head is involved in more baseball injuries than any other body part. (The ankle is involved in more cheer injuries than any other body part.)
*Approximately 5% of soccer players sustain brain injury as a result of head-to-head contact, falls or being struck on the head by the ball.
Source: Brain Injury Association, Alexandria, Va.
High School Catastrophic Injuries 1995-2000
Total Catastrophic Injuries/Deaths
Football – 126/25
Basketball – 7/2
Cheerleading – 8/0
Source: National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research Eighteenth Annual Report
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Power Jumps!
How do you get that unbelievable hyper extended jump? It's 2 parts practice, 4 parts technique, 6 parts stretching, and 8 parts exercises. That's right, we said exercises!
Some people are born with great flexibility and strength. The other 90% of us have to work at it! These exercises will help improve your jumps. Just like any exercise, start with a warm-up, don't overdo it and be patient! You may not see results for a few weeks, but when you do, you'll be a part of the 10%, not the 90%!
Leg Explosions
To get that elusive height, try these exercises. In addition to height, you'll also end up with some cut leg and calf muscles!!!
Start with your feet together. Take a slow dip so that your knees are no further than a ninety degree angle. Explode into the air without using your arms. As you land, absorb the landing and return to the ninety degree angle and explode again.
Start with 3 sets of 5 controlled jumps and work up to doing 15 in a row.
Sitting Toe Touches
This exercise helps to isolate the hip flexor and abdominal muscles that lift the legs into the jump position.
Start by sitting on the floor in a tuck position. You should be balanced so that your feet are slightly off the floor, and your arms are in "daggers".
Next, quickly lift your legs and arms to the toe touch position and return to the seated tuck position as quickly as possible. It will take several of these to learn the proper balance. Focus on good technique, keeping your toes pointed, your legs straight, and your back upright.
In addition to the increased strength, this exercise helps you to practice the proper technique of "sitting back" in your jumps.
Again, start with 3 sets of 5 and work up to 15 reps in a row.
Straddle Lifts This exercise, and its variations, really isolate the hip flexors. Since this muscle is rarely used in other exercises, take caution not to overdo it in the beginning!
Start by sitting on the floor in a straddle position. Place your hands on the floor on an imaginary line drawn between your knees. This helps you not to sit back and use your abs (remember, we're working the hip flexors here!).
Lift one leg about two inches off of the floor for a count of two and then set it back down. keep your leg straight and your toe pointed. Repeat with the other leg. Do this five times (approximately 10 seconds on each leg). Work slowly up to holding each leg twice for a count of five, and then once for a count of ten.
Once you have built up some strength, you can lift both legs at once. Remember NOT to lean back! You can also perform "reps" with this exercise by lifting the leg(s) up in repetition without letting them touch the floor.
Here's a Jump Tip: To see your progress, videotape your jumps each week and compare them to the previous week and to the first session!
See you in the air!
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Cheerleading: No scale required
By Carolyn Buckley
iHigh.com Teen Correspondent
Jun 18, 2003 -
Does cheering equal skinny? A question that I often ask myself. While male cheerleaders deal with not being "big" enough, females feel the pressure of being too big. In our society, it is already stressful enough to feel pressure from the media, parents, peers, or guys to "drop some pounds" if you are a female; but in cheering, the stress and pressure are turned up another notch.
Sometimes it can be by the cheerleading coach, but more often it is the cheerleader herself buying into, "cheering means I can't have any body fat." Once the cheerleader buys into that lie, it gets worse. How many eating disorders and unhealthy girls are out there? In cheerleading, quite a few. Girls who are slowly killing themselves by starving or over-exercising. Girls who are constantly obsessing about a 1/2-inch of fat on their thigh, and constantly stepping onto the scale when they aren't over weight, or are under weight.
Can there be a solution to this problem? The answer is no and yes. No, their cannot be a solution until we acknowledge the problem and how severe it is. No, not until the girls who have the problem get help and understand that they don't have to be skinny. Yes, if coaches, parents, and friends stress "health" and not "skinny." Yes, if this issue is talked about and cheerleaders are educated.
In rare cases a cheerleader really could be at risk and need to lose weight, but that is a case in which your doctor is telling you to watch your weight, not someone with out a PhD.
I would like to give props to my cheerleaders out there who are fighting the stereotypes of "no body fat" and understand that skinny and healthy are different. These girls are striving to be healthy and they know to do it the right way with sensible exercise and eating the right way!
And if you are skinny there's nothing wrong with that either! You are healthy because this is the way you were made! A cheerleader does not come in one size. It takes all sizes to climb, base, or spot.
It is important for those who cheer to know that being a cheerleader has to do with something you possess INSIDE yourself. A cheerleader is an incredible athlete. A cheerleader is one who works hard, has dedication, courage, and heart. Therefore girls, cheerleading and skinny do not go into the same equation.
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Spirit 101
Spirit - 1) an attitude or principle that inspires, animates, or pervades thought; 2) to encourage; urge on or stir up, as to action; 3) enthusiasm, energy, zeal, ardor, fire, enterprise. Webster's Dictionary
Every school, at one time or the other, has had difficulty getting involved and cheering for their teams. This can happen for two reasons: 1) the cheer squad has no spirit or 2) the crowd has no spirit. Reason No. 2 is the most detrimental and can effect the atmosphere of the game very drastically. This section will help teach cheerleaders how to get their crowds pumped up and excited for the game. Remember, as a cheerleader, our soul task is to lead the crowd in cheering for their school, hence the name cheerleader. Here are some simple pointers to remember when developing good, quality school spirit:
Crowed oriented material - Use cheers and chants that the crowd can repeat with you. Such as "Eastside, get ready to yell, go big blue, come on, GO BIG BLUE!" This lets them know what to yell.
Signs & props - Holding up signs that correspond with the words you want them to yell, helps the crowd know when to yell. You can use anything from tradition sings and megaphones, to boxes with your school letters written on the side or spring loaded floor signs. These are visual stimuli that will increase the likely hood of a response.
Eye contact - Making eye contact with the crowd is important. If you look a person in their eyes, then know that you are talking to them and will respond. Facing the team and cheering does not allow the crowd to know that it is their time to yell.
Game awareness - Be sure that even though you are facing the crowd and making eye contact with them, that you do not lose awareness to the game behind you. Know what is going on at all times. Is it offense? Defense? a time out? These are things you need to know so that you can react with the appropriate cheer or chant.
Variety & Creativity - Nobody wants to see the same cheer performed at every game. Constantly make up new cheers and chants and rotate them into your game schedule. Also, use different stunts, jumps, tumbling, formations, levels, and ripples for older cheers and chants. Sometimes just changing the look of a cheer will add a new dimension to everything.
Mascot - A mascot is very important. They can do things that cheerleaders can not do. The most influential thing they do is bring humor to a game setting. People are more relaxed and responsive when they have been laughing and enjoying themselves. In the next couple of weeks we will have a whole section just for mascots.
Professionalism - This is a huge key. If the crowd respects you as a team, then they will be more likely to respond to you. Here are some keys to professionalism: be on time, warm up together, have your make up and hair done BEFORE you come to the game, don't talk to your friends in the stands, don't chew gum or goof off during the game and NEVER perform anything you have not practiced or perfected. These are just a few things you can do to be more professional.
Heart - This addresses problem No. 1 at the very top of the page. Your crowd will not have any spirit if you do not have any spirit. The crowd plays off of your enthusiasm, so be excited, have fun. You wouldn't be a cheerleader if you didn't enjoy it, right? So show the crowd what real spirit is like. Be loud, smile, show your excitement - THIS MEANS EVEN WHEN THEY DON'T! If you only remember one thing, remember this, leading by example is the best form of leadership.
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You know you're a cheerleader when...
By Shane Womack
iHigh.com Cheerleading Correspondent
Oct 09, 2003 -
You realize most pyramids aren't built in Egypt.
You know buckets, candlesticks, and blades are not made from metal.
You think liberty has nothing to do with freedom.
You can build without a hammer and nails.
Your skirt is shorter than your t-shirt.
You're the only person who counts "5, 6, 7, 8" before "1, 2, 3, 4..."
Your parents consider buying stock in sponge rollers.
All your friends are at dinner while you are at practice.
"Practice makes perfect" isn't just a saying, its a way of life.
You have several different cheer shoes.
You know a scorpion isn't just a bug.
You can do a toe-touch without actually touching your toes.
When you know flying isn't just for the birds.
Your screen name has the word "CHEER" in it!
You realize that cheering is a sport involving skill, talent, and hardwork!
You have seen Bring it on more than 10 times... and know every word and every motion to all the cheers.
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