Can you give me child friendly information on Cheerleading plz?

Question

My cousin is in 4th grade and she needs this info to pass.She is doing a report on Cheerleading.Can you help her?PLZ AND THANK YOU

Answer 1

As a current cheer coach, this question was right up my ally!

Cheerleading first began during the first Olympic Games in Greece in 776 B.C. when the crowd cheered their 'teams". However the first known American college cheer was invented in the 1880's by a Princeton University pep club. This practice soon grew on other schools, but it was spontaneous and disorganized because there were no "leaders".

At a game in Minnesota in 1898 a medical student named Jack Campbell was inspired to leap out into the field during a time out to lead the crowd in a cheer. Students in the bleachers began to chant with him and the team went on to victory.

Cheerleading has grown over the years. it is more than getting the crowds to yell, it is about leadership and being an ambassador for your team. Cheerleaders spark enthusiasm and help the crowd maintain a positive outlook when their team is losing. Often times, it is the crowd that motivates a team to work harder and seek victory.

For cheerleaders themselves, cheering is about personal growth and self-confidence, friendship and accomplishment. we have evovled past the negative stretype of clueless cute girls bouncing up and down on the sidelines. Cheerleaders have changed over the years as the need for extreme athletic abilities (which includes advanced tumbling and jumps) as well as competition has increased.

It is not uncommon to see both female and male cheerleaders, particularly as they progress in their "career". Often, it is the male cheerleader on a college team that is able to perform the stunts that require significant weight training.

According to statistics (www.about.com)
Over 80% of cheerleaders carry a B average or above in school
Over 60% of cheerleaders are invovled in a second sport
Over 80% of schools in the U.S. have cheer squads
Over 95% of female cheerleaders were former gymnasts
About 20% of male cheerleaders were former gymnasts
About 20% of all cheerleaders participate in competitions.
There are approx 3 .5 million cheerleader in the U.S. alone!

She may want to go into the training that cheerleaders have to endure. This includes tumbling and various jumps and what it takes to accomplish these.

She may want to describe what try outs are and why they are an important part of choosing a squad. Try outs help form a squad that will work together as a team. The actual try out allows a judge to determine the amount of enthusiasm, flexibility and ability to learn cheers and chants for each individual girl. Some girls may have wonderful tumbling abilities, but can not memorize the basic movements in a routine. Others can by enthusiastic in a routine, but lack luster when it comes to jumps etc.

She may want to describe how the uniform has changed over the past 60 years, from long skirts and sweaters to the new skort or short skirt and spankies of today. The use of pom pons came about in the 1930's with a paper variety. It was not until the 1960's that a vinyl pom pon was created, and now there are metallic and halographic pom pons.

Sorry...got kind of carried away! Hope this helps, and that she gets an A for:

A, (clap) hey now, (clap) totally Awesome
She'll have it made
It's what (clap) we want (clap)
To see her get a awesome grade!

Answer 2

cheerleading can be a huge team builder! you have to learn to work together with people even if you dont want to. if you fly you learn balance and a huge amount of entergity if a base and a backspot you have to have entergrity to but flyers have to face being amazing --some times-- high in the air. Bases have to have MUSCLE and alot of patience with enegrity and also have to being able to move VERY quickly to catch a sloppy fly if she is one1 but back spots have to have good timing and arm strength to hold the fly still and call and control the stunt but in cheerleading you have to tumble and jump memorize cheers and dances with the actions and be happy and ready to pump up the crowd at any given time cheerleaders have to be stiff but able to move freely we have to be on time and most of all you have to love what you are doing but for more go here!!http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cheerleading

Answer 3

If you need cheer statistics concerning the number of cheerleaders and injury prevention and so forth, I have some on my website:

Cheerleading 101:
http://geocities.com/aescougarcheer/basics.htm