Cheerleading Has Long And Interesting History

By Richard Graham


Spectators at sporting events, regardless of whether they are junior league, school events, university tournaments or big professional sporting events, are used to being entertained and sometimes even awed by cheerleaders. Cheerleaders have almost become an accepted part of any event. Spectators even feel cheated if they are not present during a match. Indeed, cheerleading is a popular activity everywhere, Morganville NJ to Las Vegas.

Cheerleaders are mostly associated with sporting event but the tradition of cheering is ancient. The Old Testament describes battles where special groups of soldiers were tasked to bang their cymbals, blow their trumpets and display their flags, all in aid of cheering on their armies and to motivate them to try even harder. This tradition of using cheerleaders during battle persisted for hundreds of years.

Modern cheerleaders is said to originate from Princeton University in the UK. A special Princeton Cheer was documented as early as 1877. Only males were allowed to chant this cheer which has survived to this day. The idea of an organized cheer arrived in the USA when an erstwhile Princeton student introduced it at the University of Minnesota in 1884. Soon the university had a special cheerleader squad and the tradition of organized cheering quickly spread to other universities.

For a long time, females were not allowed to become cheerleaders since the antics of the cheerleaders were seen as unladylike. It was only in 1923 that females were allowed to become part of cheer leading squads. This also happened at the Minnesota University. Females as cheerleaders did not catch on for a long time, however. Nevertheless, by 1975 cheer leading was viewed as an almost exclusively female sport.

Over time, the purpose of cheer leading has not changed much. The task of the cheerleaders were, and is, to get the spectators worked up, to motivate them to cheer for their teams and to motivate the sports teams to perform at their very best. In time, cheerleaders started to play a more prominent role in providing entertainment for spectators before and during matches.

Cheer leading has become immensely popular. Being part of the squad is an automatic ticket to social acceptance and popularity. Competition is fierce and there are now even tournaments for cheerleader squads. In fact, cheer leading is no longer just a supporting act to sports events. It has become a sport in itself. To succeed in this sport requires a very high level of dedication.

There has been criticism, especially about the dismal safety record of cheer leading as a sport. In fact, statistics show that cheer leading is one of the most dangerous sports and there are numerous cases where participants sustained very serious injuries and a number of cheerleaders have even been killed during events. Other critics are dismayed by the fact squads wear skimpy uniforms. They view the sport as degrading for women.

There can be no doubt that cheer leading is a demanding sport. Participants need to master complicated movements and they need to be very fit. Competition is fierce and only the very best can expect to be selected to the top squads.




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