WHAT IS CHEERLEADING?

Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. As the name suggests, cheerleading usually involves using unique cheers and chants to encourage and inspire crowds. Cheerleaders wear very characteristic uniforms, including snug tops and short skirts for women, with men wearing more conservative pants. They also tend to wear bright, bold colors in basic patterns, and they may carry batons, pom-poms, and flags to use in their routines. On high levels, cheerleading is itself a sport, with participants performing dances and complex tricks which are extremely physically demanding. Cheerleaders can often be seen on the sidelines at professional sports games, and organized cheerleading also exists in schools, from elementary school all the way through college.

Cheerleading has long been considered an iconic American activity symbolizing school spirit, leadership, youthfulness, and sex appeal. Competitive Cheerleading is a very athletic sport, that does not involve pom-poms. It involves competing a high-energy, two and a half minute routine at competitions across the country. At a typical cheerleading competition, teams perform a 2 and a half minute routine with music that includes stunts, jumps, tumbling. Teams are judged by a panel of cheerleading experts on difficulty and execution. The winner in each division gets a trophy and bragging rights. Cheerleading originated in the United States, and remains predominantly in America, with an estimated 3.85 million participants as of 2017. Some people are dismissive of cheerleading as a sport, because it may not initially appear to be very strenuous, but cheerleaders at the top level of competition are actually very serious athletes, comparable to top-tier athletes in other sports. Although cheerleading is today predominantly associated with femininity, the original cheerleaders were men. Every athlete gains so much from doing Cheerleading. Not only athletic skills, like learning to jump, stunt and flip, but also lifelong friends! All types of cheerleading teams have the option to compete, but not all school-based cheerleading squads are competitive.

Small slips can result in serious safety issues, especially when a cheerleading squad involves “flyers,” cheerleaders who go up into the air on each other's shoulders in complex pyramids and other tricks. School teams perform routines with a cheer with signs, poms, and megaphones that showcase their sideline skills along with an entertainment section to music. Cheerleading carries the highest rate of catastrophic injuries to girl athletes in sports, with most injuries associated with from stunting, also known as pyramids. They also performed jumps and stunts, built pyramids, and executed elaborate tumbling passes, whether  19가이드03  at sporting events or in cheerleading competitions.