What are Cheerleading Competitions?

Series Summary

Cheerleading was invented by a man in 1898, who first directed a crowd in cheering on the University of Minnesota. Since then, cheerleading has become a popular culture phenomenon and a sport. Cheerleaders began as male, but slowly females, who had few offerings for collegiate-level athletics, dominated the hobby. In the early 1970s, the Dallas Cowgirls changed professional cheerleading into simply dance, removing most of the stunts and tumbling in favor of revealing outfits and choreography. In the early 1980s, cheerleading as a competitive sport became popular, and stunts and gymnastics gained in popularity for high school teams. Now there are many official styles of cheering, both amateur and pro, and local spins.

In this free video series, expert Lucy Spain will show you how to train and prepare for a cheerleading competition. Lucy teaches you how to raise money, find lodging, travel with the cheer squad, and even how to decide which competitions to attend. You will also learn how to use practice rooms, how to act on the floor, and how to prepare for the award ceremony. You'll get info on choosing uniforms, routines, and music as well. You will be the best cheer team there!

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Lucy Spain on behalf of Expert Village here to talk about cheer leading competitions. Cheer leading competitions are one of the many aspects of cheer leading. They are not always necessary but to some people they are the only reasons why they cheer. Now what kind of squads go to competition, any schools squad can enter the competition if they have the permission of their county board members and the school itself and also the means in the skill to get there. You can compete anywhere from middle school all the way up through high school. There are other squads that are designed strictly for the purpose of competition. These kinds of squads you only want to tryout for if you are very serious, you have a lot of time to dedicate and maybe have the hopes of going to college on a scholarship some day. With competitions you are going to require to practice at least 4 day a week, travel, spend additional out of pocket money. So if you are under 18, make sure you have the permission of your parents before getting involved in something like this. Also make sure you have the time dedication and skill to compete."