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Why Cheerleading Has Become A Prestigious Activity

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.

Most people think of cheerleaders only in terms of sporting events. The tradition of cheer leading is much much older, however. In the olden days, even in the Bible, cheer leaders are described as valuable during battle. These cheerleaders were equipped with drums, trumpets, bugles and cymbals and their job was to create excitement, to motivate soldiers and to demonstrate solidarity. They carried the flags and armies mustered around them.

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.

Females were not allowed to be cheerleaders until 1923 because it was viewed as unseemly behaviour for ladies. Only in 1923 did females first become eligible to be cheerleaders. This was also at the University of Minnesota. The idea of female cheerleaders did not find favour for a long time however. Only in the early forties did the idea of female cheerleaders catch on. Today it is 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.

The popularity of cheer leading has shown astonishing growth. At many schools and universities it is deemed a great honour to be selected for the cheerleader squad. The activity has become so demanding and exact that some sporting experts day that it has become a sport in itself. There are now special tournaments for cheerleader squads and the routines performed by these squads have become intricate, difficult and thoroughly entertaining.

There is a dark side to cheer leading. Astonishingly it is the sport with the most fatal and serious injuries in the world. Fierce competition has led to trainers demanding ever increasingly dangerous and spectacular stunts and it is especially during pyramid routines that injuries occur. Other critics have condemned the fact that successful cheerleaders are expected to be beautiful and sexy.

Regardless of the risks involved, most girls still dream of being a cheer leader. A place in the squad is considered prestigious. Supporters of cheer leading point out that it is a healthy and wholesome activity that requires strict discipline and a high level of dedication.




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