The Cheer Blog

Since this blog is supposed to cover every aspect of cheer I might as well introduce you to the basics. Every cheer team has a 2 minute and 30 second routine. As short as this seem it can be some of the most rigorous 2 minutes and 30 seconds of your life. In each routine the score sheet requires there to be non-stop action; jump sections, elite sections, two-mans, pyramid, baskets(dependent on the level), and running and standing tumbling. If you got lost reading any of that it’s okay, because I’m here to explain each section one by one. •Jump Section- a jump section consists of a combination of jumps; toe-touch, right and left hurdles, or pikes. Most higher level teams are required to do a standing tumbling skill after jumps—level 2 and higher. One type of jump section is called “Around the World” jumps, this is basically when you start facing one way while jumping, and while jumping rotate your body to another side of the stage. •Elites- Elites are considered the main stunt of the whole routine, many judges will judge mainly based off of these stunts. Most elites are used to display the difficulty that the team can perform, and the flexibility of the flyers through body positions— scorpions, arabesques, scales, and front/side heel stretches.

  •Pyramid- Pyramids are the most well-known skill performed in the routine. It requires every person to lift each other in the air and sometimes flips and twist to impossible measures. In most pyramids the level of the team is allowed to perform higher level stunts while connected to one another. The pyramid heavily relies of teamwork, and without it the pyramid can easily collapse.

•Tumbling- Tumbling is heavily dependent on the level of the team, tumbling can range from standing and running back walkovers to standing and running fulls. A team is put together based on the tumbling skills they have acquired throughout the past season. Judges look at most of the tumbling in a team’s routine to judge their technique and ability to time their flips perfectly with their tumbling partner. •Two-Mans- Two-mans are usually placed in between major sections of the routine, for example elites and running tumbling sections. A two-man consists of two bases— hence the term “two man”— and one flyer. Sometimes two-mans can be extremely difficult depending on the team or level, and some teams opt to perform flyer body positions in these rather than elites.

•Baskets- Baskets are the highest stunt a level 2 or higher team can perform. As the levels increase, so do the difficulties of the baskets. The term basket was created because of the positions the two bases “weave” their hands together to create a more stable platform for the flyer to be thrown in. If a basket is not thrown, or caught correctly bases, back spots, and flyers can all be seriously injured.

This might be one of the most controversial topics surrounding the cheerleading industry at this point in time... Are all boys that cheer gay?

Cheerleading started out as an ALL BOY activity back in as early as 1880. Boys were put into uniforms representing their school's mascots, colors, or simply just the name of the school; and placed on the sidelines to pump up the crowd. Although the pastime was unusual for a boy to do at this time period, it was more socially acceptable for a man to cheer on a school rather than a girl. But no, these boys were not considered, "gay", or "masculine" for cheering on their school's team at a sporting event.

The topic of gay males on a cheerleading squad did not become so commonly thought of until the raise in popularity in the competitive cheerleading in the early 1990's and into the 2000's. Today over 28% of all cheerleaders are males -- and the numbers are still raising-- but this does not mean that all of them are gay. For a personal statistic my gym currently has 5 male athletes, 2 of which are gay and 3 who are straight, that means a majority of them are NOT gay. Shocker huh? Although when looking at the broad spectrum over 50% of all male cheerleaders are openly gay, this doesn't mean you can judge every single one of them the same.

Boys join cheerleading for many different reasons, some like to interact with girls more than they do with guys, some like the aspects of tumbling and flipping their bodies into ways they thought they could never twist, and some boys even do other sports while being on a cheer team. The assumption that all boys who join cheer are gay is highly ignorant, and overall belittling the self-esteem of boys who want to try something new.

This ignorance has been accepted in the cheer community for way too long. Popular male cheerleaders will constantly have anti-gay sentiments, and just plain ignorant comments on almost all of their social media just because of the fact that they are a male cheerleader. Last year a male cheerleader, Ronin Shimizu, committed suicide at the age of twelve because of bullying received by classmates, and strangers about his involvement in recreation cheer. He was TWELVE!! A child was bullied into suicide because he decided he wanted to cheer instead of throw or kick a ball. At the age of twelve a child is very unlikely to know his/her sexual orientation. But what they do know is what they like to play or participate in. Children his own age took it upon themselves to assume that he was gay -- because he cheered-- and for no other reason than that bullied him to death. Cheerleading for boys should be a fun activity to participate in -- just like tee ball, or soccer-- but the overbearing "cloud of gay assumption" followed by it is just ridiculous. Whether gay or not, a cheerleader should be known for his skill ability and not his sexual orientation.

From the title of this blog, many can assume I will be talking about all the naughty stereotypes cheerleaders have been given, or some other aspect that pertains dirty visuals. But unfortunately if that is what you have come here to read, you are wrong.

As I bring up the dirty, "unspoken side of cheer" I am talking about all the back room politics that can be involved with competitive cheerleading. I know it sounds ridiculous, but on the contrary it is a very real factor for every competitive cheerleading team in the buisness. Politics are very messy in the cheer world, and certain gyms or teams can be given higher favor in the eyes of the judges, or the company hosting the competition. This gives an unequal opportunity for the rest of the cheerleading teams competiting to earn first place fairly.

Favoritism is an all too real of a concept in the cheer world, teams and gyms that are more "well-known" can be given the upper hand at anytime, which leaves the rest to a huge disadvenatage. Judges will be more likely to score one team easier, or give them extra points just because of the logos on their uniforms and not the actual quality of their performance. Cheer gyms with bigger names, such as The California Allstars, Cheer Athletics, Top Gun, and many more, can simply go to a competition and not perform at thier peak and still win. How is this so? In the eyes of the company hosting the compeition it's quite easy. The bigger programs host larger teams, which means more money for the competition vendor to make because of their size. With such large portion of competition revenue coming from the athletes, and their parents company's will create more lax judging rules, and standards that hold favor in the position of large gyms. When these large gyms begin to win, and place highly at these competitions, it is more likely the program and it's growing numbers will come back the following cheer season to compete again at that competition. Thus make the company even more money. And with this strategy, the endless cycle of cheer politics is created.

Along with better placements, larger gyms are able to recruit better athletes from around the country- and sometimes the world- to compete under their name. These better athletes were not grown within the program, and did not gain their skills at that certain gym. They were taught to be the cheerleader that they are by gyms that could no longer "satisfy" the needs of that athlete. Athletes choose to move for many reasons, but some can be offered certain spots on high profile teams by the coaches at that gym. Some gyms are even known for taking athletes in the middle of cheer season, because of their necesitity for "better" athletes and high profile routines could woo the athlete to their program. Recruitment gives small gyms a very big disadvantage. How is a gym with less than 7 teams supposed to make a high level athlete want to stay, when bigger gyms have created more "better opportunities" for their athletes. The obvious answer is, it doesn't. In no way is this recruitment aspect of cheer equal, because high level athletes will move if given the opportunity to succeed. The problem with that is small gyms can no longer succeed, if big gyms can easily win at competition, and take home prestigious titles.