With an estimated 1.5 million participants in allstar cheerleading (not including the millions more in high school, college or little league participants) in the United States alone, cheerleading is, according to Newsweek's Arian Campo-Flores, "the most quintessential of American sports." The growing presentation of the sport to a global audience has been led by the 1997 start of broadcasts of cheerleading competition by ESPN International and the worldwide release of the 2000 film Bring it On . Due in part to this recent exposure, there are now an estimated 100,000 participants scattered around the rest of the world in countries including Australia, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Cheerleaders reached new heights in the 1950s. They became very popular because they thought it was a very exciting thing to support their male athletes in all sports. The way they were chosen was by the student body with their smiles or and the popularity. From the 1950s forward, cheerleading would continue to become more organized. Cheer clinics and camps were designed to train interested young people in the art of cheering. Originally springing from schools for team support, cheerleading teams began to branch out to semi-professional organizations competing in national competitions. Professional sports teams added line ups of gorgeous professional cheerleaders to draw even more fans to the games. Cheerleading had finally reached the big time with favorites like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and the Laker Girls setting new trends in uniforms and cheer dances. Those trends continue to the present day. Cheerleading has become a multi-million dollar industry that shows no signs of slowing down.
Sports such as soccer, ice hockey, volleyball, baseball, and wrestling sometimes sponsor cheerleading squads. The ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup in South Africa in 2007 was the first international cricket event to have cheerleaders. The Florida Marlins were the first Major League Baseball team to have cheerleaders. Debuting in 2003, the "Marlin Mermaids" gained national exposure and have influenced other MLB teams to develop their own cheer/dance squads.
This video is one of a school sponsored cheerleading half time routine.
This video is to help you better understand the youth league of cheerleading.
The USASF hosted the first Cheerleading Worlds on Saturday, April 24, 2004.
In 1993, The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom was an acclaimed TV movie which told the true story of Wanda Holloway, the Texas mother whose obsession with her daughter's cheerleading career made headline news.
Cheerleader Nation is a 60 minute television series based on the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School cheerleading team's ups and downs on the way to nationals, of which they are the three time champions. This show also explains how cheerleading is a tough sport. This show takes place in Lexington, Kentucky. The team is on a quest to win a third national championship.
There are currently two groups applying for the position: British Cheerleading Association, and British Gymnastics.
Source: Wikipedia > Cheerleading
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