School Cheerleader Games

The roots of cheerleading can be traced back to 1898, when Johnny Campbell --- a student of the University of Minnesota --- gave himself the title of the first cheerleader ever. About five years later, the world saw the birth of the maiden cheerleading society, entitled "Gamma Sigma." Since then, there has been no looking back, as cheerleaders have entered into many sports played today. Cheerleaders perform several activities and even have competitions of their own.

  1. Cheerleaders' Activities

    • Cheerleaders perform varying degrees of stunts and feats, depending on their skill level. At a school level, however, the most typical practices remain dancing, jumping and tumbling. Gymnastics may also be involved. The cheerleaders mostly impress the audience with a two or three-minute long performance at the start of a sporting event. As the level and competence of the cheerleaders increase, the scale of their performance also does, leading to much more acrobatic performances.

    Participation in Games

    • Today, most schools in the U.S. boast of their own cheerleading squads, which more often than not, are dominated by female students. They help to keep the fans interested in the game and they promote enthusiasm. The games most widely accompanied by cheerleading teams are football and basketball; however, teams of some other sports, such as baseball, wrestling, hockey and soccer, may also have cheerleaders on occasion.

    Participation in Competitions

    • Besides cheering for other teams at sporting events, the school cheerleading teams may take part in various cheerleading competitions and compete with one another. Though most of these competitions cater to the professional and college cheerleading teams, some also cater to school-level competitions. The formation of the National Cheerleaders Association helps schools from across the United States participate in the National High School Cheerleading Championship.

    Cheerleader Game Divisions

    • Cheerleader games have evolved into several divisions since it was established. Today, there are several game divisions where cheerleaders can participate. These divisions include junior varsity, varsity, non-building, non-tumbling and youth/recreational.

      The junior varsity and varsity divisions allow all kinds of stunts and routines and they also have specific grade levels that start from small varsity where all the members are females, to large varsity co-ed where members can be both male or female. The non-building division does not allow partner stunts, tosses and pyramids on the routine, while the non-tumbling division does not allow any tumbling or any skill that will execute a move with a feet over head rotation. The Youth/Recreational Division is for cheerleaders that always accompany and support a recreational team, such as a local pee wee sports team or a local youth football team.