Popularity Of Cheerleading Essay

As a competitive mix of various sports, cheerleading is a new sport with an internationally rising popularity.

Competitive cheerleading has become increasingly difficult throughout the last ten years and school cheer has increased in difficulty as well. With the rising of cheerleading, it is no surprise that more people have become interested in the sport.

Princeton in the 1880’s formed an all-male pep club. Thomas Peebles took the Princeton cheers to the University of Minnesota. At that time football and fight songs were becoming very popular at the University of Minnesota. Johnny Campbell, from the U of M, one day picked up a megaphone and rallied the team with the first organized cheer, “Rah, Rah, Rah! Ski-U-Mah! Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Minn-e-so-tah!” Cheerleading grew from there.

Women were not allowed to cheer until 1923 at the University of Minnesota. It was not until later that decade that acrobatics and tumbling were introduced as part of cheerleading. In the beginning, women made up a very small percent of the participants on teams. It was not until the forty’s that women joined in large numbers, mainly due to World War II when men would leave for war.

In 1948 Lawrence “Herkie” Herkimer held the very first summer cheerleading clinic at the Same Houston State Teacher’s College. He went on to develop

All-Star cheerleading was a new type of cheerleading. They focused more on athletic training and competition performances, opposed to school cheerleading, which encompassed leadership and spirit qualities. Even though they seem different they both have the same basis at heart. Cheerleaders are promoters of their schools and communities. “Most importantly, they are tomorrow’s leaders who through the development of athletic skills, leadership, and teamwork will be vital members of the community in the future. Be a cheerleader and become a