A Cheerleading Article

This is an article from USA Today speaking very highly of cheerleading. It even mentions the growing obsession with cheerleading.  It also discusses celebrities and public figures that have dabbled in cheerleading. Click the link below to check out the whole article...
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/_stories/2002-04-26-cheerleading-cover.htm

Why Cheerleading Is A Sport

Recently there has been a lot of controversy about cheerleading being a real sport or not. So I have decided to share my opinion on this topic. Because I am cheerleader I know that cheerleading is a sport because I know what goes into cheerleading and what it takes to be a cheerleader. However my simple opinion doesn’t change the way people think. People need so kind of hard evidence or proof. So a sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive, and skillful physical activity requiring commitment. Cheerleading defiantly fits into all these aspects. Cheerleading is defiantly and organized sport. We have organized practices and in theory we are an organization. Cheerleading is defiantly competitive. At nationals as well as other competitions top cheerleading teams come together to compete to see who is the best. And this isn’t only in college; high school as well as elementary school teams compete as well. Cheerleading is defiantly a skillful sport. Not just anyone could decide that one day they will become a cheerleader it takes time and dedication to learn and master the craft of cheerleading. It takes a tremendous amount of skill to even attempt most of the stunts we do and it takes even more skill to hit stunts as we do. And cheerleading above all things is defiantly a commitment. Cheerleader are busy 5 out of 7 days of the week and if we even have 2 days off all we do is think of cheerleading or work out to make ourselves stronger for the next practice and to hit the next hardest stunt. However people will think what they want and until they attempt to try it they  some will never see that cheerleading is truly a sport.

peace love and cheer
danielle

College Cheerleading Stunts

One of my favorite aspects of college cheerleading and just cheerleading in general is the stung aspect of cheerleading. In college we do many complex stunts. From simple pyramids to extreme multi level pyramids to co-ed stunts to extreme flipping baskets pretty much anything. However the risk of getting injured or failing is quite high when you add extreme elements to cheerleading. However once you work hard at whatever you want to achieve you will succeed and it makes you feel so happy and it shows you that your hard work and concentration was all worth it. Hence the reason why stunting is my favorite part of cheerleading. Here are some pictures of what stunts we do.

pyramids

flipping stunts

co-ed stunts

high flying baskets

as you can see fomrthese pictures these stunts to some seem crazy but to cheerleaders this is just noraml to us.

peace love and cheer

danielle

A College Cheerleading Practice

       College Cheerleading practices are extremely intense. First off practice begins with 4 laps around Carnesecca arena. After we run out laps we stretch. We start off with leg stretches and then to back stretches then the arms and shoulder stretches. Then go straight into stunting we start with the basics. We get into our stunt groups and start with 5 preps, 5 extensions, and 5 liberties. Then after we do 5 of each we can then begin on whatever stunt that we are working on that day. Whether it is quarter ups, or full ups or full downs or 360s or any other stunts that we need to perfect. Then we move on to either basket tosses or pyramids. Basket tosses are the stunts that the flyer goes really high in the air. If anyone has seen any bit of cheerleading they have defiantly see a stunt where the girl goes flying in the hair and does a crazy trick. Or we do pyramids. we frequently practice a basic 2-2-1 pyramid. The pyramid consists of 2 girls on the bottom each of these girls have one girl standing on their shoulders. And then one girl get tossed up to the top. Hence the 2-2-1.

Then after that we then do some conditioning. We do 3 sets 50 crunches and we do a push up circle. A push up circle is when the whole team gets into a circle then every goes into push up position and one b one we do 3 pushups and while other people do their pushups we all stay in push up position. Then we do 2 sets of 3 second handstand against a wall. And this all happens in just 3 hours


peace love and cheer
danielle

A College Cheerleaders Schedule

          Since this is my first blog I thought I would begin with the basics of a college cheerleading schedule. First off college cheerleading as a whole consists of practices and games. At St John ’s University we cheer for women’s and men’s soccer, and women’s and men’s basketball and sometimes volleyball. All these games usually fall on Fridays Sundays and/or  Wednesdays. On top of attending and cheering at games we also practice three times a week for 3 hours at a time. My practice schedule is usually Tuesday Thursdays and Sundays. As you can see a college cheerleaders life is quite busy. We are usually busy Tuesdays with practice, Wednesdays with games, Thursdays with practice, Fridays with games, and Sundays with practices or games. Cheerleaders are busy 5 days out of 7 days a week. On top of all of this we also juggle being successful college students as well. Most people believe cheerleading is a joke however if you are a cheerleader you know its defiantly not. We dedicate so much time as well as sweat to everything we do and cheerleading is definitely a full time commitment.

peace love and cheer
danielle