Frequently asked Questions about Cheerleading

Cheerleading began on November 6, 1869 when Princeton and Rutgers met for the first intercollegiate football game. During the game, a group of Princeton students broke into a rocket cheer, known as the Princeton Locomotive. Johnny Campbell of the University of Minnesota in 1898 is usually given credit for being the first officially recognized collegiate cheerleader. He probably would have been called a yell leader or the “rooter king.”

Although cheerleading started off an an entirely male activity, as men left college to fight in WWII, cheerleading squads needed new members. Young women stepped in. As men returned from the war, they sought to reclaim their place on the college squad but women were hesitant to leave. While some colleges and high schools tried to ban females from their squads in the early 1950s, by the mid-1950s, cheerleading had become predominately female leading to its continued association with femininity, despite its roots.

Lawrence “Larry” Herkimer is often referred to as “Mr. Cheerleader” because he institutionalized cheerleading in American high schools and colleges. In 1953 he began the National Cheerleading Association (NCA); he published the first cheerleading magazine (The Megaphone), wrote numerous cheer books, and offered NCA cheerleading camps throughout the US. He also created the “herkie,” a jump performed by cheerleaders across the world.

Jeff Webb, a cheerleader for the University of Oklahoma in the late 1960s, went to work for Herkimer in 1971. Three years later, he left NCA to form Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) and Varsity Spirit. Webb is credited with transforming cheerleading from a sideline activity to an athletic spectacle worthy of attracting its own audience. Webb organized the first national championship in 1981. ESPN televised the first national cheerleading championship in 1983. Webb sold his company to Bain Capital in 2018 for $2.5 billion.

Cheerleading began in the United States, and its association with the American sport of football has made it a unique American icon. Cheerleaders are ubiquitous in American popular culture and have come to represent the American ideals of patriotism, eternal optimism, shallowness, and consumerism. Today, however, cheerleading has spread throughout the world. In the 2024 Cheerleading Worlds Championship, teams represented 21 countries including England, Australia, Germany, and Chilie.

It depends on who you ask. For the thousands of cheerleaders whose main goal is to win a national or international competition, the answer is “of course, it is a sport.” Cheerleaders are athletes who practice their sport, perfect their moves, train constantly, often suffer injuries, and compete in championships similar to those of other athletes. It has its own specialized language and winning requires not only athleticism but also strategy.

In 2000, the Office of Civil Rights reiterated its position that cheerleading, whether of the sideline or competitive variety, was not a sport and its team members could not be counted as athletes under Title IX. In 2012, a federal court upheld this position in Biediger v. Quinnipiac University. The case originated in 2009 when the volleyball coach at Quinnipiac sued the school after officials decided to eliminate women’s volleyball and replace it with competitive cheerleading. A lower court ruled in favor of the coach, stating that competitive cheerleading lacked “a uniform set of rules for competition and the restriction of competition to contests against other varsity opponents, two essential “touchstones” of a varsity sports program. They also noted that competitive cheerleading lacked standard rules and scoring systems, a national governing board, and post-season guidelines. The university appealed the decision. On August 7, 2012, the 2nd U.S. District Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s ruling, stating that “cheerleading is not yet recognized as a sport or even an emerging sport by the NCAA. Nor has DOE [Department of Education] recognized competitive cheerleading as a sport.”

In 2016 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) granted provisional Olympic status to cheerleading. This opens the door for the International Cheerleading Union (located in the U.S.) to petition the IOC to include cheerleading in future Olympics. However, cheerleading will not be featured in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The five new sports added to the 2028 Olympics lineup are baseball/softball, flag football, cricket, lacrosse, and squash.

The most common cheerleading injuries are strains and sprains, back injuries, and concussions. However, fall-related injuries, most of which are related to pyramid and partner stunts, have the potential to be catastrophic injuries. Citing cheerleading as the leading cause of catastrophic injuries in female high school and collegiate athletes, the American Academy of Pediatrics (2012) and the American Medical Association (2014) adopted policies designating cheerleading as a sport in hopes that such a move would lead to safer practice conditions and equipment.

What’s the point of any sport or athletic activity? Cheerleading provides its participants an opportunity to be active, learn coordination, build community, gain confidence and mostly just have fun. Even when cheerleaders are cheering for other athletes, they likely aren’t truly there for anyone but themselves. Cheerleading exists because people enjoy doing it—there doesn’t need to be anymore of a reason than that.

Competitive-only squads began in the United States in the 1990s and are the fastest growing segment of cheerleading. All-Star squads are associated with private gyms, rather than high schools or colleges. They do not cheer for other teams. Rather they exist for the sole purpose of competing at state, regional, national and international competitions. Many high school and collegiate squads also compete at various championships and consider competition to be their primary purpose. However, many of these squads still perform the more traditional aspect of cheering on the sidelines for their football or basketball team.

USA Cheer recently created STUNT in response to the growing popularity of competitive-only cheerleading. According to their website, “STUNT has been designed specifically in accordance with the guidelines for sport as set forth by the Office for Civil Rights” (usacheer.org). As noted above, the NCAA does not consider STUNT or competitive cheerleading a sport or an emerging sport.

Cheerleading is scored based on a combination of difficulty, execution, technique, creativity, and overall performance. The scoring system varies depending on the style of cheerleading and competition, but all are similar in that they majorly focus on stunts, tumbling, motions and cheering (other than All-Star). All score sheets operate under a system of deductions that remove points for stunt or athlete falls, depending on their severity, skills legalities, and rules infractions.

In recent years Varsity has created an industry standard for scoring with the Universal Scoring System which is used at all Varsity All-Star competitions. This system removes nearly all subjectivity in scoring but is limited in that it is not used for high school or college cheerleading or competitions not owned by Varsity.

The overt sexualization of cheerleading is associated with the introduction of professional cheerleading squads, most particularly the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, who, in 1972, revamped their squad to consist of adult women over the age of 18. Clad in short shorts and go-go boots while performing sexually provocative moves, the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders (DCC) were viewed by many as sexual objects to be consumed for the pleasure of male football fans. Many high school, collegiate, and All-Star squads are quick to point out that the style of cheerleading associated with the DCC and other professional squads is vastly different from the pyramid-building, basket tossing, and tumbling style of cheerleading seen on national cheerleading competitions.

Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., and George W. Bush were all cheerleaders. Other politicians who were former cheerleaders: Thad Cochran, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Trent Lott, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Other famous former cheerleaders: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Reese Witherspoon, Miley Cyrus, Aaron Spelling, Jimmy Stewart, Chrissy Teigen, Blake Lively, Danielle Brooks, Kirsten Dunst, Dakota Fanning, Eva Longoria, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, Jennifer Lawrence, Fergie, Amy Poehler, Olivia Munn, Jessica Simpson, Megan Fox, Alicia Silverstone, Rachel Ray, Jayma Mays, Denise Richards, Lindsay Lohan, Renee Zellweger, Snooki, Kirstie Alley, Michael Douglas, Paul Rudd, Brooke Shields, Kim Basinger, Christina Aguilera, Faye Dunaway, Katie Couric, Halle Berry, Kelly Ripa, Kathy Griffin, Diane Sawyer, Megan Fox, Madonna, Meryl Streep, Samuel L. Jackson, Raquel Welch, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd, Jack Lemmon, Steve Martin, Lela Rochon, Kathie Lee Gifford, Faith Hill, Sela Ward, Susan Lucci, Calista Flockhart, Sally Field, Paula Abdul, Kirk Douglas, Terri Hatcher, Reba McIntyre, Cybil Sheppard, Cameron Diaz - just to name a few!

“Cheerlebrities” are well-known, influential athletes within the cheerleading community, who often gain fame through social media, competitions, and brand sponsorships. They are typically elite-level cheerleaders, many of whom compete with top all-star teams or have standout skills that make them fan favorites. Many become famous while they are still teenagers from social media accounts where they share training videos, behind-the-scenes content, and personal insights into the sport. Some well-known cheerlebrities have even transitioned into coaching, entrepreneurship, or roles in professional cheerleading.

Some of the most notable cheerlebrities include Carly Manning, Gabi Butler, Gabi Fuller, Kenley Pope, Ryan Cummings, Makayla Noble, Amanda Graceffa, Kennedy Thames, and Angel Rice.