Competition Cheerleading

Competition cheerleading, like every sport, involves a lot of preparation, hard work, and team work in order to compete against, and hopefully beat, teams of your same level. As I stated before there are many parts to a competition routine, and if you are missing even one of them then you get a deduction on your score in competitions. The flyers' jobs are to be tight and hit their tricks, but also give the look of ease and that they are having fun. It is a requirement for flyers to be flexible in order to do most one-legged stunts like heal stretches, scorpions, and arabasques. The bases do exactly what it sounds like they do, they are the 'ground' the flyer stands on. It is important for bases to use their legs and not just their arms to muscle up the stunts, and their arms must also be locked out so the flyers are sturdy.

The pyramids require extreme team work because it almost always involves the entire team. This is where all the flyers connect and do stunts together. The cheer involves a lot of motions, that must also be hit hard in order to get the visual and for the cheer to look clean. The tumbling section is where the crowd can be amazed by running tumbling, like round off handspring tuck or full, as well as standing tumbling, like handsprings or tucks. The dance is the crowd pleaser where the team gets to have fun and give it all they got for the judges. Each section of the routine is scored separately. And like most sports, it is very likely that some teams are better in one areas then another.

The University of Louisville is probably one of the best examples of cheerleading as a sport! Watch the video, located on the side bar, and see for yourself.