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Cheerleading Research Paper

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Whether seeing a person dunk a basketball or spike a volleyball, sports have a way to capture the crowd’s attention. A sport is an activity that uses physical effort and skill in order for an individual or team to compete against another or others. Cheerleading is a very popular activity in today’s society. Cheer is a sport which focuses on performances that involve chants and routines to entertain others during a game or competition. With its history, development, and athleticism, cheerleading is a very interesting sport. The history of cheer is very important. Johnny Campbell, a medical student at the University of Minnesota, saw his school’s football team on a losing streak. He realized something had needed to be done to better the team. Campbell is considered the first official cheerleader (“Cheerleading 101”). He has held this position because he riled up the crowd with a megaphone and cheers. Even though Campbell took credit as the first cheerleader, the idea of cheers was thought of at Princeton. In 1869 there was an all-male “pep club” with these so-called “cheers” (“Cheer Union”). A grad student from Princeton, Thomas …show more content…

Cheer was almost a 100 year old sport before women joined. Women enhanced the sport by adding tumbling and acrobatics (“Varsity”). Tumbling is a form of gymnastics where the gymnast will flip and twist with the risk of getting an injury. As the years passed, cheer became even more difficult. During the 1980’s, cheer had consisted of more difficult cheers and stunts within routines (“Cheerleading 101”). Stunting is a building performance that uses strength and agility to lift a person or to “fly” on those people using balance. In the late 80’s and early 90’s, All Star cheer was founded. All Star cheer focuses on athletic training and performances (“Varsity”). Endurance is a key characteristic to obtain when performing these intense routines. All in all, cheer is a very athletic

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