Posted
on November 2, 2014
The
year was 1898.
The
place was the United States of America.
The
event: the birth of cheerleading.
I
never knew that cheerleading got started so late, nor that it was an
American innovation and remains largely an American thing.
I also
didn't know that it started out as an all-male thing!
Cheerleading
didn't just start as an all-male sport, but it wasn't even much of a
sport!
The early cheerleaders were sometimes called “yell
leaders”—a good name, since leading the crowd in cheers is all
that they did!
The
very first cheerleader was Johnny Campbell, who led students at the
University of Minnesota in cheering, “Rah,
Rah, Rah! Ski-u-mah, Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity,
Minn-e-So-Tah!” University of Minnesota students still use this
cheer, all these years later!
Women
cheerleaders started to appear in the early 1920s (although the
postcard to the right shows a female cheerleader from way earlier!).
In World War II, women started to dominate cheerleading, when few men
were involved in organized sports. Today about 97% of all
cheerleaders are female!
Gymnastics,
tumbling, and megaphones were added to the sport, and in the 1960s,
the pompom was invented and began to be widely used. Soon dance moves
began to appear in cheer sequences. By the late 1970s, televised
cheer competitions raised the reputation of cheerleading as a sport
of its own.
Did
you know that cheerleading is the most dangerous of all sports? It's
more dangerous, even, than football—because the injuries often come
from falling from high up.
 |
| Cheerleading started out with college students and trickled down to high school students and younger. |
Check
out this,
this other,
and this third video
for some samples of what cheer is about today. There is a lot of
tumbling and “flying,” and I think you will see why it is so
dangerous, but there is also dance and musicality.
Also
on this date:
Plan
ahead:
Check
out my Pinterest boards for:
And here are my Pinterest boards for:
I’m impressed with the special and informative contents that you just offer in such short timing.
ReplyDeletecheerleading cheers hq