Football game cheerleaders, Bring It On movies, pom-poms, to name a few aspects of the sport. But what most people don’t realize is that there’s another world of cheerleading that doesn’t involve any of those things. It’s called all-star cheerleading. It demands an immense level of skill, endurance, and dedication. The sport has an interesting background and history, and is very entertaining to observe, even if you don’t know anything about the sport. I sat down with one of the best cheerleaders in southern Mississippi and discussed her thoughts on the sport as well. Cheerleading may surprise some in the history it contains. It’s foundations can trace all the way back to the late 1800’s. Students at Princeton University started a, “pep club” to help other students provide support and enthusiasm for their football teams. This tradition carried over to students at the University of Minnesota, where students were nominated to be, “yell leaders” for their games.
One student that was nominated was Jack “Johnny” Campbell, who was the first student topick up a megaphone, jump onto the sports field, and lead the crowd with the already popular university organized cheer. After this, the fundamentals of cheerleading grew, adding new techniques and skills to the world of cheerleading, allowing it to grow as a sport and draw more participation. For the first 25 years of it’s existence, cheerleading was actually a male only sport. But the cheerleading pioneers at the University of Minnesota decided to change that and add the first female cheerleaders. While they participated frequently for the next 25 years, it wasn’t until the 1940’s that women proceeded to control the vast population of cheerleaders. Just like a few other occupations around the country, this gender shift was created when many of America’s college aged men went off to war. Today, those numbers stay consistent, with 90% of cheerleaders around the world being female.
For the next fifty years, cheerleading grew, and subsequently created an overflow of athletes. In 1990, there were 1.7 million cheerleaders, and non-school based cheer teams were formed, thus bringing the creation of All Star cheerleading (“History of Cheerleading”). The history of cheerleading is very rich one and a lot more extensive than most people would expect. With new, improved, and more effective technologies, coaching methods, and resources, All Star cheerleading has evolved to be one of the most physically demanding sports there is. Every year, even with restrictions on certain skills and tumbling passes, teams all over the country make competition in all divisions harder and harder. Improved technology in physical therapy and fitness advancement allows athletes to stay more competitive for longer periods of time and learn skills faster. Many coaches would agree that a child who starts at the optimal age of 4 should be able to perform a backbend, hold themselves up in a bridge, and kick one foot over their head by the time they are around 5 or 51⁄2 years old.
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Even when not everyone is able to start at this age, even the children who get a late start are able to catch up, and in some cases, exceed incredibly past others who started before them. With these, children, there is a heightened level of adeptness that is undeniably at play. I sat down and had a discussion with one of those children, Lacey Dunn, who is on a local cheer team and has been on one of the top All Star teams in the country, and she’s only just turned 13. Lacey Dunn is in a world of All Star cheerleading that I’ve been through, and now look at from the outside: being an All Star cheerleader. She’s a 13 year-old eighth grader at Petal Middle School, and started cheerleading at the age of 8. She is just like any average middle school student: she goes to school dances, local high school football games, and hangs out with her friends (when she can). The main difference: Lacey is a more elite athlete than most children at her school will ever hope to be.
What most people at her school probably don’t know is that she’s been on a cheerleading team that is consistently revered as one of the top teams in the world. When Lacey started cheering, she was in elementary school. Two years later, when she was 10, she mastered a running full-twisting layout, a skill that takes most cheerleaders around four to six years of consistent tumbling practice to even start thinking about. Even last year when Lacey only had four years of cheerleading training, she has skyrocketed to the top of the sport. Competing for a team that consistently goes to and competes well at the United States All Star Federation (USASF) World Championships, ACE Cheer Company Warriors, as well as our local team, ACE Cheer Company Chiefs. Both teams are capable of, and almost definitely, will compete at World Championships; so being on those teams is not an easy task. When I asked her how the sport has affected her, she said, “Well clearly, it keeps me in shape.
I don’t even think about it because it’s just so much fun, but it makes me healthy. Oh and I have this awesome six pack.” After, I asked her if it hindered her social life at school at all. “Well of course it’ll get in the way of my friends from school, mostly during competition season. But that’s why I do it. Even when I’m not hanging out with those friends (from school), I get to see my other ones at the gym. And at competition you make new friends and see old ones. So it pretty much makes up for me missing out on weekends at home.” Lacey certainly comes off as a typical teenager, and if anything even a little goofy. She’s always laughing or smiling, she is easily one of the most kind and thoughtful people at the gym, and she is the most dedicated person to the ACE Cheer Company Hattiesburg location. When we sat down and spoke, we only had a limited amount of time unfortunately, but I was able to ask her one last question: how she thought the sport contributed to her life long term. “I know it’s taught me how to be freakin’ tough.
There are some days in the gym when I just want to sit and eat cookies all day. But no, you dumb coaches have to yell at me to get on the floor and work.” She’s clearly joking, but that’s the greatness of the sport. She knows that even if her coaches don’t get onto her to start working, she’ll do it on her own because more often than not, she is working on her own will. “Seriously though, I know it shows me how to work hard. That when you have to work a lot, it’s because you’re working to get what you want. I haven’t gotten quite what I want yet, but I know I’m close and that if I just keep pushing and pushing, I’ll get there.
” When I asked her what she was referring to, she and I both knew that one: “A World championship.” Being a former athlete, and now a coach looking at the competitive world from the outside, I’ve seen just how important this avenue is for a good number of kids. More often than not, it’s simply a way for kids to get in shape or stay there. But for others, it’s a world that their home or school lives can’t reach. Not everyone has it perfect, so when those kids come into the gym, that’s the main benefit to them; they can leave everything at the door for an hour or two. They can trust their coaches to help them, make a difficult day worth persevering, or just focus all their thoughts into something that’ll reward them, which will consequently allow them to take their mind off anything else. These are just a few aspects that offer a look into the world of All Star cheer and exhibit why not just cheerleading but sports in general can be a very beneficial and effective outlet.
