Talk:Cheerleading/Archive 1

Cheerleading also catches links from Cheerleader, so if anyone's editing this page, they can include information about the actual people who cheerlead.

I slightly edited the reincorporation, because the word "merely" undermines the importance of the aesthetics of the human body. Otherwise I second the revision. Mikkalai 17:38, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

How about adding something about male cheerleaders? -Cookiemobsta 03:32, 4 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Suggestion: Have 3 sub-categories
At the high school level, cheerleading is broken up into 3 sub categories, with cheer, song, and pep flags. Could we please mention this?

These three categories are not nationwide at the high school level, let alone worldwide. I don't really think that this merits inclusion.MsDivagin 19:42, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

suggestion: add movie "drumlines" to cheerleading wiki?
Greetings,

The first movie that I saw that really explained the sheer competitiveness to cheerleading was in "Drumlines"

http://www.drumlinemovie.com/home.html

It centres on the drummers rather than cheerleaders, but certainly helps put cheerleading in context.

I'll leave that to the experts at this wiki to include or not.

Thanks

jason www.avaiki.nu

- I've seen the movie Drumline several times, and I haven't spotted any significant cheerleading in it. -SmakD

Stereotypes, contempt
The stereotype is described twice in the one paragraph. This is unnecessary.

Also, the sentence:

"This behaviour usually arouses contempt among high school subcultures in the lower order."

is very much POV.

--Thedangerouskitchen 13:50, 3 May 2005 (UTC)


 * This was trivially obvious as POV, I removed it today. --Yamla 17:44, 2005 Jun 15 (UTC)

--I18n-- This article almost exclusively deals with the American idea of cheerleading. It needs more info on practices in other countries (such as those in Britain and Ireland which are essentially all-male roles). --Gabriel Beecham/Kwekubo 28 June 2005 19:48 (UTC)

--Bob-- It is true however, that kind of behavior does arouse contempt among many high school subcultures.

I hate the stereotypes placed on cheerleaders. I am a cheerleader and i am one of the top students in my class. The stereotypes are bull.


 * There is a lot of truth to the stereotypes, and they should be included. The above comment proves it.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.33.203.109 (talk) 15:56, August 26, 2007 (UTC)


 * Stereotypes have no place in an encyclopedic article unless you can clearly and distinctly reference them properly AND factually write about them. Very tricky. They probably should not be included due to the inherently POV nature. VigilancePrime 06:44, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Uniforms
I would go so far as to say the ABSENCE of information about the cheerleading stereotype is an example of POV, as the stereotype is out there and a very important (if undesirable) part of popular opinion about cheerleading. I added in a small paragraph about the uniforms which I don't feel violates NPOV, although I really think there should be a stereotype / pop-culture reference paragraph in there as well. Seyon 06:15, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

fetish category
I removed this from the Category:Sexual fetishism, since that's not what this article is about. If you look at other articles in that category, you'll see there is *separate* "fetish" article for each type. Example the article foot fetishism is apart of the category. But, the article foot is not. --rob 05:05, 5 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Grrr, I didn't see that you had added a comment here so I already went and reverted your change. It appears however that you have a point.  I'm not sure (yet) whether I agree with the point, I'll have to check into it.  I'm about to go to work so I'll report back later in the day.  In the mean while, I'd be okay if you reverted my changes back.  --Yamla 13:43, August 5, 2005 (UTC)


 * Perhaps a uniform fetishism article could be made. There must be quite a large scope for the discussion of fantasies regarding people in uniforms.  violet/riga (t) 14:37, 5 August 2005 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I should have adddd to the discussion page, before removing it. Per Yamla's comments, I have re-removed it.  I think I agree with Violetriga, about uniform fetishism (same concept as fur fetishism and others) although hopefuly there's some sort of "standard" academic term.  Such an article could cover Catholic school uniform, in a like manner.  --rob 19:09, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Movies
I'm surprised there's no mention of movies like Bring It On which was all about cheerleading. —Phil | Talk 10:20, 9 December 2005 (UTC)


 * There used to be a section on movies, however the problem I had with that is many, if not most of the movies listed really had nothing to do with the actual practice of cheerleading. It just so happened that a main character was a cheerleader, or whatnot. Spuddy 17 19:47, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

cleared up definition
I cleared up the definition of cheerleading at the top of the page. The first sentence was: "Cheerleading is the organized use of song, dance and/or gymnastics to encourage crowds to cheer on sports teams at games and matches." That is true for cheerleading teams who do cheer on sports teams, otherwise known as "sideline cheerleaders," but that definition does fit the definition of all cheerleading teams, such as all-star cheerleading teams. Although the definition goes on to explain that cheerleading is also undertaken as a competitive sport, it can be interpreted as "all cheerleading teams cheer for sports teams, but some of them compete as well." I also erased the part mentioning cheerleading as recreational activity. I'm almost positive there is no such thing as a "recreational cheerleading team." They're either a team that cheers for sports, or a team that is competitive, in that case, they are considered all-star. Additionally, it mentioned that competitive cheerleading is most popular in the United States and Canada. Actually, the majority of cheerleaders in places such as the UK and Australia are competitive. Spuddy 17 22:06, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Actually, there are many "recreational Cheerleading" programs in my area of the country. The local YMCA has one. It is a feeder program into their allstar program. dabele

What's the difference between...
This is what I need to know: What's the difference between cheerleading squads and pom squads? Aren't they the same thing? Oh, and I noticed there isn't a colorguard article on Wikipedia. Could someone who knows more about than I do possibly write up one? Fanficgurl 5:27, 1 Feb 2006 (UTC)

A poms squad is a type of dance team that uses pom poms in their routines. Think NBA dance teams, for example. Spuddy 17 23:56, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

overkill?
I noticed there is a huge section dedicated to the how tos of partner stunts. There are so many different stunts that cheerleaders perform that listing every single one, and how to perform them, would use an enormous amount of space. I think it would be a lot easier for the reader to swallow if maybe some basic stunts were included, not every stunt a parter group performs, and the how tos. Spuddy 17 06:44, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

Ashley Burns' death
Who in the world wrote this garbage about how she died? I am a friend of her mother's and know for a fact that her cause of death was due to a blunt trauma that ruptured her spleen and therefore died of internal bleeding. I don't think there is a better reference than her autopsy report. I am disgusted by this. You can not change the truth to fit your idea of cheerleading safety.


 * Great. Please update the article itself and make sure you remember to cite the information properly.  --Yamla 00:45, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

Do most cheerleader girls have six packs?


 * No, but how is this really relevant? What is your fixation with six-packs, Kane50? --Yamla 14:31, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

I just was wondering?

Alot of cheerleaders have six packs, but so do alot of other female athletes. It is from all the training and conditioning (i.e. situps, crunches, etc.) they do.

June 24 Revision
Hi, I did some updating to the article, and will explain it here: Although I appreciated the detail of the how-to section for stunts, I thought it was unnecessary because (1) as stated before, it could get very long; (2)it might influence some child to go out and try them with her friends--wikipedia is not really an instruction manual, and in this case it would be dangerous if someone where to try them out based on the article; (3)there are lots of variations between teams as to how to perform certain stunts. So instead of listing all possible variations, I thought it might be better to have a list of the common stunts, and a brief (I tried!) description of the end result. I included a potential link to an article about stunting methods (I don't know if it is necessary though...) incase people wanted to still keep it. I saved the old stunting info to a word doc, in case anyone wants it...just let me know. Also, that info was in reference to partner stunts, and if we were going for the "end-result" description idea, there would be a lot of redundancy to describe again what all the partner stunts look like. I will add a bullet point about what partner stunts are though.

I added a few things here and there, I don't think there should be a problem with those edits.

And I added a section about famous cheerleaders. I found the List of cheerleaders afterwards, and I don't want this to just be a repetition of that list at all, but I thought it might be good to have a SHORT list of internationally famous people. Presidents, A-list actors, and others of such fame. Obvisouly there are probably thousands of actors and singers who were cheerleaders, and it would be ridiculous to include them all. But this can be perhaps, the very best. I think it would be important to include for a few reasons, the most important (probably) to dispel rumours that cheerleaders are ALL brainless/sluts etc. Another reason being that many articles (universities, etc) have lists of notable alumni...this is sort of similar. But if anyone has a problem with including it (or anything else I did here) please bring it to my attention here, and we can all figure it out. :)

2 more things: I don't know how to do pictures, so I can't do this, but the quality of these pictures are...not so good. The front one is a half of a stunt..? An the other stunt ones should be clear as to what they are doing exactly. So if someone could get some good quality photos, that would be great. Secondly, I am wondering if the results of the worlds competition should not have its own page? The FIFA World Cup has its own page seperate from soccer, etc, so I think it would be better to have its own page with all those tables. Ideas? Thanks for reading, let me know of any problems. DerGlizerndeDiamant 00:18, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

Uniform Section
I didn't want the author to be angry if I made changes without discussing it, so I am bringing it up here. I believe that cheerleading uniforms tend to be the school or team's colours, bright or otherwise (many schools have navy blue or maroon, dark green, even black). True, the school/team colours may have been chosen to be bright in order to be more noticeable, but they could also have to do with the school's history, location, etc. I therefore think the idea that cheerleading uniforms are made to attract attention is inaccurate. Should a change be made? I also think that the fetish statement is out of place (someone mentioned it earlier in this talk page). A weird person could have a fetish with just about anything, and that does not mean it should be mentioned on every article on something about which a perverse person could have a fetish. I am not trying to rid the article of anything negative--I think it could be valid to say something about the fact that cheerleading is sometimes perceived as having sexual connotations, but I think this would belong in the history section and not a general truth about cheerleading. Thoughts? DerGlizerndeDiamant 06:26, 26 June 2006 (UTC)
 * "sometimes considered to have sexual connotations"? Hell, the whole point of cheerleading is to let men look at pretty women... ;) &mdash; Nightst a  llion  (?) 21:39, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

I deleted the whole section because it contained POVs, incorrect information, and overall was just creepy.Spuddy 17 02:12, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Stunting Revisions Vote
Of course there will be differences in what different squads/different parts of the country/world call different stunts, but I have never heard of an extension being called a "double base". Let's discuss it, or take a vote. This is an extremely common stunt, really the most basic, so it should be easy to come to a consensus based on majority for its name. (We are talking about the 4 person basic stunt with hands at clavical level, not a full extension. Hmm, that even makes it more in favour of being called an extension, it the extended version of it is called a full extension). So, I vote:

Extension DerGlizerndeDiamant 18:17, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

article too long
I posted a while ago about the article becoming too long with the description of individual stunts and whatnot. No one responded so I went ahead and deleted all the stunting and tumbling descriptions. This is not a cheerleading elements how-to. There are dozens of different stunts, tumbling passes, jumps, and motions that cheerleaders do. If each element gets its own description and how to this article will be miles long. Please leave the sections to basic descriptions.Spuddy 17 00:44, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Stunting
I agree that a description of every part (transitions included) of every partner (1 base, 1 flyer) stunt could be a bad idea for the reasons listed above, but partner stunting is certainly a significant part of cheerleading, especially for college and some all-star teams. While there are probably technically hundreds of different stunts, most of them are differentiated merely by the transitions involved, and the end goal of many of them is usually the same. I think in the interest of completeness that it would be a good idea either to create a new article or to devote a section in this article to general descriptions of categories of stunts. I realize that some squads call the same stunt by different names, but that is a hurdle that is easy enough to overcome and is certainly not a reason to eliminate stunt descriptions altogether.--Thizzlethethird 04:38, 4 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I think it would be a good idea to create a seperate article because this article was far too long. Spuddy 17 02:53, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

There should be a SHORT "International" section and consolidate UK and Canada (and others) info.

List of jumps
I noticed that someone removed the list of various jumps from this article. I agree that it weighed this article down and is better removed. However, I have moved the information to a new list-type article, List of cheerleading jumps, so that it won't be lost from view. ~ ONUnicorn (Talk / Contribs) 13:58, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

worldwide
Cheerleading, especially competitive only cheerleading teams, have been growing in popularity worldwide. Many countries including the UK, Australia, Japan, and Mexico have developed cheerleading organizations to facilitate the growing number of teams in their countries. Please do not change the parts of this article that have to do with cheerleading outside of the USA simply because you are unaware. Spuddy 17 22:20, 22 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I am not unaware. 'Worldwide' implies around the whole world (see the Wiktionary, or any dictionary for that matter), not simply 'overseas'. Though cheerleading has spread in a very limited way to some other countries, in countries I've lived in, in Europea (including the UK) and Australia, cheerleading is viewed as American and a novelty. In most of the world, Asia, Africa, most of Latin America, cheerleading is unknown. I am changing the wording to a compromise form I hope you can live with. mg e kelly 06:53, 24 October 2006 (UTC)


 * You are just trying to play semantics games with the word "worldwide." If the word "worldwide" bothers you so much in this article, then change it. However North America is not a country. When you write "...has spread to other countries, too" after "North America," it connotates that North America is a country. I corrected this by writing "it has spread elsewhere." Can we agree on this?
 * Anyway, what you have stated ("in countries I've lived in, in Europea (including the UK) and Australia, cheerleading is viewed as American and a novelty") is an opinion, an observation. I am sure there are many people in those countries who view cheerleading as a novelty, as you say. Even many Americans view it that way still. But this article is not about what people think about cheerleading, and your observations, or even my observations for that matter, have no place in this article. The fact of the matter is cheerleading is growing in popularity around the world. I can present the evidence in this by linking you to the sites of cheerleading organizations around the world. You have not shown any evidence to suggest otherwise other than your own observations.
 * Also, I will remove "American-style cheerleading" until you can explain why that needs to be there. When you say "American-style cheerleading" it connotates there cheerleading is performed differently in other parts of the world. Cheerleading

is essentially the same thing around the world. They do not practice cheerleading differently in the UK as opposed to America.Spuddy 17 13:36, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree. This is a ver "americanized" version of cheerleadering. Of course this is because the biggest place where cheerleadering is practiced is North America but other countries like Japan have also a huge cheerleader base and are pretty common in popular culture so at least it needs a small paragraph. However since the article is too long we better cut it into different articles General_Norris 24 November 2006

Two kinds of cheerleading - professional (NFL) and amateur (high schools)
Citation:

In the 1960s National Football League (NFL) teams began to organize professional cheerleading teams. It was the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders who gained the spotlight with their revealing outfits and sophisticated dance moves, which debuted in the 1972-1973 season, but were first seen widely in Super Bowl X (1976). This caused the image of cheerleaders to permanently change, with many other NFL teams emulating them. Most of the professional teams' "cheerleading" squads would more accurately be described as dance teams by today's standards; as they rarely, if ever, actively encourage crowd noise or perform modern cheerleading moves

I think this part of text expresses clear POV, notably:


 * "cheerleading" is put in quotation marks. Remember, cheer leading - this is just the origin of the name, now it's just a name with its own meaning. The fact that these girls do not encourage cheers doesn't mean that they are "cheerleaders" put in quotation marks. The fact that some kinds of football are played mostly by throwing the ball and not kicking doesn't allow you to put "football" in quotation marks (Nobody writes - American "football", so why call these teams - "chearleeding" squads ??)


 * they rarely encourage croud noise - I think even if they don't encourage, there IS croud noise (from the straight males who watch them)


 * they rarely perform modern cheerleading moves - another sentence, which has a hidden message under it, which says: real cheerleading must include high level of complexity, dangerous ancrobatic moves.

If there is POV from one side, then there must be the other POV present. For example, the level of injuries in these "cheerleading" activities in NFL is much lover than in high school acrobatic cheerleading

I even suggest that you have two different sections (or maybe even pages) about cheerleading - one about the NFL style, the other about high-school acrobatics-based

levels
include something about All-Star levels

ex. senior level 6 junior prep level 3

Suggestion: Explain culture and include criticism
I looked up this page because I've always been perplexed about the idea of cheerleading. As a non-American I'm completely unfamiliar with the cheerleading culture, except what I've gleaned from movies. I find it astonishing that there exists a sport (or activity) which puts women on the sidelines while the boys play. Even more so that this is allowed and encouraged at schools.

If this is the case, then there is surely some criticism of it - can anyone supply details on that? If it's not the case, then could there be some details as to the legitimacy of cheerleading as an activity.

I'm not the right person to do this, as I have no understanding of the activity. Kitty Davis 10:28, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

we do not just stand on the ssidelines and watch the boys play. We have competitions. football games are just a side thing that we do to build team relationships. a lot of cheerleaders dread football games because they are extremely steriotypical and a waste of time where we could spend those 2 hours on conditioning or practicing for competition.

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a sport
The formal definition of a sport is an “athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature.” Cheerleading is an extreme physical activity, which requires an immense amount of conditioning. Stunting is a major component of a successful cheerleading team. In order for a stunt to be preformed successfully and safely each stunt group must be completely in sync. Flyers must be flexible and in complete control of their movements. Bases must posses the strength and skill in order to keep their flyer safe. To insure that the entire team performs perfectly many hours of training is mandatory. On an average week each team member must stay after-school for practice for approximately two and a half hours. Teams are often required to practice when school is not even in session. Cheerleading practices include stretching, conditioning, stunting, and routine choreography. All practices will hopefully lead to a successful competition. The cheerleading competitions are made up of many teams of the same level striving to achieve first place to bring the trophy home to their school. The average routine of a competition lasts only two and a half minutes however many hours of prep time are required before any team will ever step into an arena. Not only do Cheerleaders practice and work just as hard and long as other sports teams of our district, they are also required to maintain the same academic standards set forth by the district for all other sports team members and thereby deserve the same consideration and respect.


 * WP:RS, WP:NOR. --Yamla 22:01, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

I would call cheerleading athletic entertainment, but not necessarily sport. I know there's a lot of conditioning and training involved that rivals that of most of the sports we accept, but I'd like to add that in most sports, the winner and loser(s) are decided by the competition themselves playing, not by some third party arbiter, as is the case with cheerleading, gymnastics, figure skating, etc. Hell, if cheerleading is considered a sport, marching band, dancing, and any other form of athletic entertainment might as well be. They have to practice as long as the cheerleaders do at times with these big instruments under the hot sun during the beginning of the year, and yes, there are competitions for marching band as well.

But nonetheless, the main purpose is to entertain the judges to get a high score, which is subjective amongst judges. We all know that in football, when you cross the goal line it's always a touchdown, or in hockey or soccer, if the ball goes into the net it's a goal. We all know that the team that scores the most points in football or the team with the most goals in hockey/soccer wins. But a certain score for one judge could be different for another judge. All in all, the competitions are not being decided by the competitors, but by someone who might choose to make you lose because he or she might not like the color of your hair or your personality. I'm not saying this is the case all the time, but I can imagine it happening.

But I feel that school districts should back it like it was a sport.

--Packers715 15:11, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

The problem with your argument is your are assuming the definition of "sport" is an athletic event in which the outcome is decided by means of objective point scoring. The Oxford Dictionary defines a sport as "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others." The Websters Dictionary defines a sport as "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature." The word "sport" is a very broad word that encompasses many different activities. So in essence, yes, cheerleading, gymnastics, and figure skating are sports, just a different type of sport from football, soccer, basketball, etc...Spuddy 17 03:50, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Your argument that cheerleading is not a sport is completely false. Your definition of a sport is "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature." Cheerleading does require skill. we run as fast as we can into flips and we also throw 100 pound girls in the air and the girls are required to flip and twist in the air and pull flexibiblity skills with their faith on their bases and backspots to catch them. That seems like physical activity to me... and then we put together a 2 minute and 30 second routine to compete with in competition. Thank you for your time. and also there is not different types of sports.. a sport is a sport.

Celebrity Cheer
Celebrity Cheer is listed as being from Maryland, which is incorrect. Celebrity has two gyms - one in Salem, NH and one in Montville, CT. The team that placed second in International Junior was from the Salem gym. Please correct this! Thanks. ImsoFIERCE 22:43, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

GW Bush misinterpretation?
Listed among the famous cheerleaders is George W. Bush, presumably because of a quote in this section based on this source:
 * At 15, he left home to start on the traditional family educational track at an elite prep school in the East, Phillips Andover. George Sr. had been a baseball star wearing the Andover "A." Bush also played baseball, but mostly made his mark as a cheerleader for the teams. (emphasis added)

What I'm trying to figure out is whether that term is actually relevant, or whether the CNN writer's use of the word "cheerleader" is too coloquial to earn any mention here. Thoughts? $$\sim$$ Lenoxus " * " 04:05, 30 April 2003

Accourding to [] Bush was a head cheerleader (in the cheer on another team sense, lead the crowd, member of the cheerleading squad/captian) for Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. MsDivagin 20:45, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

Cheerleading in Japan?
No information on Japanese cheerleading teams? It is quite different from US style cheerleading, and well worth a mention. Squads are usually half male, and taiko drums and large flags are often involved.

As an expert in American style cheerleading, I know that this style is very popular in Japan and have even watched Japanese routines on www.youtube.com but I can not comment in it from a knowedgable point of view. I suggest edits for this by a Japanese editor more knowledgable about it than me.MsDivagin 20:38, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

EBA
Do you think that the Elite Beat Agents are worth mentioning in the 'Cheerleading in Popular Culture' section? --66.203.32.62 16:32, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Does it have anything to do with cheerleading? Maddie  was here  19:34, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, there is a sentence referencing Ouendan that fits them pretty well:
 * "The games task the cheer squads with assisting people in desperate need of help by cheering them on, giving them the motivation to succeed.


 * If that doesn't sum up EBA, I don't know what does. --66.203.32.62 15:10, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Toughest and Most Expensive Sport
I removed "It is the toughest and most expensive sport" from the first paragraph. Its supposed reference made no mention of difficulty or expense, and I don't think that there exists a citation that definitely names any sport as the "toughest". If somebody wants to add something in the opening paragraph involving cost, do it with a reference that actually discusses the cost of cheer and not the international rise of it. Kirobaito

POV section needs removal or moving
The entire listing of "USASF World Cheerleading Championships" needs to be removed from this article. What's the point? Perhaps as a separate Wikipedia page, but how is this directly relevant? Why list this but not the entire history of the NCAA championships of cheerleading? What about other organizations? See what I mean? This does not belong in this article. I'll give it a few days (both for discussion/consensus if necessary and for someone to move it to another page) before I cut it. I just wanted to mention it first and throw it out there for thought and comment as necessary. VigilancePrime 06:50, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Done.Thinkbui 20:19, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

I agree that USASF Worlds deserves a seperate article, however, I must disagree the history of cheerleading in the NCAA in not important, since cheerleading was created at an American college. I must also STRONGLY disagree that is article does not contain a worldwide perspective. Cheerleading as a whole is a very very new phenominon in the rest of the world, and there is really not comparison in skill level currently, also, the IASF, the international governing body for allstar cheerleading was founded as an arm of the USASF, the American governing body for allstar cheerleading. 02:46, 19 September 2007 (UTC)MsDivagin


 * Thinkbui, thank you.
 * MsDivagin, I'm not saying it's not important. I'm saying that to list all the winners of any particular group in the main article is not right to do. NCAA should instead have it's own article ("List of NCAA Cheer Championship winners" or similar) just as any other major organization should.
 * As for the global issue, I hadn't mentioned it at all, but since you bring it up, the UK has a thorough program but it's not that mentioned. I think that there is sufficient reason to keep that tag on the article... it is designed to attract more people to come and work on the article; it's not a knock on the article or its editors.
 * VigilancePrime 03:10, 19 September 2007 (UTC)


 * VigilancePrime regarding the NCAA part, to my knowledge Cheerleading as a sport is not sanctioned by the NCAA. I know all of Minnesota's titles, for example, came from UCA/UDA, but I'm not sure if they are the only ones crowning national champions.  I personally don't really know all that much about cheerleading and only know what I know because I've had a number of cheerleader friends and am a BIG Minnesota Golden Gophers fan where this was born, so I lack the kind of insight you might have.  Varsity's UCA/UDA college championship pages only go back to 2002, but I have no idea how much farther back their competitions go.  Maybe that's something you can look into.Thinkbui 04:18, 19 September 2007 (UTC)