Lexierennella

Cheerleading

History

Male Participation

Many people Envision Cheerleading to be an all girl sport. The media has created this depiction top the world over time that it is a sexist sport. Although, cheerleading historically dates back to it being started by a man. "The year was 1898. Johnny Campbell was a fan of the Minnesota Gophers, and his team needed some encouragement. Down on the sidelines, he turned to the crowd and began to lead the first ever cheer, and thus cheerleading was born." "Not only was cheerleading started by male cheerleaders, traditions were also perpetuated by men like Lawrence Herkimer and Fred Gastoff. Lawrence Herkimer founded the National Cheerleaders Association and invented the herkie jump, along with contributing many other "firsts" to the sport of cheerleading. Fred Gastoff invented the vinyl pom pon." Men bring a ton of skills to a cheer squad such as strength which helps during stunting and complete the team. "Like all cheerleaders, the men on a squad need to practice for routines, but their stunts in college are different than those of the women. There is less focus on flexibility and splits and usually much more tumbling in the form of flips, pikes and handstands. This requires a great deal of core strength as well as very strong legs. Its nice to see men finally getting the opportunity to cheer for the NFL. "Napoleon Jinnies and Quinton Peron are making history tonight as the first male cheerleaders in the history of the National Football League (NFL) to perform at the big game."

Associations, federations, and organizations

Universal Cheerleading Association: UCA is an association that is owned by the company brand Varsity. "Universal Cheerleaders Association was founded in 1974 by Jeff Webb to provide the best educational training for cheerleaders with the goal of incorporating high-level skills with traditional crowd leading. It was Jeff’s vision that would transform cheerleading into the dynamic, athletic combination of high energy entertainment and school leadership that is loved by so many." "Today, UCA is the largest cheerleading camp company in the world, offering the widest array of dates and locations of any camp company. We also celebrate cheerleader’s incredible hard work and athleticism through the glory of competition at over 50 regional events across the country and our Championships at the Walt Disney World Resort®every year." "UCA has instilled leadership skills and personal confidence in more than 4.5 million athletes on and off the field while continuing to be the industry’s leader for more than forty-five years" UCA has helped many cheerleaders get the training they need to succeed.