Competitive cheerleading has less to do with pompoms and cheers and more to do with high-flying gymnastics.The regulations for competitive cheerleading are established and enforced by separate organizations for high school and college. The overarching regulation body for high school is the National Federation of State High School Associations. It sets rules and regulations for 17 high school sports, as well as for art, music, debate and Spirit, the NFSH term for high school competitive cheerleading. College cheerleading falls under the auspices of the National Cheerleading Association.
NFHS
High school cheerleader squads are still closely linked to their traditional role of promoting school spirit and firing up the crowd at football or basketball games. However, high school competitions involve a high degree of skill in gymnastics. Cheerleaders are required to perform elaborate stunts, such as building and dismounting from pyramids. Competitions also feature basket tosses, in which one or more cheerleaders -- called flyers -- are tossed through the air and then caught by other cheerleaders stationed on the ground.
Teams can compete in a number of categories. The categories include coed, all-girl and show cheer-stunting. Show cheer-stunting requires at least one cheer and a musical segment between 45 seconds and 90 seconds long. The stunts include: pyramids; basket tossing; tumbling; dance; pompoms; megaphones; signs and banners.
NCA
As of April 2011, the National Cheerleaders Association was the rule-making body for college cheerleading squads. It spells out everything from the size of the mat at college championships to the mat's composition -- it must be a 42-foot-by-54-foot carpeted gymnastics mat. NCA regulations cover everything from the types of stunts that are allowed to the propriety of the routines. Each team must perform a choreographed routine lasting up to 2 minutes and 30 seconds. The NCA regulations state that "routines must be appropriate for family viewing." Vulgar or suggestive movements result in a major deduction in the team's score. You can't wear tear-away uniforms or remove any clothing, either.
Safety
Safety has been a big issue in competitive cheerleading since the routines became more elaborate and cheerleaders started flying through the air. From 1982 to 2006, there were 107 catastrophic injuries among high school and college female athletes, and 60 were suffered by cheerleaders. In 2008, Lauren Chang died after being kicked in the chest during a routine, the third death between 2004 and 2008. NCA safety regulations bar the use of trampolines or any similar apparatus to launch flyers into the air. You cannot wear jewelry of any type. There must be three catchers for flyers, who must land in a cradle position. One of the catchers must act as a spotter for the head and neck area of the flyer.
Considerations
The scoring rules for college competitions require judges to evaluate cheerleading teams in six aspects of their performance: technique; stability and strength of stunts; the choreography and flow of the routine; degree of difficulty of the stunts; perfection of the routine; and overall impression of the performance. Each team also is required to perform a 45-second "crowd involvement" cheer in the preliminary stage of the competition. Use of flags, banners and other spirit-related props are encouraged. Judges score the segment from one to 10 points, and the crowd involvement score is factored into the overall score.
References
- NFHS: Spirit Association
- University of Maryland: About Competitive Cheerleading -- Rules and Regulations form the National Cheerleading Association
- AACCA: School Cheerleading Rules
- PennLive.com: Competitive Cheerleading Fans Push NCAA for Official Recognition as a Sport
- ABC News; Cheeleader Death Highlights Danger of Sport; Dan Childs; April 2008
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