About All-Star Competetive Cheerleading

For anyone interested in learning more about the All-Stars Competitive cheer leading, it began to emerge as a sport in the 1980's. As the sport grew in popularity, the USASF (U.S. All Star Federation) was formed to act as a national governing body creating a set a consistent set of rules and judging standards for all competitions to follow. Also this was organized to promote safety standards across the nation's competitions. There are many different organizations that are involved with the USASF and host their own state and national competitions. Some major companies include: Universal Spirit, AmeriCheer, Cheersport, CheerNation, CheerTech, Planet Spirit, Eastern Cheer and Dance Association, and JamSport. They all currently award their own National Champions, and there is currently not a system in place that awards one state and/or team a National Championship title.

All-star cheerleaders are placed into divisions, which are grouped based upon age, size of the team, gender of participants, and ability level. The age levels vary from under 4 year of age to 18 years and over. The divisions are currently broken into the following divisions: Tiny, Mini, Youth, Junior, Junior International, Junior Coed, Senior, Senior Coed, Special Needs, and Open International.

Generally the squads in competitions perform 1-2 times. They perform a carefully choreographed 2 1/2 - 3 minute sequence including stunting, tumbling, jumping and dancing to their own custom, mixed music. Teams create their routines to an eight-count system and apply that to the music so the team members execute the elements with precise timing and synchronization.

The Biggest National Competition

The biggest competition we competed in this year was hosted by Cheersport in the Atlanta, Georgia at the World Congress Center. This was a 2 day competition that was from February 18th-20th. I was overwhelmed by the thousands of teams that came from all over the nation, even Hawaii, to compete in this competition. The Congress Center was huge, and there were 5 stages all operating at the same time with teams performing. I could not believe how big the cheer leading sport has become and the level of competitiveness. It was very entertaining to watch some of the more advanced level and their amazing stunts and tumble skills.

The Cowboy Outlaws are ranked a Senior level 2 team based on their level of skills on stunts, tumbling and overall cheer abilities. We ranked in 5th place out of 9 teams in our division. I think it is not always about winning or coming in first place. I feel that my daughter will value this life experience in her memories for years to come. The competitions are always alot of fun to watch but this was truly the best and biggest one of the year.

Here is a link to their Cheersport for additional information on this organization and competition information:

http://cheersport.com.

Why create a blog?

Hello! I have been assigned to create a Blog for a class that I am taking at UAB. I decided to blog about my daughter, Amanda's, competitive cheerleading squad. Joining an All-Stars competitive squad is a big commitment as far as time and financially. It is a year around commitment, and the girls are expected to practice at the gym three times a week. It really gives the girls a great deal of time to develop strong friendships with their peers as well as their coaches. The girls also have a great opportunity to advance their cheerleading skills in tumbling, cheer, dance, jumps and stunts. I have watched my daughter, first-hand, blossom into a great little cheerleader who can fly, stunt and perform with the best of them.

So you are probably wondering with the time consuming practices and costs, what else does our squad get to do? Well, the girls get the opportunity to show their skills and put on their show at a number of state and national competitions throughout the year. We have gone to three competitions in Atlanta, Georgia, several competitions in Birmingham, Alabama,and are looking forward to the competition in Destin, Florida in April.

I plan to post some of my favorite pictures from this season as well as videos of the Outlaws Cheer performances. Please take your time to brouse and navigate through my blog. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to post comments!