Cheerleading

The history of cheerleading originates from the U.S. in the late 1880s, with your average audience shouts and chanting to encourage their team. Nobody is quite sure how they documented that it was the first cheer ever but credit is given at Princeton University in 1884 to come up with a Princeton mood and marking there place in cheerleading history. 

Then a few years later, much of Princeton Tom Peebles brought cheering at the University of Minnesota. But it was not until 1898 that the fellow University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell directed what was the very first cheer ever in November 1898th The story is that Minnesota was having such a terrible football season that people felt the need to come up with positive chants and cheering was born. Minnesota went on to organize a male cheer team in 1903 and organized the first cheerleading fraternity in the history of cheerleading, Gamma Sigma. Ironically, cheerleading started out as an all male sport, it was determined that deep loud voices were more prominent than a woman's voice. It was not until the 1920s that women were far more involved in cheerleading and began to incorporate gymnastics, pyramids and throws. Today, youth cheerleading is composed mainly of women, however, college cheerleaders cheerleading is still about fifty percent male.

Well, the students cheered everything they could to Minnesota, but they still got beat. It was a student's scientific thesis that positive fan support would actually help send positive energy toward the team and help them win. Well, the cheer was not enough to win a prize, but it did create a new sport. University of Minnesota stuck with the idea and eventually began to have an organized group of cheering at every game.

The evolution of cheerleading to a sport again was developed by the University of Minnesota, as women were known for there athletic ability by including gymnastics in their routines. Then in 1930 the sport has evolved into a far more showmanship as athletes become much more entertaining and fun to watch. The megaphone would become the next big addition to cheerleading history in the early 1900s and Pom Pom, who was introduced by Lawrence Herkimer really gave cheerleading a symbol to hang its hat on. 

  

Herkimer seen as the grandfather of cheerleading. He has done so much for the history of cheerleading by founding the National Cheerleading Association, SMU and keep cheerleading schools way back in 1946 and '47. Herkimer camp has now grown to over twenty thousand participants.

Today the sport has evolved into a highly athletic and competitive field show males and females of incredible talent. Herkimer and the University of Minnesota has carved out a unique history of cheerleading.

The Original Cheerleaders-Men!

Cheerleading began in the 1880s in the United States. It was actually men, not women, who first led the cheering crowds. Credit for the first cheer goes to Princeton University, where young men used megaphones to gather spectators with chants of "Rah Rah Rah" and "SIS SIS SIS." From there, the trend spread to the University of Minnesota, and then around the country. For decades, had only heard of male cheerleading squads. 

Women Take Over cheering Tasks:

In the 1920s women began to become more involved in jubilation, but they did not take over before the Second World War, when most young men were fighting. At the time, was limited to senior jubilant cheers of the audience and doing a few simple dance steps with pom Poms. The girls wore ankle-length skirts and varsity sweaters. The cheerleaders were usually the most popular girls in school because they were voted into the team, instead of having to try.

Cheerleading is the Sport:

Cheerleading is developed at a slow pace over the next several decades. Some significant changes compared to earlier was the introduction of a few basic skipping a row that the invention of the pom Poms extension of cheerleading support other sports. But in 1972, Title IX rule was adopted and opened competition sport for female athletes as a result, cheerleaders, who are involved in more athletic moves. Cheerleading uniforms also changed to fit this role. Baggy shirts and skirts have been replaced with more aerodynamic outfits that made it possible for girls to flip through the air. But cheerleading megaphones hanging around.

Sport Gains Recognition:

Development of sport was pretty quick. In 1976, the first stunt is called a liberty, was taught at Universal Cheerleaders Association summer camp. In 1979, they followed that up by teaching a basket throw to students who took the stunt back to their troops home. In 1997, recognized the 15 countries that cheerleading as a sport. Sport drew much attention as stunts became more and more complicated. Final approval of the sport came in 1999 when the cable sports channel ESPN has said that cheerleading really a sport.