Cheerleading, The History, The Sport

Cheerleading like many sports has some interesting roots. It's not as old as many other sports, and many people have said that cheerleading isn't a sport. But I would have to argue that statement. I coached cheerleading for over fifteen years. The girls I worked with had to be strong, flexible, have the ability to jump high, throw, bend, etc. And they competed in regional and national competitions. They were amazing athletes and worked harder than most because the flier they were throwing 15 feet in the air trusted them with her life.

So, now that we have established that cheerleading IS a sport, let's get back to the history of it. It is speculated that 'cheering' or encouraging participants by yelling in sports has been around since the early Olympics in Greece. Although, there is no written documents stating as much it is assumed that the people did cheer the athletes on. 

Cheerleading became a 'thing' in the late 19th century. Princeton was the first school attributed to a type of cheerleader. They had Princeton Cheer. They had areas designated for the cheer and students as well as the athletes would yell and cheer their team on, not necessarily in unison. 

It was a young man by the name of Johnny Campbell that is attributed to starting cheerleading as we know it today. Campbell, a student at the University of Minnesota, got up from his seat and lead the other students in a chant that is still used today in one manner or another.

Rah, Rah, Rah!
Ski-u-mah!
Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah!
Varsity! Varsity! Varsity,
Minn-e-So-Tah!

With that, November 2, 1898, became the birthday of cheerleading. Other schools quickly saw success in the organized yelling and cheering the teams on and followed suit, thus birthing the beginning of a sport that continues to evolve today.

Cheerleaders were originally all male. It wasn't until World War II, when so many of our young men were halfway around the world, fighting a war that young women stepped into yet another vacancy left by our fighting soldiers. And like so many other jobs, when the boys came back from war, they found women weren't going to give up their newfound sport, and co-ed cheering began. 

But as the years passed jumping in unison as well as doing hand motions became a part of the cheering platform. in the 20th century we started seeing stunts and some tumbling. But as progression continued in the 21st century, a cheerleader not only has to be able to lead a crowd, have rhythm, yell in unison, dance, tumble, and be strong enough to lift one to two other girls above her head, but she also has to do it with a smile on her face and look like it is effortless. 

By Orcsos 17 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=58417899

By Johnharrison1995 - Own work, CC BY 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29719243

Giving a yell out for all those cheerleaders out there past and present. 

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Debbie Lynne Costello is the author of Sword of Forgiveness, Amazon's #1 seller for Historical Christian Romance. She has enjoyed writing stories since she was eight years old. She raised her family and then embarked on her own career of writing the stories that had been begging to be told. She writes in the medieval/renaissance period as well as 19th century. She and her husband have four children and live in upstate South Carolina with their 4 dogs, 4 horses, miniature donkey, and 12 ducks. Life is good!