Pom-Pon

A pom-pon is, at its most basic level, a decorative ball of fluff. Pom-pons may come in many colors, sizes and varieties and are made from a wide array of materials, including fabric, paper, plastic, or occasionally feathers. While not necessarily the most common usage of a pom-pon, the most noticeable and widely-recognized use is generally in Cheerleading and often by fans during other spectator sports.
Pom-pon is originally a term derived from the French word "pompon" and sometimes hyphenated (though possibly erroneously) in imitation of the echoic word "pom-pom". "Pompon" refers to ornamental spheres of fabric, feathers, etc., and, by extension, to a kind of chrysanthemum characterized by small, spherical flowers. This term is often spelled "pom-pon", "pom-pom", or "pompom" (see Variations below).[1] It can also refer to a pomeranian dog.
In English, there is also the synonym toorie, more used for clothes.

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Sport Debate and Leadership Issues

There has been debate on whether or not cheerleading truly is a sport. Supporters consider cheerleading as a whole, a sport citing the heavy use of athletic talents while critics do not see it as deserving of that status since sport implies a competition among squads and not all squads compete along with subjectivity of competitions.
In the UK, there is less of a debate[citation needed], as the sports councils recognize cheerleading as a sport, they have however yet to assign a national governing body. There are currently two groups applying for the position: British Cheerleading Association, and British Gymnastics.
On January 27, 2009 in a lawsuit involving an accidental injury sustained during a cheerleading practice, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that cheerleading is a full-contact sport in that state.

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All-Star Cheer

In the early 1980s, cheerleading squads not associated with a schools or sports leagues, whose main objective was competition, began to emerge. The first organization to call themselves all stars and go to competitions were the Q94 Rockers from Richmond, Virginia, founded in 1982 by Hilda McDaniel.[15] All-star teams competing prior to 1987 were place into the same divisions as teams that represented schools and sports leagues. In 1986 National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) decided to address this situation by creating a separate division for these teams lacking a sponsoring school or athletic association, calling it the 'All-Star Division' and debuting it at their 1987 competitions. As the popularity of these types of teams grew, more and more of them were formed, attending competitions sponsored by many different types of organizations and companies, all using their own set of rules, regulations and divisions. This situation became one of the chief concerns of gym owners. These inconsistencies caused coaches to keep their routines in a constant state of flux, detracting from time that should be utilized to develop skills and provide personal attention to their athletes. More importantly, because the various companies were constantly vying for the competitive edge, safety standards had becoming more and more lax. In some cases, unqualified coaches and inexperienced squads are attempting dangerous stunts as a result of these “expanded” sets of rules.[16]

A cheerleading squad performing toe-touches during a routine
The USASF was formed in 2003 by these various competition companies to act as the national governing body for all star cheerleading and to create a standard set of rules and judging standards to be followed by all competitions sanctioned by the Federation and ultimately leading to the Cheerleading Worlds. The USASF hosted the first Cheerleading Worlds on Saturday, April 24, 2004.[16] At the same time, cheerleading coaches from all over the country organize themselves for the same rule making purpose, calling themselves the National All Star Cheerleading Coaches Congress (NACCC). In 2005, the NACCC was absorbed by the USASF to become their rule making body.[15] By late 2006, the USASF was ready to expand its reach even further, by facilitating the creation of the International All-Star Federation (IASF), the first international governing body for the sport of cheerleading. [17]

An All Star team during a competition
Currently all-star cheerleading as sanctioned by the USASF involves a squad of 6-36 females and/or males. The squad prepares year-round for many different competition appearances, but they only actually perform for up to 2½ minutes during their routines. The numbers of competitions a team participates in varies from team to team, but generally, most teams tend to participate in eight-twelve competitions a year. These competitions include locals, which are normally taken place in school gymnasiums, nationals, hosted in big venues all around the U.S. with national champions, and the Cheerleading Worlds, taken place at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. During a competition routine, a squad performs carefully choreographed stunting, tumbling, jumping and dancing to their own custom 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.
Judges at the competition watch for illegal moves from the group or any individual member. Here, an illegal move is something that is not allowed in that division due to difficulty and safety restrictions. More generally, judges look at the difficulty and execution of jumps, stunts and tumbling, synchronization, creativity, the sharpness of the motions, showmanship, and overall routine execution.
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 used by the USASF/IASF are currently Tiny, Mini, Youth, Junior, Junior International, Junior Coed, Senior, Senior coed, Open International and Open.[18]
If a team places high enough at selected USASF/IASF sanctioned national competitions, they could be included in the Cheerleading Worlds and compete against teams from all over the world, as well as receive money for placing.

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Leagues

NBA Cheerleading
NBA Cheerleading is a professional cheerleading league in the United States that supports professional basketball teams.

[edit] NFL Cheerleading
NFL Cheerleading is a professional cheerleading league in the United States that supports professional football teams.

[edit] CFL Cheerleading
CFL Cheerleading is a professional cheerleading league in Canada that supports professional football teams.

College Cheerleading

Most colleges and universities have a cheerleading squad. Most squads are coed (consisting of both men and women), but all-girl college squads are growing in rapid numbers in an effort to give female cheerleaders (especially female bases) who have cheered on an all-girl high school or all-star squads an opportunity to cheer at the collegiate level without making the transition to a coed squad. Unlike high school cheerleading, college squads can perform difficult stunts like rewinds, 2 1/2 high pyramids, and flipping and twisting basket tosses. Most college squads don't compete, but a handful of them compete nationally. Top collegiate squads include the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, Morehead State University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Alabama, and Stephen F. Austin University.


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Lawrence "Herkie" Herkimer

In 1948, Lawrence "Herkie" Herkimer, of Dallas, TX and a former cheerleader at Southern Methodist University formed the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) as a way to hold cheer leading clinics. In 1949, The NCA held its first clinic in Huntsville, TX with 52 girls in attendance. "Herkie" contributed many "firsts" to the sport including the founding of Cheerleader & Danz Team uniform supply company, inventing the herkie, (where one leg is bent towards the ground and the other is out to the side as high as it will stretch in the toe touch position) and creating the "Spirit Stick". By the 1960s, college cheerleaders began hosting workshops across the nation, teaching fundamental cheer skills to eager high school age girls. In 1965, Fred Gastoff invented the vinyl pom pom and it was introduced into competitions by the International Cheer leading Foundation (now the World Cheer leading Association or WCA). Organized cheer leading competitions began to pop up with the first ranking of the "Top Ten College Cheer leading Squads" and "Cheerleader All America" awards given out by the International Cheer leading Foundation in 1967. In 1978, America was introduced to competitive cheer leading by the first broadcast of Collegiate Cheer leading Championships on CBS.


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Cheer Stunts

Stunts are defined as building performances displaying a person's flexibility. Stunting has been referred to as building pyramids. Stunts range from two-legged stunts to one-legged extended stunts and high flying basket tosses. There are numerous variations of a basic stunts. A stunt group usually involves up to four bases holding or tossing another cheerleader in the air. In general, all-girl cheer leading stunts usually involve up to four other bases while co-ed ("partner") stunts are comprised of only one base (usually male) and his partner (the flyer, usually female). Pyramids are multiple groups of stunts connected aerially by the flyers. This connection may be made in a variety of ways, from a simple linking of hands to having a multi-level pyramid, with the flyers already in the air acting as primary bases for another flyer or flyers on top of them.


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