"2-4-6-8, what do we appreciate? Facts!”
For as long as most of us have seen and known, cheerleading squads, competitive and magnificent, have consisted of mostly women.
But to say it is an all-women sport, would be inaccurate as there are many men who are cheerleaders too.
But what if we take a leap into the past, were the sidelines always ruled by girl power squads?
Verdict:
FALSE
Up until Nov 2, 1898, cheers and chants at a sporting event broke out from the crowd itself spontaneously.
On that day, a university student in America, Johnny Campbell, got up from the seats and took the field to lead the student body in a chant. That was when cheerleading as we know it was born.
The sport also began at a time when most universities only admitted men. The cheerleaders were often athletes from other sports who were supporting their peers.
They were also leaders who could direct a crowd, traits thought of then as masculine.
In an article from 1911, it read: The reputation of having been a valiant "cheer-leader" is one of the most valuable things a boy can take away from college. As a title to promotion in professional or public life, it ranks hardly second to that of having been a quarterback.
It wasn’t until after the men in America were called to leave for World War I did that idea start to shift.
There were even some American presidents who were cheerleaders for their college - Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush
When universities started becoming co-ed, women began joining cheerleading teams, but there was pushback as cheerleading was still seen by some as "too masculine."
During World War II, as men were once again pulled away from college and into military service, women in college began to take over cheerleading, and the nature of the sport began to change.
As it grew, cheerleaders started adding many of the elements we know today, such as megaphones to be louder, arm motions for crowds to keep time, signs, poms, and even basic jumps, tumbling, and stunts.
Today, women account for approximately 85% of participants, and the sport itself is no longer just a sideshow to the main athletic event.
Cheerleading competitions started drawing crowds eager to witness the blend of dance, acrobatics, and spirited cheering.
References:
2. https://thesocietypages.org/
3. https://www.themarysue.com/
4. https://www.huffpost.com/
