Teen Spirit - the Sport of Cheerleading
How the sport of Cheerleading is preparing girls for leadership beyond the mat.
When I first met Georgia, I was working with a filmmaker to document our training. The final film had included Georgia talking to camera, sharing her new-found love of the sport, and saying that it was her dream to one day attend the World Championships. Georgia’s journey to Worlds had been full of personal challenges, but with grit and resilience she had made her dream come true.
Georgia in her Inspire Allstars kit
The internet is currently obsessed with new Netflix show CHEER: a docu-series following Navarro State College Cheerleading squad. While many viewers are commenting on their own new-found love of the sport, a big focus has been on the emotional journey of Navarro’s athletes, as they overcome their own personal challenges. Your heart aches as LaDarius opens-up about childhood abuse, you cry with Jerry as he shares how he lost his mother, and it would appear everyone on Twitter wants to adopt Morgan! These young people, like Georgia, all attribute their mental strength and ability to overcome their circumstances to cheerleading.
Cheerleading is a sport with a unique capacity to rapidly build relationships, trust, accountability and raise aspirations. You only need to watch a routine on YouTube, to realise how much athletes quite literally put their lives in each other’s hands as they throw, catch and tumble across the mat. You recognise commitment is key — turning up matters if you’re going to build a pyramid! — and each athlete’s role is valued, contributing something different to the score sheet. No single athlete can win or lose a competition for the team: if a stunt goes up, it’s a team effort, and if it comes down …well that’s on everyone too.
Inspire Allstars
Watching the Netflix show, I found myself reflecting on my own Cheer career as an athlete, coach, and programme owner. I’m thankful for the life lessons the sport has taught me and the hundreds of young people I’ve worked with: girls struggling to find a sport where they fit in, with mental health problems, with challenges at home or with academic pressures — these young women are finding, in cheerleading, a second family, tough love, boundaries and learning the art of resilience. I defy anyone not to grow in self-confidence with a team both metaphorically and literally lifting them up and cheering them on every week!
Cheerleading is uniquely placed to get girls into sport and increase physical activity with inactive teenagers. Whilst many other sports struggle to retain young women during their teenage years, cheerleading is actually recruiting them! There are currently an estimated 89,000 competing athletes in the UK. Senior beginner level teams are the fastest growing division, and retention is high. The sport has a holistic approach to fitness, improving physical stamina, building muscle and developing technical skills in a similar way to a multi-sport activity like cross-fit might, but the added attraction of cheerleading for teenage girls is the sport’s place in popular culture. Cheerleading is synonymous with cool, fun movies like the Bring It On franchise and Glee TV series. It’s this association with popular culture and the fact it is a predominantly female sport that is its real strength when it comes to attracting teenage girls, otherwise disinterested in traditionally male sports.
Finding a sport for a girl which they will enjoy and where they feel they can fit in, can be hard, but the multiple positions and various skills required to field a cheerleading team means there’s a place for everyone on the mat, whatever their shape or size. The sport also competes in divisions determined by age and skill, so whether you’re a complete beginner, or perhaps an experienced gymnast wanting to get into a team sport, there’ll be a team where you can compete alongside girls your own age and level. Most cheerleading programmes also offer recreational classes, so even if you don’t see yourself as a sporty girl, you can try it out without the pressure to commit. You will in the end though…it’s addictive
While I love the stunts, glitter and music, my personal passion is for the way the sport develops girls as leaders. Harvard University identified the key indicators in good leadership training for girls to be ones which allow them opportunity for conflict resolution, assertive communication, problem solving, self-advocacy and goal setting. You only need to watch an episode of CHEER to see that cheerleading does all this and more in abundance! Cheerleading creates a strong foundation for successful leaders in life, raising up young women to not only lead, but also champion others to succeed. As well as the obvious physical benefits of the sport, Cheerleading develops life skills that will serve girls for many years after they leave the mat.
Joanna is the Chair of SportCheer England, the national governing body for cheerleading in England. A former athlete, coach, programme owner and national team manager for Team England ParaCheer, Joanna is focused on the promotion and development of the sport in England, and has spoken at conferences, on radio and television about Cheerleading. “I believe in the transformational power of the sport of Cheerleading, to develop skills like team-work and trust, raise aspirations, develop grit, determination, and empower young people to become leaders in all walks of life.”
All images courtesy Joanna Gamper Cuthbert