Anonymous wrote:

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The "bitter" and the "unappreciated Mother" need to get lives and let their daughters enjoy their High School years before its too late.

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I agree the girls deserve to be recognized as a sport. They are athletes. Its not about the mothers or what they drink. The fact is the girls are great athletes. They have to be. Its not about a girl makes the squad because who she is or who she knows. Those days are gone. Its about being about to complete a routine that requires a lot of athletic ability. I don't have a child who cheers but see the need for them to get their recognition. If it wasn't for cheerleaders the games who be very boring.

the cheerleader mom on the front cover of the lastest "Fitness Plus" Magazine published by the Times was GREAT looking.

I agree with both previous posts. Especially the one about the Cheerleader who has a model for a Mom.

Let me begin this post by stating this is all started by someone that has little knowledge of cheerleading in my opinion. My name is Darrin Spencer and I help work with the cheerleaders at CHS. I have worked with these girls when Carol Craig was coach, then Mrs. Hoover, Anne Jewell, and now Toni Carloftis (sorry if I have left any coaches off the list), but I have seen this program grow to new heights with the current coaches and girls. Within the last three years this squad has done a complete 360 turn for the better. Nothing against the coaches from the past, but these kids, and coaches, for the most part cheer, or practice, year round. During the summer, these girls are still working out and practicing and not on just sidelines and cheers, but more less tumbling and stunting. Once the school year starts the girls practice at least three times a week and cheer at football games each Friday night home or away. Now I don't know any other coaches that have their girls attend all away games. CHS cheerleaders traveled wherever the football team was no matter if it was a trip to South Laurel or a trip 3 hours away. On top of practices and games the girls have to keep their grade up. And I will bet my paycheck that you take any other sporting teams at CHS and the cheerleaders GPA will be in the top 2-3 of all teams. Once basketball season begins, the girls have not one team, but two teams to cheer for. So sometimes they will have 3-4 games a week and yes CHS cheerleaders compete so they have to practice for that also. And this squad is one of the top squads in the state. In the past three years, they have finished in the top 5 in the state against larger schools from Lexington and Lousiville. And most of those squads are in Lexington and Lousiville are 3A and 4A schools, and CHS is just a 2A school. And these girls are involved in the community also. During the summer they will coach optomist cheerleading squads. They do this on their own time and help the kids out. They also help with the Little Miss and Mr. NIBROC Pagent. So as you can see these girls have a lot more to do than cheer on their teams. As for talking on their cell phones who doesn't talk on their cell phone kids of all ages have them. And to the same poster that said the girls are talking about what her and her sweetie are going to do after teh game well that may be true, but that person hasn't been on a sideline before listening to what players may say or what players say on the court sitting at the end of the bench say. As for not showing up for a rivalry game well I am sure they wanted to be there, but both Coach Parsons and Coach P, were both notified that the girls would not be there, but wished them luck. And I think both coaches were okay with that. And let me add anytime I was involed in sports I don't ever remember a headline saying, "The game was won because of the cheerleaders." Or have I never heard a coach say, "We could have won had the cheerleaders started one more cheer." In closing, I would like to say two final things; 1) whomever wrote that post you have a personal invitation to come and work out with the CHS Cheerleaders. If you can handle what they can do for one day then I will donate $200.00 to a charity of your choice. and 2) if you stand by what you say why would you want to post anonymously, be a real person and step forward and show your name.

Rah Rah!!!!!!!!!!!!! You tell"em Honey!!!!

WOW how ironic and FUNNY! After my posting yesterday, I woke up this morning and found this article as one of the top stories on Yahoo. So I thought I would pass it on as more information for the "mental midgets."

Keith Niebuhr
Special to Rivals High

High-flying 'Hoo-Rahs'
Want to see for yourself what makes cheerleading a challenging, rigorous sport? Check out this Photo Gallery featuring the Tampa Chamberlain and national champion Bob Jones High School teams. As members of the Tampa (Fla.) Chamberlain High School football team took sips from their water bottles and listened to instruction from a coach during a timeout at the team's Nov. 23 playoff game, Laurel Black stared directly at the fans in the bleachers 20 feet away and broke into a cheer.

C-H-I E-F-S You're looking at the best.
C-H-I E-F-S You're looking at the best.

Because of its simplicity, her cheer wasn't that much different from the "yells" led in the 1880s by Princeton University student Thomas Peebler, who's generally regarded as the nation's first cheerleader. But while many of today's cheers still harken to those of yesteryear, everything else in cheerleading has undergone a dramatic change.

What started simply as a way to energize the team and coordinate fans' vocal support has grown into a sport of its own.

Cheerleading championships, some involving teams from throughout the world, are nationally televised. Tryouts are as competitive as those for any other sport, and the best of the best cheerleaders can win college scholarships - like the athletes for which they cheer.

Though cheerleading was an all-male activity in its first several decades, women began joining cheer squads in the 1940s. Today, women comprise the vast majority of the sport's thousands of participants.


Before they were stars...
Below are just some of the celebrities and political figures who were once cheerleaders:

Paula Abdul
Sandra Bullock
Teri Hatcher
Faith Hill
Madonna
Mandy Moore
Kelly Ripa
Jessica Simpson
For even more celebrities who once led cheers, take a look at this Photo Gallery.
"A lot of people are oblivious to how big [cheerleading] is," said Chamberlain coach Leighton Clarke, a former cheerleader at the University of Kentucky and the University of South Florida.
By most accounts, recognition of cheerleading as a true sport began in the 1980s. Since then, competitors have grown increasingly athletic and dedicated. Today, it's not uncommon for high school cheerleaders to practice more than athletes who participate on other teams.

And for the record, this is no sport for the weak.

Since Black, a 16-year-old junior, began cheering three years ago, her injuries include a one-inch gash on her hand, a pulled back muscle, a bloody lip, numerous bruises to her arms and - in her estimation - at least five twisted ankles.

Black's brother Austin is a 6-foot-2, 210-pound defensive end for the Chamberlain football team. But if the siblings compared injuries, "I'd definitely have more," Laurel said.

She's not alone.


Tumbling for tuition
Among the major universities that offer either full or partial scholarships to cheerleaders:
Alabama Missouri
Arkansas N.C. State
Boise St. Northwestern
Central Florida Oklahoma
Clemson Oklahoma St.
Florida Oregon
Georgia Oregon St.
Indiana Penn St.
Kansas Purdue
Kansas State Rutgers
Kentucky Southern Cal
Louisville South Carolina
LSU South Florida
Maryland Tennessee
Memphis Texas
Miami Texas Tech
Minnesota Virginia
Mississippi Washington St.
Mississippi St. Wake Forest

Source: Varsity.com and About.com According to a New York Times article in 2004, cheerleading is the No. 1 cause of serious sports injuries to women, ahead of gymnastics and track.
"It is a physical sport," said University of Delaware coach Andy Brown said.

"I played football in high school, and then I started cheering in college," Clarke said. "I can tell you that it was more of a challenge to cheer. On a scale of 1 to 10, their toughness is about a 9 or 9.5. I had a girl who lost a tooth (during the routine) and still competed."

At Bob Jones High School in Madison, Ala., cheerleading has taken on a life of its own. This year, 70 students tried out and only 33 were selected to the school's varsity squad, which has won the prestigious UCA National High School Cheerleading Championship two consecutive years.

"Our tryouts are probably the most competitive at the school," Bob Jones senior Ashton Woodard said. "Coach only takes the best. When people find out they made it, it's crazy. There's always crying and screaming."

Bob Jones competitors have earned full scholarships to colleges such as Alabama, Hawaii and Mississippi State.

"My cheerleaders are some of the best athletes in the school," Bob Jones coach Tara Murphy said. "At tryouts, we had to cut 11 kids this year that had a round-off tuck, which is a pretty advanced skill."

Cheerleading is so respected at Bob Jones that, much like coaches of other sports, Murphy has an incentive-based supplement. Because of her team's recent success, she said her bonus each of the past two years has been $5,000.


Cheers through the years
Here are the most important milestones in the evolution of cheerleading:
1880s: Princeton student Thomas Peebler leads a group of six men on the sidelines to cheer ("yell") at university football games.

1884: Peebler takes the "yell" to the University of Minnesota.

1898: At Minnesota, medical student Johnny Campbell leads a group of guys in such innovative cheers as "Rah, Rah, Rah! Sku-U-Mah! Hoo-Rah! University! ... Minn-e-so-Tah!" Early accessories include drums, noise-makers (today's megaphones), flash cards and paper poms.

1900s: Megaphones are introduced.

1920s: Women begin taking part in cheerleading, though in a minor role.

1940s: Women become more involved, taking the place of the men fighting in World War II.

1948: Lawrence Herkimer of Dallas organizes the first cheerleading camp at Sam Houston College. He is now regarded as the founder of the spirit industry.

1949: The National Cheerleading Association starts conducting workshops and camps.

Early 1950s: Herkimer introduces Pom Pons.

1967: The International Cheerleading Foundation introduces an annual cheerleader ranking system.

1972: After Title IX is passed, colleges begin offering scholarships to cheerleaders.

1980s: Cheerleading begins to earn recognition as a true sport, all-star squads begin forming across the nation and teams start taking part in national competitions. During this time, ESPN begins televising prestigious competitions and cheerleading begins spreading to other countries.

2007: More than 50 countries now boast competitive cheerleading squads.

Source: CheerAmerica.com
"I'm not sure where (cheerleading is headed)," Murphy said, "But it's getting bigger and bigger each year."
Some of cheerleading's remarkable boom likely can be traced to Congress' passage of Title IX in 1972, which prohibited gender discrimination against students and employees of educational institutions, thereby opening the door to interscholastic athletics for women. Before long, colleges began offering scholarships to cheerleaders.

As is the case with sports such as gymnastics, cheerleaders start training early in life. In addition to his position with Chamberlain, Clarke is co-director for the Brandon All-Stars, which trains 120 cheerleaders in the greater Tampa area from the ages of 4 to 18. Brown actively seeks out the top high school cheerleaders to join his nationally ranked squad.

"A lot of the girls have dance and gymnastics backgrounds," Brown said. "Gymnastics seems to be slowly dying off. I think that's happening because it comes off as work, work, work and one day of play. In cheerleading, people seem to look forward to practice."

At the high school level, there are two types of cheerleading: sideline cheering and competitive cheering. Sideline cheering is when squads cheer for teams. Competitive cheering is when they cheer and compete for themselves.

"Football games are actually our practice," Laurel Black said. "We can't really do our stunts (at the games), so no one really knows what we can do. No one really knows about our competitions."

In Florida, that's about the change.

This school year, the Florida High School Athletic Association (the state's governing body for athletics) is recognizing competitive cheerleading for the first time and will hold a championship next March. Other states such as California hold similar competitions.

"It'll be nice to get some recognition," Black said.

That's something Black already has received at home.

"I never knew they practiced as much as they do or how much work it was," her brother said. "I figured it was just for fun, but it's a lot more than that. They're pretty tough."

Keith Niebuhr covers high school sports for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times.

Okay...let's go ahead and set aside one or two nights per week as "Cheer night" at the gym. We can hire 3 judges to come in each time and judge a cheering competition against other 13th region cheer squads which will ultimately advance to a Sweet 16 Tournament for cheering at RUPP Arena. NOW, cheerleading will be recognized as a sport. The revenue from the gate and concessions will pay for the judges and other costs associated with the weekly competitions.

I'm not sure if the varsity Cowboy exhibition would be a big draw and thus not making enough money to support itself. Now cheering, thats another story. Cheer Night will "rake" in the $$$ though and think about all of the exposure CHS will receive from the TV News Crews covering the competitions. I'm sure that the Redhound Varsity Club will look back and start recognizing all of the Cheer tradition at Corbin.

I don't understand that post?