The past year has brought a lot of things worth cheering about to the spirit sport industry. In addition to growth across all performance sports cheer (both school-based and all-star programs), dance and STUNT, we saw competitive cheer added to the World Games roster of medal events, meaning we will get more international attention. We're on a great trajectory.
If you stop and look at the reasons for all this growth, they’re not hard to find.
People like to be connected: The pandemic made us realize the importance of connections – to our schools, to one another and to the teams we belong to and support. Now that we’re fully back, people are going to games and seeing their cheer, dance and pom squads in action, or they’re watching competitions among all-star groups or cheering on their athletes at STUNT games. All that has led to a very strong environment for the sport and activity of cheer.
Social media is a big player: Social media has a positive side and it’s really evident in our sport. Go to platforms like Instagram or TikTok and you’ll see video after video of cheer, often showcasing really great partner stunts at the college level. LSU did a great routine to Michael Jackson’s song, “Smooth Criminal,” and the choreography was out of this world. The clip on social wound up going viral, and soon you were seeing all kinds of people trying to replicate the moves in their own videos.
The more people see these videos, the greater the interest becomes in cheer as a whole. Viewers also get to see clips of the athletes rehearsing new skills, and sometimes showing how they have to make multiple attempts in order to get things performance ready. It’s a great lesson in the importance of perseverance and practice and how hard you have to work to make those routines look flawless.
Cheer has become international: As stated previously, cheer will be a podium sport in the World Games, as Pom Doubles; the first time it will be seen there is in 2025 in Chengdu, China. We can expect a LOT of visibility from that.
Overall, 2024 is a big year for cheer internationally. USA Cheer oversees 19 national teams in cheer, dance and pom, including the US National Adaptive Abilities Teams and the Special Olympics/Abilities Teams. Our website has all the details on these teams, including selection methods, rosters and more.
The real news, though, is the number of international competitions our teams will be attending. Our teams have already competed at the 2024 International Cheer Union (ICU) World Cheerleading Championships this past April, and several other international trips are planned. We traveled to Germany for an ambassador trip for the World Equestrian Festival this past June, our premier coed team will travel to the FISU competition in Croatia at the end of July, and several of our national teams will compete in the Pan American Championships in Canada.
While cheer is not currently a podium sport in the Olympics, it has made tremendous progress. In January 2023, USA Cheer was officially recognized by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and joined the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic family as a member of the USOPC Affiliate Organizations Council.
With STUNT, cheer athletes have more options: This is a very exciting time for STUNT, which this year, was added to the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women at all levels: DI, II and III. STUNT is a competitive, cheer-based athletic program that uses skills found in cheer but does not include the crowd-leading aspect. (Information on the sport can be found on USA Cheer’s website at stuntthesport.org.)
The conversations around STUNT have changed as well now that it is an emerging sport. In the beginning, colleges were not as aware of it; now, they are asking how to start programs and where to find coaches.
USA Cheer created STUNT as an opportunity for colleges, universities and high schools to meet the strict Title IX requirements of a sport. With more than 500,000 high school cheerleaders, STUNT expands participation opportunities for young women by providing an avenue for female athletes to use their cheerleading background in a new format. Growth of STUNT is absolutely exploding on the club side as well, with all-star gyms adding their own programs. We look forward to what the coming years will bring.
High school athletes have two ways connect with colleges: It’s no surprise that with all the attention being paid to cheer, scholarship money is available. That means increased interest among student athletes who want to connect with colleges.
USA Cheer Combines are geared toward high school juniors and seniors, as well as junior college student athletes, who are interested in cheering and/or competing in college. This event is a way for in-state and out-of-state coaches to recruit potential athletes for their college cheer and/or STUNT teams. The intention is that coaches and athletes use these combines to find the best fit academically and athletically. This year, more combines are being offered than ever before, with multiple new locations from coast to coast:
• New Orleans, Louisiana: Thursday, July 11
• Chicago, Illinois: Saturday, August 24
• Maryville, Tennessee: Sunday, August 25
• Durham, North Carolina: Sunday, September 8
• Southern California: Saturday, September 14
• Northern California: Sunday, September 15
• New Jersey: Saturday, September 21
• Erie, Pennsylvania: Sunday, September 22
• St. Louis, Missouri: Saturday, September 28
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Sunday, September 29
• Newberg, Oregon: Sunday, October 16
• Ogden, Utah: Saturday, October 26
• Tempe, Arizona: Sunday, October 27
nother way we encourage our student athletes in cheer, pom, dance and STUNT is through the use of our recruitment platform partner, Next College Student Athlete. NCSA allows students (or their parents) to create an athlete profile free of charge, and to connect with coaches at colleges electronically. NCSA allows students to upload clips of themselves performing specific skills that they can then use to showcase their strengths as an athlete.
Athlete safety is a priority in cheer: Cheer’s safety record continues to be strong, and with USA Cheer’s great safety education resources, it’s getting even stronger. We are always looking at ways to improve those programs and make membership in our organization more valuable on a personal and professional level. We encourage anyone working in any capacity with cheerleaders to obtain a USA Cheer membership that includes concussion training acknowledgement, safety skill training, athlete protection training and a background check.
In addition to athlete protection training, we update the Cheer Rules for all ages and programs: youth, middle school, junior high, high school and college. On our site, we also carry rule updates for high school that we co-recommend with NFHS.
USA Cheer offers a USA Cheer Safety Course as well as a rules course. We recommend all coaches complete the safety course every four years because we want to empower them to make good decisions that keep athletes safe but allow them to retain their ability to challenge themselves.
Additionally, our organization has great relationships with the Positive Coaching Alliance and with TrueSport. We also encourage everyone to take advantage of our USA Cheer Safe Sport Program & Athlete Protection Policies (found on our website). In addition to including links to lists of cheer-specific individuals, there are links to the US Center for SafeSport. Athlete protection is something we take very seriously and are continually working and evolving to implement best practices for creating safe and positive environments for kids.
Overall, we are very excited about the growth in the industry – in participation, in awareness, in opportunities and in safety. USA Cheer has some great plans for the future as well, including starting a foundation so that resources can be directed to programs with at-risk kids, as well as those in underserved areas. We look forward to those initiatives, and to continuing our great work to help young people get involved and stay involved in sports. SDM
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