Cheerleading History Essay

The history of Cheerleading is very closely related to the history of American Football. The first cheerleaders were a group of males from Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. Mark Peebles, a student from the University of Princeton, tagged cheerleading with him to the University of Minnesota. (varsity.com) There was where he created a specific set list of cheers for each game, on the left is a picture of “yells” from 1985. (varsity.com) Peebles also lead the University of Minnesota crowd during the football games. Although Peebles brought the idea of cheerleading to life, it wasn’t until another Minnesota student, Johnny Campbell, took Cheerleading even further. Campbell brought together a whole entire team to lead the crowds. On …show more content…
Beginning from cartwheels to round-offs into back handsprings which then led into layouts, fulls, and back tucks. Tumbling that men performed focused mainly on strength whilst women’s tumbling focused more toward the smooth, pretty movements. Specially made Cheerleading shoes were then made for the tumblers but the coaches and squad soon realized they worked better for everyone and then became an essential part of the uniform. In 1961, Lawrence Herkimer, the inventor of the “Herkie” jump as well as other traditions, put together the National Cheerleading Association (NCA). (cheerleading.isport.com) The NCA was established at the State University of Houston. Herkimer developed the NCA in order to bring Cheerleaders together to teach them important skills and lessons to help them move forward with their Cheerleading career. The famous “Pom Poms” were brought to life by the NCA. Could you imagine Cheerleading without them? The NCA is also credited for being the first uniform manufacturer. (cheerleading.isport.com)
The general manager of the NCA, Jeff Webb, founded the very popular Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA). UCA was designed to hold summer camps and clinic as extra practice and knowledge for the Cheerleaders. (uca.varsity.com) UCA teaches leadership both on and off the

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