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Cheerleading
Listen to this Commentary!
Belia Mayeno-Choy
Host Intro: Most people's image of cheerleaders is girls in short skirts and
tight tops. But it turns out some our most distinguished politicians spent time
cheering on the sidelines. President Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Senate
Majority Leader Trent Lott to name just a few. And yes, even President George
W Bush was the head cheerleader at Phillips Academy in 1963. But things are
different since our president turned in his megaphone. Youth Radio's Belia Mayeno
Choy reports on how cheerleading has changed.
FX: "My name is Dorrie but they call me Sweetie, and I'd like to get to
know you, yes she'd like to get to know you. My name is Sharde but they call
me Day-Day and I'd like to get to know you, yes she'd like to get to know you!"
(Fade under Belia)
Belia: At first the Berkeley High School cheerleaders sound like the stereotypical
perky girls you'd expect to be leading the crowd at a football game. But their
nicknames show just how much cheerleading has changed. One calls herself "Freak-Nasty",
another is "Pop-Mama" named for a provocative dance involving a lot
of rapid pelvic thrusting. It's dances like 'popping' that are changing the
image of today's cheerleaders. Some people liken the new routines to music videos
on Black Entertainment television.
(Track 36 - Disc 1/Start music under "Booty Bounce" from "Bring
it On")
Vox: It's like BET TV full on full time here at Berkeley High with our cheerleaders…
It's not a lot of little old sissified white girls in the valley who can't move
at all. So the cheerleaders come out, they perform a little thing for the school…
there was poppin' and sexual provocative type things rolling around, opening
their legs, closing them up… so everybody had a little riot on that.
(fade music)
Belia: But cheerleading hasn't been reduced to plain old dirty dancing. It's
also become very athletic over the years. Sophomores Laronda Sullivan and Sage
Sherman, both cheerleaders from Berkeley High explain some of their more complicated
moves.
Laronda: If I was to do a scorpion, I would have to balance with my left leg,
grab my right foot and take my left hand and cross it over my body and grab
the tip of my right foot and pull it over my head.
Sage: There's something called a leg extension… I put all my balance on
my left leg… I would grab my heel… then bend my leg so that it's in
front of me and then lift it up so that my knee is next to the right side of
my body and my leg is all the way in the air extended next to my body, and my
toe is pointed.
Belia: The routines are getting harder and the cheerleaders doing the routines
are getting younger. Greg Webb, the Sr. Vice president of Universal Cheerleading
Association explains just how far cheerleading has come.
Greg: When I was cheerleader, you were a support group. I grew up in Texas,
school spirit was huge. No contests, hardest thing we did was stand on someone
else's shoulders, Now you have 8 year olds holding in Pop Warner with someone
over their heads.
Belia: Webb says the 70's were the turning point for athletics in cheerleading.
It may seem contradictory, but Webb says the women's movement may have actually
made cheerleading more popular. Now, it's being recognized as a sport by the
National Scouting Report, a national agency which represents the best high school
athletes to college recruiters. And with reports of growing injuries among squads,
cheerleading is not for weaklings.
Laronda: Just like basketball, football, they twist ankles, break fingers, we
can do the same thing in cheerleading, so I think it's a sport.
Belia: But cheerleading purists need not worry- there are still plenty of old
fashioned pom-pom girls, like 17 year -old Amanda Rudey in New York City.
Amanda: We're more stompers and clappers, instead of, you know, jumpers and
throwers…. Like we spell people's names, and we're like, "yay Rich!"
and like "yay Mike!"
(Bring up "Mickey, you're so fine…" music)
Belia: The cheerleaders may perform on the side lines, but whether they're bumping,
grinding, shouting, or flipping, these days, they're often better entertainment
than the action on the field.
For NPR news, I'm Belia Mayeno-Choy, in Berkeley.
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