Tumbling

Tumbling Into the Olympics There are over 4.5 million registered cheerleaders across the world. (“History of Cheerleading”) I was one of those cheerleaders for the last six years. The hard work and dedication it takes to withstand the toll of this sport requires a determined spirit and a withstanding soul. Cheerleading has continued to show its extreme popularity among young women and men not only in the United States, but also across the world with a constantly growing number of countries that…

create a story. The teacher would show an example of their own, so there is no confusion, such as individual cards of a dog jumping higher and higher on each card, eventually catching a Frisbee but on the last card it would show the dog landing and tumbling over. The teacher would give the students time to draw their own individual stories and then when finished, jumbling the students…

Cheerleading is a sport because it requires the time and dedication to be the best to compete against another team just as any other activity. The history of competitive cheerleading is young. In only the last forty years, cheerleading has branched out to be one of the fiercest competitions crowds watch, today. (Delp). Today’s society confuses sideline cheerleading with competitive cheerleading, or allstar cheerleading. The two are completely different. The definition of a sport is, “ an…

For a while, that was all cheerleading was, and it wasn’t until 1923 that women mainly took over the sport. Then, it was not until 1948 that NCA was formed. After women took over cheerleading and NCA was developed, the sport began to incorporate tumbling, stunts, and props such as a megaphones into routines. In 1948, NCA hosted the very first cheerleading clinic with only fifty-two girls in attendance (“History of Cheerleading,” para. 4). After the first clinic, NCA continued to grow and each…

What is Gymnastics? You may ask, what is gymnastics? Well, just listen. Here I am in my leotard and workout clothes, full of chalk, and with my sweaty body near you. I will tell you. Just listen to me. Listen to understand. Listen without emotions. Try to understand me. Put yourself in my muscle-aching, ripped hands, bruised and injured body and listen carefully. Gymnastics is, first and foremost, fun. How is it supposed to be fun? Let me tell you. Even after the most difficult conditioning,…

made me feel like I was living life to the fullest. When tryouts came we tried out in the afternoon. Some people had time to practice the tryout material before they were called into the building, which consisted of a cheer, chant, dance, jumps, and tumbling if you had any. We received numbers for the order we would tryout in, and it would be in groups of three. Ashley and I did not get to try out together so that made me nervous. Once I was called into the building I got the butterflies in my…

would try out too. On the third day of tryouts I put in 110% to give myself a better chance of making it. I tried to a cheer robot. We found out if made it at the end of that day. After three hard days of learning dances, cheers, stunting, jumps, tumbling, and a lot of sweating it was finally time to find out if I made the cheer team…

should be also. It was argued that band also got in certain formations and performed for a crowd in costumes, but after NCA was formed cheerleaders did more than just perform sexy dance routines. Cheerleaders incorporated their difficult stunts and tumbling maneuvers into short routines that took great amounts of energy. Nancy Hogshead-Maker stated that “cheerleading must have the same focus on competition, same criteria for winning/losing, and same head-to-head competition that other sports do…

attend as many tumbling classes as would fit into my schedule. I began tackling one skill at a time improving my chances every day. I gave 100% at every practice to show my coaches that I was willing to work for it. This goal consumed my life by taking every opportunity I could to spend at the gym. The blue mats became a more familiar sight than my own house. Coach G began making jokes that I was there more than she was. As I continued to work, I began to see improvement in my tumbling. Slowly,…

This is a requirement to be on the team. Being a part of the team is very physically demanding. After running, the team stretches out their trained muscles and gets down to business. This is when they begin to tumble. In the cheerleading world, tumbling is defined as any action where gymnastic skills are exercised. Most of the boys on the team are solely tumblers. They are the members of the team required to do tucks, or back flips, from one sideline to the other side of the end zone. It is…