Sport of competitive cheerleading grows
SLIPPERY ROCK — Girls huddle together, away from the crowd and out of view, touching up their faces, slipping into new outfits, spraying each other with mist.
Introduced over the public address system, their smiles and energy electrify the arena, as do their nearly flawless performances.
At quick glance, it's a stage show.
At longer look, it's a sport. Competitive cheerleading, to be exact.
"It's the largest female sport in the country ... and it's growing all the time," said Danny Boze, public relations director for American Cheer Power, one of many national cheerleading organizations.
While competitive cheerleading squads do exist in high schools, most of them exist through private gyms. Many such gyms are owned by former athletes — including cheerleaders — who put together and coach competitive teams.
Brandi Waltman, an American Cheer Power head judge from Texas, was on hand last weekend to score the organization's Halloween Open at Slippery Rock University's Morrow Field House. She was a competitive cheerleader herself for the college-level Houston Pride in 1996-97.
"There is no comparison in this sport from then to now,"Waltman said. "The girls have become so competitive. The showmanship and exhibit was the big thing years ago.
"Now it's all about the routines. Elementary school kids are performing the same stunts we used to perform in college.
"It's not pom-poms and short skirts. This is hard work," she added.
Gymnastics used to be advantageous to teams that had athletes with such a background. Now it's a requirement.Boze said cities that used to have three or four private gyms now have 17 or 18. And participation is on the increase within those gyms.FCA Gems, based in Sarver, is in its sixth year of operation. Former cheerleader Flo Richey opened the facility and had 30 girls and one team that first year.Today, former Butler High School cheerleaders Jennifer and Beth Watterson coach a competitive cheerleading program there that consists of more than 200 girls and nine teams."We've got girls from 5 years old through 18, from 32 different school districts,"Richey said. "Some come from as far away as DuBois and Washington (Pa.) to be here."Former University of Pittsburgh cheerleader Tracy Zangaro started a gym four years ago, along with a competitive team known as the Pittsburgh Poison. She began with a handful of girls and has 145 today.The USAFuzion, based in Syracuse, N.Y., opened its doors four years ago and had 15 girls on the squad. It has 50 today."We're probably the smallest gym in Syracuse," Fuzion coach Laurie Morrison said. "Some have 150 girls or so. But we travel to competitions in Columbus, Georgia, New Jersey ... about nine tournaments a year."Former hockey and soccer player Frank Vurro is in his seventh year of running the CheerForce Wolfpack, based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. His program has 17 teams and 450 girls.It started with one team and 17 girls."I played hockey in high school and some of the hockey players were also cheerleaders,"Vurro said. "Some of the guys asked me to try it, so I did. I made the team and I've been hooked ever since."No other sport compares to this now. It involves everything:athleticism, timing, co-hesion, teamwork, creativity. You have to work so hard and be extremely dedicated to be good at this."
A handful of girls began with FCAGems six years ago and have stayed with the program throughout. Two of them are Kimmie Reitler and Leanne Saiber, senior cheerleading captains at Freeport and Knoch high schools, respectively."It's more fun than ever. I'm more into it than ever,"Reitler said. "Our routines keep getting more challenging and you never stop learning. With this sport, there is always room to expand what you do."The uniforms, the makeup, it's all getting more creative. Girls like glitter. That's part of it."Reitler hopes to make the competitive cheering squad at Slippery Rock University next year. Two previous FCAGems members made the SRUsquad this year.Saiber hopes to make the squad at West Virginia University. She is a former basketball and soccer player who switched to competitive cheerleading."I tried cheerleading when I was young, but I was a big tomboy and didn't like it,"Saiber said. "Now it's a big part of my life."It's so challenging athletically. Going out there and performing as a unit for 2½ minutes, depending on each other ... There's nothing like it."Reitler struggled to describe the adrenaline rush."The crowd's going crazy; it's incredibly loud. Yet I don't hear a thing," she said. "I'm in another zone. Staying focused is everything."<B>Injuries happen</B>Injuries can occur in the sport, mainly ankles and knees. Nose injuries occur as well."Elbows fly around and may catch a girl in the nose,"Vurro said. "Injuries happen, but like any other sport, the athletes perform through them."Out of 450 girls, we may have five to seven of them per year actually miss a competition because of injury."Safety rules exist in the sport to prevent dangerous stunts that a performer isn't ready for. There are five competition levels — one being the easiest, five being the hardest — for each age group.Each competition has a penalty/legality judge empowered to take points away for safety violations involving things like tumbling, stunts, pyramids, dismounts and tosses.Lowell Bagott of Houston, Texas, had that role at the Halloween Open."Safety penalties have to be strictly enforced,"Bagott said. "Nobody should be out here trying a stunt they haven't already performed on a consistent basis in practice."
The competitive cheerleading season runs from September through May. American Cheer Power puts on national competitions in Texas, California, Ohio, Florida and Maryland from January to May."We hold camps during the summer,"Boze said. "The neat thing is that the older girls wind up teaching the younger girls."If they don't wind up opening a gym themselves — like former North Hills High School cheerleader Zangaro."Cheerleading is my love,"she said. "When I graduated from Pitt (in 2002), I wasn't ready to give it up."I've done camps for UCA(Universal Cheerleading Association) for years, so I knew a lot of girls. I saw how interested they were in pursuing the sport."I've got a state championship skier on my team, a Junior Olympic track standout ... A lot of kids come over from other sports," Zangaro added.<b>Big winners</B>The FCAGems wound up winning every team category at the Halloween Open. They entered no one in the individual dance or stunt competitions."We believe this is a team sport and that's what we focus on,"head coach Jenifer Watterson said.The FCAGems finished 13th in a world competition last April in Orlando, Fla. They were the first competitive cheerleading organization from Western Pennsylvania to qualify for a world meet."Our goal last year was to make the finals and we did it,"Watterson said. "This year, we want to finish among the top 10."We'll get there. Our teams are back and intact except for a few girls. Being used to performing together goes a long way."Competitive cheerleading has come a long way and the journey's not over."Scholarships are out there, girls can teach or coach, open gyms — there's a growing future for these kids if they choose to pursue it,"Watterson said.
