The Purpose of All-Star Cheer

What do we want? 

All-star cheer! 

Why do we want it?

Because! 

Ignoring my cringy introduction there, a lot of people have asked me why all-star cheerleading exists when there’s, well, no actual cheering involved. I’ve also gotten comments on its striking similarity to team acrobatics, and why they can’t just be merged into one sport. In this article, I’ll be going over why all-star cheerleading exists and what makes it so unique.

All-star cheerleading is a club version of cheer that’s limited to competitions. It started in the late 1980s, and it has become incredibly popular, gaining hundreds of thousands of participants since then (source: USA Cheer). 

It’s one of my favorite sports, since the high-energy routines leave you jumping out of your seat, or out of breath if you’re performing in one. This sport makes cheerleading the main focus of the event, not just a group standing on the sidelines. For the athletes, this can be really empowering, even though it doesn’t comply with the original purpose of cheer.

That’s one thing that’s so great about it. It puts all of your hard work – the unmatched precision, flexibility, and strength – in the spotlight for two and a half minutes, letting the audience see what modern cheerleading is really about. People flying into the air, completing long tumbling passes, and performing flashy choreography are all parts of these performances, which are definitely worth watching. 

Like I mentioned earlier, all-star cheer doesn’t involve any actual cheering, so you’re not affiliated with a school or external organization. That said, a lot of people don’t like the actual cheering part. Another reason why this exists is the fact that some people just want to participate in the stunting, tumbling, jumping, and other performative elements of the sport. All-star cheerleading is really fun for its participants, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to get into cheerleading.

It also tends to be more beginner-friendly than school cheer, since all-star cheer has levels and guides you through skill progressions. For some, this can also make it more favorable than school teams. 

Many people have also asked me this: If there’s no cheering, and it shares performance elements with other sports, why isn’t it just team acrobatics? 

This type of cheerleading is very unique for a few reasons. First, the type of stunting cheerleaders compete with is not like that in acrobatics. The grips and load-ins are different, the skills themselves are different, and we have completely dissimilar rules and regulations regarding stunts. 

Second, although this type of cheer uses elements from other sports, it merges them together in a unique way. In my opinion, no other sports combine large teams to put out routines like those in all-star cheer. Few other sports have their own genres of performance music, and nobody else combines stunting, tumbling, jumping, dancing, and extreme facial expressions the way this sport does. Yes, it may not come to mind when thinking about traditional cheerleading, but everything here was derived from the sidelines.

I hope this helped you to gain a better understanding of the purpose of all-star cheerleading, and I can’t wait to see the 2024-2025 season begin!