Sports

Cotey: Competitive cheerleading is serious business

By JOHN C. COTEY, High Schools Columnist
Published March 12, 2008

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BOCA RATON - Two lost their lunches.

If nerves didn't get them, a rolled ankle or two did. At least a half dozen cheerleaders walked around with bags of ice. One, still dressed in her uniform, was laid up in a wheelchair. Plenty of others competed with knee braces on.

Welcome to the serious business of competitive cheerleading, which officially became a recognized prep sport in Florida last week at the inaugural competitive cheerleading state championships in Boca Raton.

Did you just guffaw? Did you roll your eyes? Are you turning the page?

Well, before last weekend I would have been right there with you.

Now?

After watching more than 175 schools and nearly 4,000 girls compete, I have to wonder how, in an age where school districts are eager to meet Title IX standards and get more girls competing, anyone can see this as a bad thing.

According to the National Federation of State High School AssociationsSchools, 14,154 cheer teams were added in 2005-06, making it the No. 1 girls sport when it came to gaining participants.

Not that I personally enjoy the sport as much as I did the event.

Heck, I'm still not sure what I saw in the Florida Atlantic Arena, where bright red lipstick was apparently required, where athletes were in curlers, where ribbons were part of the uniform.

But I was told - over and over again - that this was serious stuff. That these girls compete 5-8 times a year in competitions much bigger than this, and winning is everything.

A weird mix, this competitive cheerleading - unlike any other event the Florida High School Athletic Association puts on.

A deejay. Airbrushed T-shirts in cotton candy colors being sold at one table in the lobby. At another, pajama pants with the word "Cheer" emblazoned on the bottom.

And business was hopping for the guy selling roses and corsages.

Inside, cheerleaders fiercely jumped and flipped and twirled and danced, with just a touch of what most of us see from traditional cheering, and there wasn't a pom-pom in sight.

"This is a completely different animal," said Nature Coast Tech coach Chris Clifford, who estimates his team (which took second place) put in about 250 practice hours for a 21/2 minute routine.

This was gymnastics in skirts, all synched together by techno music that somehow mixed together AC/DC, Rockwell and Soulja Boy into one disjointed beat. Winners were announced, but no scores.

It's definitely not the sideline during Friday night football, which is exactly the point.

That, according to Indian Rocks Christian's Lindsey Hutcheson, is cheering for other teams.

"This is for us," she said. "This is where we get our rush."

This was the stuff you get caught watching late at night on ESPN2 when the remote is lost somewhere between the couch cushions.

This is where those hours and hours of practice go.

"I think it's great," said Bloomingdale coach Tracy DiPrima, who guided her team to a state championship Saturday.

"I think it gives kids a lot to look forward too. We have tryouts in August, we've been going since then. To have a state championship to culminate the season I think is a great idea."

While Hernando, Pasco and Hillsborough counties sent large contingents, Pinellas County's public schools skipped this year's event.

According to county athletic director Nick Grasso, for a new sport to be added, it has to be proposed at a county meeting in May. He said cheerleading never came up.

But he likes the idea.

"It's a good thing," Grasso said. "If the kids are willing to compete and the families are willing to support it, it's a good thing."

One caveat - money. Grasso estimates it would have cost $150,000 to add girls cheerleading, a big number amid the financial crisis schools face.

But there is no question the boon to Title IX compliance and increase in participation makes it a price some don't mind paying.

In Hillsborough County, athletic director Lanness Robinson said cheerleading has been recognized as a sport for 20 years, so when the FHSAA added the state event "it was a natural for us."

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The FHSAA deemed the first state meet a success.

Cristina Alvarez, the director of media relations and marketing, said there were some bumps along the way but she expects some changes and a return in 2009.

There is talk of adding a regional qualifier, as everyone was invited to this year's state event. There is talk of changing the divisions, finding a better venue, making the judging more open.

It will always be a niche sport, and the crowd, like it was in Boca Raton, will always be 99 percent parents and other cheerleaders.

But it was loud, it was boisterous, it was, well, cheery.

They've got spirit, yes they do.

"I love it," said Paul Didonna, a linebacker at Nature Coast in the fall and a state kickboxing champ when he's not catching girls falling from the sky at cheerleading competitions. "If I could get a scholarship, I would do it in college."

It is an acquired taste, with a scoring system few outside the cheerleading bubble understand. The debate is old, and it is tired - quite frankly, I don't care if cheerleaders are athletes, or if competitive cheerleading is a sport.

If a college arena can be charged with that much energy, if that many busloads of merry competitors are going to show up, then competitive cheerleading deserves a look from the state's counties - like Pinellas - that passed.

[Last modified March 11, 2008, 11:54:11]

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