The pictures show cheerleaders rehearsing at a gymnasium in Tianjin municipality January 4, 2008. The team will attend trials to compete for a chance at performing in the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

So where do cheerleaders come from? And why are we seeing comely Chinese ladies leaping around in splendid costumes?

Cheerleading is, of course, basically, of American origin. There is no suggestion that it happened at the Colissseum in Rome when the Christiams met the lions on a non-friendly basis.

It first appeared in the United States in the late 1880s with the crowd chanting in unison although this as a debut is strongly debated. Chanting at sporting events can be traced back to Europe in the 12th century.

Getting the crowds to cheer idiot phrases in unison was the American addition. In 1898 University of Minnesota student Johnny Campbell directed a crowd in cheering something so pathetic we will ignore it. And they still use the same idiot phrase. It makes you wonder about American education.

Then the University of Minnesota organized a ‘yell leader’ squad of six male students.

So cheerleading started out as an all-male activity, but females began participating in 1923 partially due to the limited availability of female collegiate sports and partially due to the fact they were a damned site more attractive than the men. They added gymnastics, tumbling, and megaphones and soon it was a major movement.

97% of cheerleading is now female and in 1972 there came the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders who visited Hong Kong and the world was changed for ever. They were better disciplined and more precise in their movements than a battallion of guardsmen. And a damned site easier on the eyes.

Now most of the professional teams’ cheerleading squads would more accurately be described as dance teams by today’s standards; as they rarely, if ever, actively encourage crowd noise although the crowd does make a noise although not organized.

So the Chinese particpants will not be cheerleaders in the sense they will lead cheers. They will be pulchritudunuous performers to bring a bright sparkle to the scene. Hoorah!
Source: Jongo News