Cheerleading is a sport that uses organized routines made up of elements from gymnastics, dance or performance stunting/action to cheer on sports teams at games and matches, and/or as a competitive sport. A cheerleading performer is called a cheerleader. It is most common in North America, but has spread elsewhere in other countries.

All Star Cheerleading

In the early 1980s, cheerleading squads not associated with a schools or sports leagues, whose main objective was competition, began to emerge. The first organization to call themselves all stars and go to competitions were the Q94 Rockers from Richmond, Virginia, founded in 1982 by Hilda McDaniel.[11] All-star teams competing prior to 1987 were place into the same divisions as teams that represented schools and sports leagues. In 1986 National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) decided to address this situation by creating a separate division for these teams lacking a sponsoring school or athletic association, calling it the 'All-Star Division' and debuting it at their 1987 competitions. As the popularity of these types of teams grew, more and more of them were formed, attending competitions sponsored by many different types of organizations and companies, all using their own set of rules, regulations and divisions. This situation became one of the chief concerns of gym owners. These inconsistencies caused coaches to keep their routines in a constant state of flux, detracting from time that should be utilized to develop skills and provide personal attention to their athletes. More importantly, because the various companies were constantly vying for the competitive edge, safety standards had becoming more and more lax. In some cases, unqualified coaches and inexperienced squads are attempting dangerous stunts as a result of these “expanded” sets of rules.

The USASF was formed in 2003 by these various competition companies to act as the national governing body for all star cheerleading and to create a standard set of rules and judging standards to be followed by all competitions sanctioned by the Federation and ultimately leading to the Cheerleading Worlds. The USASF hosted the first Cheerleading Worlds on Saturday, April 24, 2004.[12] At the same time, cheerleading coaches from all over the country organize themselves for the same rule making purpose, calling themselves the National All Star Cheerleading Coaches Congress (NACCC). In 2005, the NACCC was absorbed by the USASF to become their rule making body.[11] By late 2006, the USASF was ready to expand its reach even further, by facilitating the creation of the International All-Star Federation (IASF), the first international governing body for the sport of cheerleading.

Currently all-star cheerleading as sanctioned by the USASF involves a squad of 6-36 females and/or males. The squad prepares year-round for many different competition appearances, but they only actually perform for up to 2½ minutes during their routines. The numbers of competitions a team participates in varies from team to team, but generally, most teams tend to participate in eight-ten competitions a year. During a competition routine, a squad performs carefully choreographed stunting, tumbling, jumping and dancing to their own custom music. Teams create their routines to an eight-count system and apply that to the music so the team members execute the elements with precise timing and synchronization.

Judges at the competition watch for illegal moves from the group or any individual member. Here, an illegal move is something that is not allowed in that division due to difficulty and safety restrictions. More generally, judges look at the difficulty and execution of jumps, stunts and tumbling, synchronization, creativity, the sharpness of the motions, showmanship, and overall routine execution.

All-star cheerleaders are placed into divisions, which are grouped based upon age, size of the team, gender of participants, and ability level. The age levels vary from under 4 year of age to 18 years and over. The divisions used by the USASF/IASF are currently Tiny, Mini, Youth, Junior, Junior International, Junior Coed,Senior, Senior coed, Open International and Open.

If a team places high enough at selected USASF/IASF sanctioned national competitions, they could be included in the Cheerleading Worlds and compete against teams from all over the world.

All-star cheerleading is a relatively young activity, but is gaining popularity at a rapid pace. All- star competitions can be found nation wide and many include dance team competitions as well.

USASF World Cheerleading Championships

The foremost competition for all-star cheerleading is the annual Cheerleading Worlds held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. Teams must qualify for the event by receiving a bid to attend from one of several qualifying competitions. US teams have won the vast majority of the medals, but an increasing number of strong teams from around the globe have come to compete in the event in recent years. This competition has grown in popularity and prestige since it's beginning as a small competition in 2004. In 2007, over 100 teams from 15 different countries competed in the event.

2007

Division	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Large Senior	World Cup (Freehold, NJ)	Cheer Athletics (Dallas, TX)	Cheer Extreme (Kernersville, NC)
Large Coed	Top Gun (Miami, Fla.)	Cheer Athletics (Dallas, TX)	Georgia All-Stars (Atlanta, GA)
Small Senior	Stingrays (Atlanta, GA)	Spirit of Texas (Arlington ,TX)	Basics Superstars (Wellsburg, WV)
Small Coed	Gym Tyme (Louisville, KY)	Stingrays (Atlanta, GA)	Cheer Force (Simi Valley, CA)
International Coed	Gym Tyme (Louisville, KY)	Texas Lonestar (Houston, TX)	Cheer Extreme (Raleigh, NC))
International All-Girl	Encore Cheer Co (Miami, FL)	Cambridge Cheer Sport Sharks (Cambridge, Ontario, CN)	Oklahoma Twisters (Norman, OK)
International Junior	World Cup (Freehold, NJ)	Celebrity Cheer (NH)	Desert Storm Elite (AZ)
International Junior Coed	Flip Factory (Pensacola, FL)	Infinity Titans (Peachtree City, GA)	Kentucky Elite (Lexington, KY)

Worlds Medal Count by Program

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