to think cheerleading in the UK is just .... bleurgh

[barbaraprim]

Was at the Ice Centre yesterday with DD and there was a huge cheerleading competition going on. Hundred of competitors and squads from all over the UK. It was not a pretty sight. Garish costumes, orange fake tan, bad make-up and ludicrously huge bows in the hair of girls ranging for about 5 to 18 plus. Anyone who lets their child take part in this "sport" should get their head examined.

My DD is a cheerleader for a football team.

It's just like dance- go to any dance show and see acres of Lycra and sequins just the same.

It's good exercise, good discipline and lots of fun. Plus she's been performing in front of 10,000 people since she was 4- it helps with confidence and teaches them to work as part of a team.

FWIW she doesn't walk down the street dressed like that.

Get over yourself YABU.

its hardly criminal if these kids enjoy it then why not , My dds school has a cheer team she isnt into it , and TBH she was as annoyed as you about it and quite nasty about the orange girls , I did have to put her straight as its not her thing but they enjoy doing it , What about people who send their children to dance classes and they need to tan up for comps do they need their head examined too ? I am in no way a girly girl but some girls are and love all that ,

My mum would not let me join the drum majorettes (Cheerleeding in the 1970's for those born after 1976) as she was worried I would grow up into Bonnie Langford.

In the end I was probably glad. American Tan tights and white knee socks, not a good look.

I must admit I don't like it as a concept- the men get on with the important business of engaging in battle on the sports-field while scantily clad young women jig about on the sidelines 'cheering' them on?

I'm also not very keen on the idea of very young girls in make-up and barely-there costumes.

I'm sure it is very demanding athletically, but I can't see past the tackiness I'm afraid. YANBU

I think the cheerleaders at My dds school tanned for a comp over the weekend (wonder if its the same one ) but i guess its up to each individual team and girl , I dont see anything wrong with it, I think we all get the idea of the bitchy american cheerleader sterotype which i dont think is true ,

Classy, Strandedbear - you would have fitted in with the cheerleaders on Saturday.

Great way to keep fit? Most of the girls of all ages were meaty of thigh so I don't think it's a good form of exercise.

I think I'd rather do the actual sport than cheer others on but each to their own.

None of the cheerleaders at DS's school look tanned.

Most cheerleaders in the UK don't cheer on the sidelines of another sport. They just compete against other cheerleading teams.

And the outfits are less revealing than those worn by gymnasts or ballet dancers.

Both DS and DD have done cheerleading in the past.

I don't see what the big deal is. There isn't another sport that combines gymnastics and dance in the same way.

meaty thighed you shouldve said fat cows just like you meant , so if a person has a bit of meat on their bones they are unfit and fat you did mean FAT didnt you sigh

I would rather it wasn't called cheerleading then.
Dancenastics perhaps?

Not slim, atheletic, toned.

I think it's a bit naff and that it just doesn't work outside of the states, but hey-ho different strokes and all that. If others enjoy it more power to them.

No way would I encourage my dd to cheer at a young age. When she is old enough and she decides it is for her - fair enough, but I personally dislike it.

Absolutely withvigglewiggle on the concept being problematic, because it reinforces the 'Manly Men Doing Battle, Women Being Decorative and Marginal' stereotype.

Though I have something of a soft spot for the group of local cheerleaders who occasionally appear on the sidelines of matches for a particular US sport in our local (London) park. They just look so bored and eye-rolling, and chew their hair and bitch rather than leaping about athletically being all-American gals - even their pompom-waving is half-hearted and London teenager-y, and they always look like they're about to say 'Sod this, I'm off for a fag'.

I take Dsd2 to cheerleading. The girls are working v hard,, getting fit, dancing, and having a fab time doing it. She has made lots of new friends and is getting quite toned and healthy looking. Her company don't perform at sports matches but compete against other squads. I think op is being quite nastily judgemental.

As a side note - if you were at ice centre for skating, then figure skaters at competitions also wear loads of make up, fake tan and skimpy skin tight outfits......

Exactly what vigglewiggle said.

Perhaps it comes from dodgy beginnings, but anything that encourages older girls to keep up an active hobby has to be good.
Round here there is nothing if you aren't a seriously good at sport or want to swim 3+ times a week.

Presumably the reason for not changing the name is because the particular moves and dance steps have developed over many years, and many are unique to cheerleading. So it keeps its traditional name even though it frequently doesn't involve cheering anymore.

There is a difference Stranded. Dancers and gymnasts train to display their skills as such in their own right. Cheerleaders, well, cheer the men in the context of the men's game. They are on secondary roles, also extremely gender-biased. Not something I would like to encourage in my dd. Display of body forms does not worry me in the slightest...

But courses for horses of course...

If it's bleurgh then why is it only bleurgh in the UK?