How the evolution of cheerleading impacts the participating cheerleaders

Abstract

This paper is about how the evolution of cheerleading impacts the participating cheerleaders. I researched the academic, social, emotional, mental, and physical impacts. I conducted this research in order to determine whether the various increasing demands of cheerleading has a positive or negative impact on the cheerleaders. In general, the students performed well in school, were involved in other extra-curricular activities, had above average physical abilities, developed strong social skills, and formed bonds with teammates. The emotional and mental state of the cheerleaders were hard to measure given the small sample size and lack of interviewees. The overall responses from the current and former cheerleaders showed that participating in cheerleading has a positive impact on their lives. Due to the lack of data from former and current cheerleaders, I was unable to display a comparison on how the evolution of cheerleading impacted the former and current cheerleaders. Although there were generally positive responses from both former and current cheerleaders, a larger sample size from a wider range of cheerleaders on varying teams, different time periods, and different regions (Northeast, South, Mid-West, West, etc.) would need to be surveyed and interviewed to achieve more concrete results.