Logan 1 Tecora Logan English 1101 Emilia Grant November 5th, 2013 The Ultimate Crowd Pleasers A cheerleader

according to the oxford dictionary is a person who leads cheers and applause, especially at a sport event (oxforddictionaries.com). So cheerleading in reference is the act that cheerleaders do. Cheerleading was first introduced to the University of Minnesota as a pep club by a graduate student from Princeton University (History of Cheerleading). The crowd and sports team at the University of Michigan enjoyed the yell and it was credited with helping the local sports team win their games. (History of Cheerleading). The act of cheering on the football team at the games began to spread and the brave individual by the name of Jack Campbell took on the responsibility to be the lead yell at the football games (History of Cheerleading). This simple act of being the lead cheerer is how cheerleading was born (History of Cheerleading). Cheerleading has changed a lot from when it was started by male students. Now cheerleading is a female dominant group that does more than just cheering on the crowd and their team. Normally society thinks of cheerleaders in a positive light because of their enthusiasm to cheer on the team theyre supporting. People usually dont realize that theres always more than meets the eye in everything, including cheerleading. The most common place that cheerleaders are found are at sports events or competitions. Theyre known as girls who simply show their spirit and cheer on their team. But cheerleaders are more than just that (Cannady, 2013). According to cheerleading enthusiast a cheerleader is not just a girl who yells and stomps her feet but rather a community that embodies sisterhood, competition,

Logan 2 recognition and social support (Cannady, 2013). She goes on to say that everybody believes cheerleaders are just for show and that have no significant meaning but she begs to differ (Cannady, 2013). Cheerleaders are almost always at sports events whether its the younger population or older population. The tradition, the act of cheering, is found almost everywhere but it seems to change depending on where the act is practiced. Cheerleading seems to have different levels within the community. There are youth league level, middle and high school level, competitive level and collegiate level. The lowest level of cheerleading has a younger crowd and its looked upon as something fun to do. Rarely do people take little league as serious because of the young age of the members and the care free environment. The members are so young that they dont take is as serious as say an older competitive cheerleading would because its just a hobby to them. Theres a more relaxed atmosphere with the younger members because theyre learning. The young crowd is often mushfaking by trying to imitate their older members of their community such as the middle and high school cheerleaders. When it comes to the higher level of cheerleading the members regard it in a more serious setting. This setting is more structured often trained members of cheerleading are in charge of teaching the mushfakers. These trained members are ultimately helping this generation of cheerleaders to become more familiar with the concept of cheerleading and to practice the ability to cheer well. It still seems though that they are not the highest level of cheerleading. At this level the members are respected more because theyve been learning and practicing the act of cheerleading but they are still not apparently there. As members stay in this community for a long

Logan 3 time they eventually move on to be competitive or collegiate cheerleaders. These two levels are mentioned together because theyre basically the same thing just a different levels. Competitive cheerleading is a competitive team sport incorporating skills from several other disciplines such as gymnastics, dance, stunting and, of course, cheer (What is Allstar Cheerleading). Competitive cheerleading is a more strenuous physical activity that involves advanced skills of cheerleading. It is ultimately what every cheerleading wants to be a part of if they have what it takes. Competitive cheerleaders do not cheer on sports teams because theyre the team thats being cheered on. Its an activity that requires a lot of training and practice because the team performs year-long for various cheerleading titles (What is Allstar Cheerleading). The collegiate level of cheerleading seem to be the medium of cheerleading. These cheerleaders are involved in competitions throughout the year but they also are crowd pleasers like the younger members of this community. Collegiate cheerleading is not focused on just competitions such as competitive cheerleading or theyre not just focused on cheering on their t eam like youth league and middle and high school levels. Collegiate focuses on all these aspects, thats why its considered the medium of what cheerleading stands for. These levels of cheerleading seem to fit in the boundaries of a discourse community and also a community of practice. According to John Swales a discourse community embodies different aspects and scholars are still even questioning these aspects but the general concise definition for this work of a discourse community will be a group of people who use discourse to reach a specific goal (Writing about Writing, 723). The six characteristics of a discourse community laid out by Swales are a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of

Logan 4 common public goals, has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members, uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback, utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, has acquired some specific lexis, and finally a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise (Swales, 471-473). According to these characteristics of Swales only certain levels of cheerleading would fit into the structure of a discourse community. These levels would be competitive cheerleading and collegiate cheerleading. The characteristics of a discourse community relate to collegiate and competitive cheerleading because they have a common goal to work and win cheerleading titles during competition, show empowerment of individuals and a sisterhood. They also use a form of communication to get this done. The types of communication used specifically by this discourse community are verbal, written, and physical. These communications take place in practices, in-person meetings, via text message and email, and also paper form such as evaluation sheets and cheer list. During the communication between the cheerleaders they discuss topics such as routines, practice times, learning material, and constructive criticism (Cannady, 2013). The most important form of communication for this community would be in-person meeting and practices. They help the community practice the routines and skills to work towards their goal of being the champions at competition. This source of communication also helps the community with anything discrepancies or confusion about certain expectations or skills that need to be demonstrated during competition and even at the sport events. This group has a very peculiar lexis associated with it. Vocabulary is broken down into the various

Logan 5 components of cheerleading such as movements, tumbling, and stunting. Common terms used for motions would be a high V which means that the cheerleaders arms are in the shape of a v, touchdown which means the cheerleaders arms are extended by their head in the shape of a goal, and also left or right diagonal which means the cheerleaders arms are in the shape of a diagonal and the orientation left and right depends on which arm is up and which arm is down (Cheerleading Definitions). Common terms used for stunting which is described as the most strenuous part or cheerleading are basket toss which implies that a cheerleader is being thrown into the air to perform some type of action and also extension which means that one of the cheerleaders is being extended into the air by other members of her team (Cheerleading Definitions). The last component of cheerleading is also a part of a sister sport called gymnastics and they have the same lexis. Common terms for this part of cheerleading are back tuck which means that the cheerleader is jumping backwards with a lot of force into a tuck position and also front roll which means the cheerleader is on the ground rolling forward in a ball position. This lexis is used constantly throughout the community and its seems to be quite impossible for members of this discourse community to not know what these terms mean. Starting off in the lower levels such as youth league and middle and high school this lexis is taught and practiced to be more close to the actual discourse community. Practicing the lexis and some of the values or the discourse community is described as a community of practice. According to Ann Johns a community of practice are seen as complex collections of individuals who share genres, language, values, concepts, and ways of being (Johns, 500). The youth leagues and school system

Logan 6 cheerleading organizations dont necessarily have a common goal but they learn and practice the values and lexis of the discourse community in order to eventually join the community. It can be considered mushfaking because these individuals are imitating the high levels that they would like to be welcomed to in the future. In order to become a part of the discourse community individuals must realize that they must be convincing and that authority figures will be watching to choose the best of the best. If these individuals dont realize this they will not be welcomed into the discourse community by the authority figures. In the community practice there seems to not be a lot of power because its looked at as hobby not necessarily something that is serious and needs structured authority. As an individual goes through the motions of becoming a member of the discourse community conflicts and power struggles will be present. As a newcomer in this community experts say they have earn their spot and its not easy (Cannady, 2013). Although the goal of the discourse community is to work together towards their goals theyre leaders present. The coaches of the teams are leaders and also the senior members who have been cheering for years have priority over others. If newcomers come along and try to jump right into being a leader they will be shut down because they havent earned their spot (Cannady, 2013). Authority in this discourse community comes from titles and years of experience. Members of this community are very serious about their perception and who represents them as leaders because theyre criticized a lot. The public sees cheerleading as an activity instead of a sport so this discourse community is always trying to prove themselves to the public eye and they want their leaders to represent them well and accurately. Once newcomers figure this out the

Logan 7 conflicts of this discourse community decrease because everyone knows their respective place. Cheerleading as a whole would be considered one of the less serious activities of individuals but is actually one of the most intense. Cheerleaders seem to pay the most for their community and sustain the most injury but because of their goals and reasons for being a community they continue to strive and push forward. There are different levels of cheerleading and these levels are in two categories as a discourse community and a community of practice. The public fails to realize this and until they do they will never know the truth about the ultimate crowd pleasers.

Logan 8 Works Cited Cannady, Ryanne. Personal Interview. 1 November 2013. Cheerleading Dictionary. Cheerleading Info Center. 2011. Web. 3 November 2013. History of Cheerleading. International Cheer Union. 2009. Web. 3 November 2013. Johns, Ann M. Discourse Communities and Communities if Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity. Text, Role, and Context: Developing Academic Literacies. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge UP, 1997. 51-50. Print. Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. N.d. Web. 3 November 2013. Swales, John. The Concept of Discourse Community. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32. Print. Wardle, Elizabeth, and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. Print. What Is All Star Cheerleading? Allstar Cheerleading Blog. Web. 3 November 2013.