Would you please explain... How many worlds are there?? And what levels are there in the competitions...
Thanks

The problem with cheerleading is that it doesn't have one governing body the way say Gymnastics does. Its really more like a business. All these different businesses run cheerleading competitions and each company can have its own nationals, worlds and whatever. Its one of the problems that makes cheerleading seem like not as legitimate of a sport, the lack of organization. When there are 20 different "national championships" it really doesn't mean much when a team has won one. And it becomes, who can win the most championships, which then becomes, who can AFFORD to go to these competitions. As I mentioned these are all businesses, not non for profits. They charge for each individual team member to compete and thats on top of air fare, hotel, food, etc. So to answer your question I'm not sure how many "worlds" competitions there are, but I am sure there is more than one. And calling it worlds is very misleading since not that many other countries do competitive cheerleading and very few teams from other countries will travel to compete at "worlds" so it just becomes like another national championships with nearly all teams from the U.S.

i would have thought the same as what has been said, i dont do cheerleading but my best friend does and i know a bit about it, and wit all the organisations there could be many worlds.

i do irish dancing and there are also many different organising bodies in our dance form. Currently only 2 of our organisations have world championships and both of which are happening either right now or this weekend,so in a sport where there is more than one governing body anything can happen. althought irish is very different as with some of our organisations, once you belong to them you can only compete in events sanctioned by them so you couldn't go to their worlds and then go to the other worlds too. one of our worlds is closed so only people from that organisation can compete and the other is open so any irish dancer can compete

There are 2 'Worlds' competitions - both held the same weekend and both in Florida.

Firstly ICU Worlds - that's open to all countries, but each country can only enter one team. So the USA can enter one team, the UK can enter one team, Belgium can enter one team...and so on. Although this is a more 'worldwide' event, it's not considered the 'real' worlds by most cheerleaders because it doesn't showcase the very best of the best. ICU isn't levelled either, so there's only one competition.

So that brings me on to IASF Worlds - a two day competition held in Disneyland Florida. In order to qualify for IASF Worlds you have to win a bid. In order to win a bid, you have to enter a competition in your own country that gives them out. Generally, bids are given to the highest scoring team at the competition, but you have to be in a Worlds eligible level (more about levels below!). It's not quite as worldwide as ICU Worlds - the majority of teams are from the USA, simply because at the moment they're a little bit ahead. HOWEVER, many countries were represented - the UK, Germany, Japan, Canada, etc etc...and the winners of IO6 were from Bangkok, so it's definitely possible! IASF is levelled, although not all levels are represented.

Now onto levels...These relate to allstar cheer, and there are quite possibly different rules for school and college cheer. I don't know much about them!

Firstly the competitions are divided into ages as follows:

Tiny - Under 5 years
Mini - Under 8 years
Youth - Under 11 years
Junior - Under 14 years (some places it's under 16 years)
Senior - 12 to 18 years
Open L5 - Over 14 years
Open L6 - Over 17 years.

Then you have levels...

Level 1
The most novice level. You can't go above shoulder height on 2 feet, and on one foot you can't go above waist height. No baskets. No twist downs . Tumble wise, the most you can do is walkovers.

Example of a good Level 1 team:
www.youtube.com . . .

Level 2
You can got to extension on 2 feet. You can go to extension on one foot ONLY if it's braced. You can do a basket, but only straight ride. No twist downs. Tumble wise, handsprings.

Example of a good Level 2 team: Stingray Allstars Plaid
www.youtube.com . . .

Level 3
You can go to extension on one or 2 feet. You can do a single twist down from shoulder height. Tumble wise, you can do tuck somersaults.You can do baskets so long as you don't rotate (i.e. somersault). In pyramids, you can do inversions if braced.

Example of a good Level 3 team: California Allstars Coed 3
www.youtube.com . . .

Level 4
You can go to extension on one or 2 feet. You can twist from anything. Tumble wise, you can do layouts, X outs, somersaults etc. You can do baskets and twist down from them. You can full up. In pyramids, you can pass through two high.

Example of a good Level 4 team: Maryland Twisters Hail
www.youtube.com . . .

Level 5
You can go up to extension and get down with up to 2 twists. Tumble wise you can twist. Baskets can include a double down. You can invert your stunts on the way down.

Example of a good All Girl Level 5 team: CEA Senior Elite
www.youtube.com . . .

Example of a good Open Level 5 team: Top Gun I05
www.youtube.com . . .

Level 6
You can go to 2 high. You can twist. Tumbling - most anything goes! Baskets can involve somersaults, twists, inversions. Single basing is common.

Example of a good Level 6 team: Top Gun I06
www.youtube.com . . .

Example of an international Level 6 team: Bangkok
www.youtube.com . . .