Hey!

I'm usually around the Disco boards as I teach freestyle at my school however like many other English girls, I am completely fascinated by Cheerleading! We do have it in the UK but not to the extent of America! I have been nosying around the Varsity website and looking at clips from the Championships in Daytona and was hoping someone could explain the divisions to me? I understand Varsity, JV, Coed etc but I mean what is the difference between Division 1, Division 11 and Division 1A? What is Junior as I thought this perticular competition was College level only? Just those sorts of things!

I'm 22 and would love to be a college cheerleader! Don't get me wrong I love teaching Freestyle but it's just something I would love to do!

Thanks
Amy

I competed in Collegiate Nationals a few years ago. Divisions IA, I, II, III are the size of the school and how good their sports teams are (generally bigger schools have better teams because they have more money and more people to choose from). I believe the "Junior Division" is for Junior Colleges mostly known as Community Colleges which are two years schools that do not give bachelors degrees, only two year degrees called associates degrees. They often teach technical skills or are a way for people who might not be ready for college either academically or don't want to go away from home to start college, and are much smaller then regular colleges. Some people say they are easier then regular colleges, thats debatable and varies from college to college They are also much less expensive then four year institutions and many people go to them first to save money and then two years at a bigger school to get their bachelor's degree.. Some of these colleges are direct feeders into big universities after the two years and that goes for sports teams as well. A couple junior colleges are known for their cheer teams and many of them athletes at these schools end up on big name Division IA teams for their last two years of school. Theres also intermediate divisions and thats where teams who don't throw as hard skills can compete under modified rules. I don't believe these are divided by School Division.

In Australia we use the same levels as they do in all star cheerleading.

There are age groups, based on the groups age on August 31st,

Petite - 5 years and under
Mini - 8 yrs and under
Youth - 11 yrs and under
Junior 14 years and under
Senior - 18 years and under
Open - any age

and levels

to give a rough idea - the tumbling limitations are as follows
level 1 - not flight skills just cartwheels, rolls, walkovers etc
level 2 - allowed front and back handsprings
Level 3 - allowed tucks
Level 4 - allowed layouts
level 5 allowed twisting

Thanks for the above! So do the levels apply to stunts also?

Thanks
Amy

Yes, It's been a while since I did al star cheerleading but when I was there it was something like

Level 1 nothing above chest height and no cradles
Level 2- Two footed extensions, and one footed stunts at chest heights, no twisting, straight ride basket tosses only
Level 3- Twist from two footed stunts only, one footed stunts can be extended with straight cradle, one skilled basket toss (like a toe touch or a single twist)
Level 4- Double twist from two footed chest level stunts, single twist from one footed extended stunts, two trick basket toss (Kick and then twist)
Level 5- Double twist from one footed extended stunts, kick double twist basket tosses, but no flipping tosses,

The rules for pyramids were kind of complicated in in terms of how much weight bearing a person in the air could take and stuff like that (no three tiered pyramids until college). If you youtube all star cheerleading in various levels you'll see what I mean.