Cheerleaders are often criticized because many believe that there is no effort to the program. The question of considering cheer as a sport has been a wild debate since the activity was first introduced, but a competitive cheer gym proves to be just as athletic as a football field. 

All-Star Cheerleading has been around for decades but has progressively gotten harder and more intimidating over the years. All-Star Cheerleading comes in many different levels ranging from one to seven. Each team competes as part of a gym, an All-Star gym is a place that houses multiple teams that compete on different levels. 

All-Star Cheerleading is often confused with gymnastics, but they are very different from one another. Cheerleading includes four major parts of a routine: jumps, stunts, running tumbling, and standing tumbling.

Teams practice from summer into fall to compete in the winter and spring competitions. Cheer is a year-round sport that is very competitive; most teams end up going to over ten competitions a year. An All-Star Competition consists of two consecutive days of doing the same thing twice for an overall score. Although this type of travel seems stressful, there’s even more to add. If a team gets a bid, they can participate in the Summit. 

The Summit is the most important cheerleading competition ever. Thousands of teams globally come to compete but not everybody can come. The Summit takes place in Florida. Many teams have to stay over a week in Florida to make sure that they are perfectly prepared to compete in front of thousands of people. Because thousands of people will be attending, this competition takes place at the ESPN World of Sports in Osceola County. There are up to three competing halls that run teams non-stop.  

All-Star Cheerleading is very different from sideline cheer; the sport no longer consists of cheering people on and shouting chants, it’s now much more.