Critical Commentary 4: Cheerleading in the Philippines

This is me being lifted :) This was during the NCC

Chanting "D-L-S-U! Animo La Salle!"

History of Cheerleading

Cheerleading nowadays is considered to be a competitive sport which is “based on an organized routine which contain the basic elements of dance, tosses, jumps, tumbling passes and stunts”. Before this well-known definition of cheerleading as a sport, cheerleading originated as a venue for promoting school spirit. This sport originally emerged in the United States before spreading into various parts of the globe.

Cheerleading traces its roots from the late 19^th century, specifically in November 2, 1898, when Johnny Campbell, an undergraduate of University of Minnesota, encouraged the crowd to chant and yell to encourage their team. His famous "Rah, Rah, Rah! Ski-u-mah, Hoo-Rah! Hoo-Rah! Varsity! Varsity! Varsity, Minn-e-So-Tah!” made him the very first cheerleader or “yell-leader”. Soon after, yell-leader squad of six male students was organized, a practice that gained currency at numerous other universities in America.

Great traditions in the art of cheerleading have developed over the years.

In the 1920s, drums and noisemakers were used by the yell leaders. Moreover, for the first few decades of its history, cheerleading was an all-male activity, but by this time, women also became active. Nowadays more than 90% of America's cheerleading participants are female, though guys still make up half of the yell squads at the college level. It was also during this time when cheerleaders began to incorporate gymnastics and tumbling into their cheers and the first flash-card cheering section was directed by Lindley Bothwell at Oregon State University. 

In the 1930s, universities and high schools began performing pom-pon routines and using paper poms. 

In the early 1940's, when men went to war, women not only went to work, but also on to cheerleading squads. Cheerleading then became more as a female sport. Women were revitalizing the spirit when it was needed. When the men returned from war, new twists and turns were added. Gymnastics were always done by men, while the girls danced. This gave rise to dance teams. 

In 1948, Laurence "Hurkie" Hurkimer (founder of the spirit industry) formed the National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) as a way to hold cheerleading clinics) He organized the first cheerleader camp, held in Huntsville, TX, which drew 52 girls and one boy.

In the 1950s, as collegiate sports grew in popularity, so did cheerleading. Cheerleaders were a common sight on the basketball court as well as the football field.

In the 1960s, the cheerleaders began using pom poms, as its most widely recognized prop at present. Though early crepe pom poms were first introduced in the 1930s, it was in 1965 where the modern vinyl pom was invented by Fred Gastoff.

In the 1970s, cheerleading was building up an unstoppable momentum. In addition to cheering for the traditional football and basketball teams, cheerleaders began supporting all school sports, sometimes selecting several different squads to cheer for wrestling, track and swimming. It was during this period when the first nation-wide television broadcast of the Collegiate Cheerleading Championships by the International Cheerleading Foundation was seen. In 1976, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders performed at Super Bowl X and started an evolution of "dancing cheerleaders." In addition to this, high school and collegiate cheerleading competitions began during this period. 

In the 1980s, cheerleading competitions, organized by the National Cheerleaders Association and other groups, started to grow in popularity. For the first time, teams got off the sidelines and took center stage, facing off against like-minded teams from all over the U.S.

Over time, the stunts and tricks that make up the cheerleading repertoire have grown increasingly elaborate and adventuresome; leading many to worry that the sport has become too dangerous.  Hence, universal standards were set and safety guidelines outlawed many dangerous tumbling moves and pyramids.

At present, the sport has spread from the U.S. to many other countries, making its way to our country, the Philippines.

Cheerleading in the Philippines

Cheerleading in the Philippines officially emerged in 1993 when the Cheerleading Philippines Federation (CPF) was officially founded. The CPF is the “is the national confederation of Cheerleading organizations. It is the national governing body of Cheerleading and Cheer Dance in the country. Its primary activities are organized through standing Commissions that are each responsible for some aspect of the sport's development in the country. The CPF is mandated to sponsor and sanction cheerleading & cheer dance competitions and a variety of national and international cheerleading competitions, including the Cheerleading World Championships, the Asia Cup, the IFC World Cup.”

However, it may be possible that cheerleading in the Philippines may have started way before 1993. There may have been minor accounts of cheerleading in the Philippines although no official accounts have been published regarding the subject matter.

Cheerleading in the Philippines has three major competitions. These three competitions are the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Cheerdance Competition, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Cheerleading Competition and the National Cheerleading Championships (NCC).

The UAAP Cheerdance Competition, founded in 1994, is an annual one-day event of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines for cheerleading, usually held at the Araneta Coliseum. The participating schools of this competition are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), De La Salle University (DLSU), Far Eastern University (FEU), National University (NU), University of the East (UE) and University of the Philippines (UP).

The NCAA Cheerleading Competition, previously known as NCAA Cheerdance Competition is an annual one-day event of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for cheerleading, which was recently founded in 2004. The event was sanctioned by Cheerleading Philippines Federation (CPF) and thus adopted the official scoring criteria used in international cheerleading. The participating schools of this competition are Arellano University (AU), Colegio de San Juan de Letran (CSJL), De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC), Jose Rizal University (JRU), Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT), San Beda College (SBC), San Sebastian College - Recoletos (SSC-R) and University of Perpetual Help System Dalta (UPHSD).

The National Cheerleading Chamionship (NCC) was recently founded in 2006. The competition first started small, with 10 teams and divisions: high school and college. By 2008, 29 teams participated in the NCC, which featured squads from around the country; thus making NCC the first and only true National Cheerleading Organization in the Philippines. Just like the NCAA, the NCC uses the official scoring criteria used in international cheerleading.

Where culture and politics enter the picture

Given the history and the background where cheerleading is set in the Philippines, culture and politics play an important role in analyzing the social meaning produced in this worldly recognized sport. The main objective of this blog post is to be able to deconstruct Cheerleading in the Philippines using the discourse analysis. It aims to explain why females are more vulnerable in the sport and consequently, why they are also empowered in the sport by using the feminist theory/ post-modern feminist theory. Moreover, it aims to trace why there is an emergence of gay people in the sport and why does society view males who join this sport gay, using the queer theory.

Using the post-modern feminism lens

 Cheerleading in the Philippines has a grand narrative in which a common template exists. This common template consists of men and women, whereby the women are lifted by the men. 

As mentioned earlier, cheerleading started as an-all male activity. Women became active too but they much more prominent in the early 1940s, during the war when they revitalized the spirit and renewed the sentiments of the people. Nowadays, in America and most especially in the Philippines, cheerleading is considered to be a girl sport. This is because a bigger majority of the team consists of women. But more than this, biological attributes and qualities of women are reflected in the sport itself. The biological attribute is that women are proven to be flexible than men. In an article from the Daily Mail, women are more flexible, particularly in their back. It's an evolutionary trait, carved out by the need for females to be mobile even when they're extremely pregnant. According to Dr Katherine Whitcome of Harvard University, "Pregnancy presents an enormous challenge for the female body.   The body must change in dramatic ways to accommodate the baby and these changes affect a woman's stability and posture. It turns out that the enhanced curvature and reinforcement of the lower spine are key to maintaining normal activities during pregnancy." The extra bendiness is possible because the curvature takes place in the lower spine, or lumbar region, over three vertebrae in women - compared with only two in men. The female joints are also larger and flare out further down the spine than those of men - improving their spine's strength. Moreover, the attitudes of women are reflected with their ability to be graceful and to smile despite the difficulty of the stunts. The routine should be easy on the eye despite the difficulty of stunts that is shown. Just like a woman’s meticulous eye, everything should carried out perfectly, with smiles on their faces. Moreover, it reflects the perkiness of women is seen as they revel in the pleasure in the limelight, boosting the crowd by showing their athletic capabilities.

There are two main divisions in cheerleading: the all-girls and the co-ed division. In the all-girls division, the “girl power” feminism is highlighted in a sense that they perform both the roles of men and women. They lift and get lifted, they do a basket toss and at the same time, get thrown in the air. Plus, they have to do tumbling passes, which are usually done by men. According to a book entitled “Cheerleader!: An American Icon”, these girls  assume some of the characteristics associated with masculinity such as physical training, power and strength yet they don’t actually want to be a man. They are “heterosexy athletes”- women having the capability of men but are still feminized.

CSB All girls

In the co-ed division, there is sexual division of labor. Most of the time, women get lifted and get thrown in the air while the men do the lifting and tossing of girls. With this, women have more risks involved in this sport. They get thrown and hovered 8 feet above the air, they are lifted about 2 feet above the ground and dance, plus do gymnastics just like the men do. Since they are launched in the air by men, who are biologically stronger than girls, the impact is more powerful making their injuries worse. Moreover the women engaged in this sport can be subordinated in a way that they are taken as “trophies”. When lifted, they look so poised and dignified but in reality they are just objects by which the men exercise their power on. For instance, most male cheerleaders brag about how strong they are and boast on how many cheerleading positions they can make the women do once they are lifted. In our society, this can be reflected as the “trophy wife” wherein she is just a status symbol of a pricey object for the purpose of increasing the status of the man. This is where the women are objectified.

Good thing she was caught!

Unfortunately, this girl had to continue with the pyramid stunt even though she fell.
No one was able to break the fall.

Another perspective of it can depict a scenario in which the women are exalted and the men are the slaves. The women are on top because they may be venerated while the men are at the bottom because they are of the lower kind. In this case, the women are empowered.

Using the queer theory

Gay cheerleader being lifted by women

CCP Bobcats Cheerleader (c) Gian Bacuyag from CCP

In the Philippines, nowadays, the emergence of gay people has changed the course of cheerleading. Now, gay people are slowing dominating the world of cheerleading. They use this sport to express their womanly attributes such as creativity in dance and flexibility. In the National Cheerleading Competition, they even get lifted, tossed up in the air and dance. The gay men get effeminized when they get lifted. Again, bisexuality is emphasized in such a way that the gay people can do both the roles of men and women. In a way, it’s entertaining and amazing for most people to see them do the parts of women in the sport; however they are still looked down upon. Since cheerleading is considered to be a girly sport, they also identify with women and their experiences, particularly in the subordination of society. As we live in a very patriarchal society, the gay people are being judged mostly by men. Moreover, the society immediately associates gayness with cheerleading rather than being “true” brute men. That is why few men engage in the sport. Stereotyping males as gay is not true in all cases. There are still more men in some teams, more often in conservative schools. Moreover, the line “Any man can hold a cheerleader's hand but only the elite can hold her feet." gives them a sense of pride and dignity despite the stereotyping them as gay/ sissy.

The over-all deconstruction that can happen in cheerleading is to have an all-male cheerleading sport. Since cheerleading now is associated with femininity, it can be interesting to have an all-male team to deconstruct the notion that the sport is effeminized all throughout. Since cheerleading was founded by men, there can be a possibility of having it again, but not to lead to the subordination of the all-girls and co-ed teams. This is where the construction of social meaning takes place. Since there stereotypical notion of cheerleading exist as effeminized sport, there is a fear of being chastised by society. There is a threat to masculinity, but one way to deconstruct it is to have an all-male cheerleading team.

Using the post-colonial lens

Cheerleading in the Philippines is different in other parts of the world even if there is an increasing effort for interconnectedness for cheerleading in the global level (Worlds). Although the Philippines tries to copy the American style of cheerleading, we still do it our own way. We copy the technicalities of the sport of the Americans but we incorporate our own creativities and approaches to the sport. With this, traditional American style is mixed with the Philippine style, making it hard to have the traditional dual categories. The Philippine style of cheerleading is to make it as entertaining as possible. With the use of props and visual techniques, it sort of mimics the television show, ShowTime wherein creativity and the creation of new ideas are welcomed. Moreover, the emergence of cheerleading all over the Philippines paves the way for small movements to emerge which gives it a sense of locality together with the sport (for instance, University of Cordilleras).

 

On another note, Newsweek reported that in an international cheerleading competition last 2007, China's Nanning Middle School No. 26 performed a “bizarre” routine which, according to the judges, was more of a cultural performance rather than cheerleading. This can be related to Said’s Orientalism in which the Orient tends to be inferior than the Occident (West). This occurrence can be analyzed in the post-colonial sense in the way that the West is trying to impose its own rules in the world of cheerleading. In cheerleading in the Philippines, we use the international standards of judging because that is what is imposed on us. These rules of scoring are treated as “better” than those made locally.

References:

Bluestein, S. (2008). Male cheerleading is a sport!. Retrieved from http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1685

Wikipedia. (2011). Cheerleading. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerleading

Wikipedia. (2011). UAAP Cheerdance Competition. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UAAP_Cheerdance_Competition

NCC Philippines. (2011). History. Retrieved from http://www.nccphilippines.com/?q=node/41

Wikipedia. (2011). Cheerleading Philippines. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerleading_Philippines

Wikipedia. (2011). NCAA Cheerleading Competition. Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCAA_Cheerleading_Competition

TIME. (2011). A brief history of cheerleading. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1950821,00.html

Newsweek. (2007). A world of cheer!. Retrieved from

http://www.newsweek.com/2007/05/13/a-world-of-cheer.html

Cheerleading Safety. (2009). History of Cheerleading. Retrieved from http://www.cheerleadingsafety.com/history.html

Derbyshire. D. (2007). Why the female of species is more bendy than the male. Retrieved from  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-501555/Why-female-species-bendy-male.html

Adams, N.G. & Bettis, P. (2003). Cheerleader!: an American icon. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=ncXeMQUMtPgC&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=traits+of+women+cheerleading&source=bl&ots=usFjtmVc73&sig=_CgL2dHJaCq-SOHIkzsA_rSuoxA&hl=en&ei=2X2QTe_uKIT5cffv5IQK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=traits%20of%20women%20cheerleading&f=false

*The pictures were from The Lasallian and the NCC 2011 photos