On an endless plane of green strands, a chanting mob leaps into action. A ball of brushing bristles shakes fervently and rises. A large mass of hands extends, connecting each segment of their bodies, rising up as the leader strikes a pose. Throughout all of this, there is an undeniable level of skill and collaboration on display.

From cheering on teams at football games to state level competitive cheer, cheerleading is a popular sport around the world. However, many wonder what the specifics of a cheerleading routine are. How is it scored? What goes into a routine? All of these questions will be answered and more.

Cheerleading is most widely recognized during football games. On the football field, cheerleaders perform their routines to cheer on their school’s football team. Today, this is the most popular version of cheerleading, but it’s uncompetitive and unscored.

Cheerleading isn’t just for cheering on football teams; it is also a competitive sport, overseen by the IHSA. Through cheerleading competitions, teams compete against other teams at a state level. Since 2006, the year the IHSA began its cheerleading competitions, Stevenson has been competing in the IHSA Sectional, State Final Qualifiers and State Finals, even getting 7th place at the finals this year.

First, a team must create a routine, usually through a coach or choreographer. These routines include a variety of elements; including jumps, tumbling, pyramids, tosses, and various other movements. After developing this routine and practicing it, the cheer team is sent off to compete.

Several cheerleading teams compete in these competitions, in which all the teams perform their routines one at a time surrounded by judges. The judges then will give points based on the IHSA’s “Difficulty Rubric,” which grades cheerleaders based on their jumps, tumbling, and other criteria.

For example, two different advanced jumps and a full team synchronized jump will give the team 7-8 points in the Jump category. If a team makes a mistake, however, points will be deducted; for example, falling during tumbling deducts .50 points for each mistake. Whoever gets the highest score is crowned the winning team.

At Stevenson, cheerleading is a major sport. There are several teams including varsity, junior varsity and the freshman-sophomore team. There is also Spirit Revolution, composed of cheerleading and poms teams, which performs at numerous sporting events on school grounds., as well as a Allied Cheer team. Whether it be competing at a state level or cheering on our sports teams, cheerleading is a major cornerstone of Stevenson and athletics in general.