Male cheerleaders may still have their skeptics but they are making a comeback in previously female-dominated squads.
High school, college and the newer All Star teams have broadened the field not only for male participation but in competition
and demand for talent.
Nelton Bourque, who cheered for McNeese State University and the University of South Alabama, said cheering has been dominated
by women for such a long time, it has been hard for some people to understand why males would want to participate.
“There is so much more to offer male cheerleaders in 2013,” he said. “As more and more males start cheerleading, it is only
a matter of time until the false stereotypes will fade away.”
Cheerleading originally started as an
all-male activity. According to The International Cheer Union, in the
1880s students
at Princeton University started an all-male “pep club” that
evolved into “cheers” for campus sports. In 1884, Princeton graduate
Thomas Peebles introduced the new cheering concept to University
of Minnesota students for their football games. This, along
with a “yell team” for the university’s rugby players led to an
all-male team to lead sports fans in “yelling.”
These crowd-motivating teams began to
add routine chants, synchronized movements and megaphones while also
becoming more prevalent
at various sporting events. According to the Union, the first 25
years of cheerleading were male dominated. However, women
started to become incorporated in the early ’20s. World War II was
a turning point when many college-age men left to fight
and their female counterparts took the field.
“A lot of people do not know that
cheerleading started out as an all-male sport,” Bourque said. “Anyone
who knows what it
takes to be a male cheerleader understands that they are
incredible athletes and deserve respect for what they bring to the
sport.”
Raymond Ceasar, who has cheered at
McNeese and now serves as a cheer coach, said the introduction of All
Star cheerleading
has brought a more challenging and competitive aspect to cheering,
increasing male interest. All Star teams, sometimes made
of students from different schools, take their routines off the
field and instead compete against other teams.
Ceasar said there are fewer
cheerleading stereotypes as boys are starting at an earlier age — he has
personally trained students
as young as 4. Mike Strahan, a former cheerleader and cheer coach
at McNeese, said the largest change in cheering is the increased
competition. More gymnastic elements, such as tumbling, have been
added, along with stunting, making routines more intense
and difficult. He said cheerleading is attractive as it provides a
way to stay fit while college teams can offer scholarship
and sponsor perks.
Strahan said the typical stereotypes he encountered were that all the males on the team were gay or that they were not athletes.
He said on all but one of the squads he was “the token gay.” However, he is seeing a change.
“There is definitely an increase in male participation because I think that ‘gay’ stigma is becoming less of an issue,” he
said. “And also males are now in this age more comfortable with their sexuality and realizing that what other people think
is not relevant.”
Marcus Hardy, a former McNeese
cheerleader, said when other students gave him a hard time about
cheering he would simply ask
them if they could hold a girl with one hand or explain he
suffered injuries just like in any other sport. Hardy’s friend,
McNeese cheerleading captain Austin Bourgeois, said he has gotten
stereotypical comments about gay male cheerleaders but it
doesn’t bother him. Cheering has given him a sense of
accomplishment, and he sees it becoming more accepted as the cheer world
becomes better known.
Now students, such as high school
senior Wes Guidry, are following in the footsteps of cheerleaders like
Hardy and Bourgeois.
Guidry, who has been training for almost four months to be on a
college team, has never cheered before and is ready to make
his own mark in cheerleading.
“This was something I really wanted to do,” he said. “It’s actually respected as a sport because the guys on the squad really
bring the strength to the team.”