Cheerleading. Easily the most underrated sport that is known to the world. Flips, stunts, spinning in the air a lot of things most of the world can’t do.

Memorizing 2 Minute and 30 second routines that have substantial body positions and movements in them, and if you miss something or aren’t clean enough then that could keep you .16 away from the national champion title.

 Sydney Schneider, a cheerleader at Oregon Dream Teams located in Beaverton, Oregon is one of the most elite gyms on the west coast. Her team at the gym, Vanity, a Large Senior level 4 team that rocked the mat and took home second against 4 teams this weekend at American Northwest Championships. Before she hit the mat, she was asked a few questions. She was asked how it felt to almost hit the mat with her new team on at her first competition. Her response was “ it feels so great to be performing with these people that are like family to me. We have been working extremely hard to hit a 0 at this competition and try and become the national champions”.

“ My coaches are our biggest supporters, we all love them and they push us but not too hard. We have worked and they helped us put in the work.” Schneider made clear that this type of cheerleading is not the same as you find at high school football games.“ All Star cheer is completely different, the way that we train in the way that we compete is almost 100% totally different. It’s kind of insulting when people compare them because being in the shoes that I am in knowing the difference it’s hard to explain but it’s intensely different”.

All-star cheer is a lot of work it’s very intricate and very different than what people think is cheerleading. Cheerleading is always going to be a sport that is looked down and is recognized at the high schools as a sport.