When Did Stomp And Shake Cheerleaders Begin Performing Cheers While Seated Or Standing In Gym Bleachers?

Beauty With Sunshiine, Mar 12, 2010

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases two video examples of bleacher cheers with the earliest YouTube publishing dates that I have come across. These cheers from 2010 and 2011 are performed by West Mecklenburg High School cheerleaders, Charlotte North Carolina. West Mecklenburg is colloquially known as "West Meck". 

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, and recreational purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to everyone who was and is associated with West Meck cheerleading squads. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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This post is part of pancocojams' ongoing series on stomp and shake cheerleading cheers. Click the tags to find more videos in this series. 

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES
It's not surprising that the earliest YouTube videos of bleacher cheers showcase a Varsity cheerleading squad and a Junior Varsity cheerleading squad from a high school in North Carolina. That's not surprising because North Carolina and Virginia are the two states in the United States where university level stomp and shake cheerleading  began. Click          https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/05/overview-of-stomp-shake-cheerleading.html "Click  "When & Where Stomp & Shake Cheerleading Began (Some History Of This Style Of Cheerleading)" [new title] and click the tags found below for more pancocojams post about stomp and shake cheerleading cheers and about stomp and shake bleacher cheers.

DISCLAIMER:
I am an African American grandmother who describes myself as a "community folklorist". Almost all the information that is found in this post was gleaned from online sources.

I have never been a member of any cheerleading squad and I have never seen any stomp and shake cheerleading performed in person, except for very modified versions of stomp and shake cheerleading that was performed by high school cheerleaders in my adopted hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

.Everything that I know or conjecture about stomp and shake cheerleading is what I've gathered from the internet- mostly from watching YouTube videos and reading those videos' discussion threads. In addition, I had some informative online comment exchanges with one former stomp and shake cheerleader in 2011, but I regret that I lost contact with him after that year.

For the historical and cultural record, please add additions and corrections to this post and other pancocojams posts on stomp and shake cheerleading. Thanks in advance!

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WHAT ARE BLEACHER (STAND) CHEERS?
stomp and shake "bleacher cheers"* (also known as "stand cheers") are cheers that are performed by high school cheerleading squads or by other pre-university level cheerleading squad (usually high school squad) during a competitive basketball game. The cheerleaders represent and support their school's team by performing cheers while they are seated or standing in the gymnasium stands (bleachers). Depending on the city and state, the two cheerleading squads often "battle" each other during the basketball game by exchanging bleacher cheers. 

*I prefer the tern "bleacher cheers" to the also used referent "stand cheers" because the words "stand" and "stands" have other meanings in general conversation, and in cheerleading.

In some videos of bleacher cheers, the front row of the cheerleading squad stands and performs immediately in front of the bleachers while the other members of the squad stand in the bleachers. This may have been the earliest form of bleacher cheer performances.

 "Bleachers" (stands) are rows of benches without backs that are available for seating at indoor or outdoor sports events.

"Bleacher cheers (stand cheers)  are characterized by the percussive bass sounds that the cheerleaders' sneakers (gym shoes) make while hitting the floor of the stands during those choreographed routines. Like all stomp and shake cheers, the cheers have a call and response pattern, with a designated cheerleading calling that particular cheer and the rest of the squad responding by saying the other words. The caller isn't necessarily in the front row or in the center of that row. Also, it doesn't appear that the caller is necessarily the captain of the cheerleading squad.   

Before the custom of performing bleacher cheers started, stomp and shake cheerleaders were limited to cheering on the sidelines of the basketball court, periodically cheering for a short time on the court when the game was halted for some reason, and cheering on the court during half-time. The custom of performing cheers while seated or standing in the bleachers enables cheerleaders to cheer for their team and to battle the opposing cheerleading squad throughout the entire game. It's easy to see from the watching YouTube videos that bleacher cheers and, particularly bleacher cheer battles between the two cheerleading squads, add to the drama and intensity of the high school basketball game experiences that they are a part of. 

YouTube includes some video demonstrations from 2013 of mainstream cheerleaders performing cheers "while seated". However, there's only a very small number of those cheers and I haven't come across any examples of mainstream bleacher cheers being performed during actual games. Also, there's no doubt that the performance of stomp and shake bleacher cheers is much more intense, rhythmic, dramatic, creative, and confrontational than the performance of mainstream stomp and shake cheerleading cheers. 

Besides for YouTube video titles and besides for my pancocojams posts or comments on this subject, I haven't come across any other online mention of "bleacher cheers" or "stand cheers" (another referent for bleacher cheers). The fact that these cheers are being performed in bleachers isn't considered remarkable (with both meanings of that word) by people writing comments in what appears to be the early years of that custom in 2010 and 2011. Does that mean that bleacher cheers had been done earlier and people were used to seeing it?

Please share any information you have about when the custom of cheering in the bleachers (stands) first occurred in mainstream cheerleading and/or stomp and shake cheerleading. Remember to add the style of cheerleading and the city/state and school level that those cheerleaders are from. Thanks!   

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2 - West Meck HS Varsity Cheerleaders-Fire it up.MOV

 Sophia Ward, Feb 22, 2011
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Here are two comments from this video's discussion thread (with numbers added for referencing purposes only) :

1. @EllaBelAmor,  2011
"what are you guys saying ?"

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Reply
2.@REIGN_89, 2011
"@AnnieMaye24 Lol No...They Say:

    Come On Hawks Lets Hear It

    Fire Up That Spirit !

    Do do it..Do It

    You Got to Put Your Mind Into It...

    Everybody Get Get Down......Everybody Get Down..

*i Would Know Because I go To West Meck"

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