Driving down A1A, I was afraid that I would somehow miss the hotel or venue and get lost amongst a sea of tacky t-shirt shops or biker gear stores. Those fears were quickly replaced with a rush of excitement as I rounded the corner to see hundreds of uniformed cheerleaders on both sides of the street! The USC Game Cocks flag was in full display as South Carolina’s team proudly cheered on their school while crossing the street. Reigning champs, University of Louisville, waved their flag in the grassy practice area on the other side of the street as their co-ed team pulled out some impressive stunting routines. Post continues below slide show>

I attended this event to meet the Clemson co-ed team and quickly founded them cheering in their tiger sports bras and bright orange shorts out in front of the ocean. It was hard to miss their oversized purple flag and the team of supportive parents sporting the Clemson cheer t-shirts! The Tigers were excited to compete but were also tired from a morning of practice and tumbling in the Florida sun. I was most impressed to meet Dipali Patel, the youngest coach of a D1 collegiate cheer team, who at only two years older than a good portion of the cheerleaders, commanded respect and authority from the team! At all of 5ft tall and a size 00 (way to rub it in), she was hard to see but her voice could not be mistaken! Clemson ended up finishinfourth overall but certainly made their presence known!!!

The cheer practice and intimidation sessions were the most fun to watch!! Teams would gather in the grass before the preliminary event to warm up their routines and practice stunts..some of which were not legal in the competition but completely legal when trying to upstage another team! I have to give credit to Hawaii Pacific University and Stephen F Austin University out of Texas who put on quite a stunting show. I also vote these two teams “BEST CHEER ABS!” I don’t think I have ever seen more ripped stomachs on young girls than I did at this event! Certainly makes me want to hit the gym a little harder! It also made me want to start tumbling again!

After spending the day at this event, I had some final thoughts and some mental awards I wanted to present……Cheerleading has come such a long way in the last 10-15 years! When I was in high school in the late 90′s, college cheer requirements were basically a height requirement of under 5’5″ and the ability to do a standing back tuck! We didn’t have too many cheer gyms around and all star teams were just getting started! Now, kids are doing standing fulls and working out at cheer and dance centers after class. I’ve seen tumbling passes that could easily place these kids on the gymnastics team rather than the cheer team. Many of the male cheerleaders I met were former football players who found it easier to obtain a cheer scholarship than a football scholarship but said that the intensity of how they perfromed did not change. I met one girl who was both on the soccer and cheer teams for Clemson! To anyone who thinks that cheerleading is not a sport, I would invite you to attend any of these events and see the athletic ability on display!

Now to the awards….
1. Best hair and tan – Oklahoma State University
2. Most in need of a little color splash – Georgia Tech (too much white and maybe in need of a little Florida sun)
3. Best abs – Hawaii Pacific University
4. Most unique practice uniforms – SFA University. Red and purple ripped up sports bras and a guy in a plaid Paul Bunyan shirt with chops!
5. Most in need of a more appropriate war chant – USC Game Cocks (some felt perhaps a bit too crude.)
6. Most parents in team shirts – Radford University
7. Loudest team – Louisville (reigning champs..they had a reputation to protect)
8. Most creative use of music – University of Maryland (Turtle Power, Hannah Montana, Super Hero theme)
9. “Where is that college?” award – Azuza Pacific University
10. Best dance team intro – UNC Chapel Hill