Sport of cheerleading evolving locally and internationally

PHILIPSBURG — For a long time, cheerleading was merely something that happened on the sidelines in support of other sports. But in recent years, it has rapidly been evolving into a competitive sport in its own right. Six years ago, the PIAA made cheerleading a competitive sport at the high school level. Last year, the IOCC named cheerleading a provisional sport for the Olympic Games.

As the founder of Cheer Central All Stars and the head cheerleading coach at Philipsburg-Osceola High School, Mary Slogosky has been in the thick of this evolution for more than 27 years.

She explained that All Star cheerleading is a competitive sport for ages 5 and up, completely independent of school cheerleading programs. It first became popular as a sport in the 1990s.

“When I first took over as the high school cheerleading coach, we needed a feeder program, something to build kids’ skills when they were younger, so I started an All Star cheerleading program at the (Moshannon Valley) YMCA,” Slogosky said. “Eventually, we outgrew the Y and I built my own facility.

“When I started it, there were only two other All Star programs in the state. Because most schools didn’t let their cheerleaders compete, All Star cheerleading blossomed and became its own animal,” she said. “It doesn’t look anything like traditional school cheerleading anymore. It basically involves jumps, tumbling, stunting and a little bit of dance. They don’t do actual cheers. School cheerleaders do cheer in competition, and are judged on how well they lead a crowd.”

All Star cheerleading teams compete at many different levels, based on age, skill level and even the size of the gym. According to Slogosky, Cheer Central is the only Division I gym in the area, which is defined as a cheerleading gym having more than 126 athletes. At a national level, this designation means they have to compete against some of the “mega gyms” from large metropolitan areas.

“When we went to UCA nationals, we had to compete as Division I, even though we’re from a small town in central Pennsylvania. It was wonderful to see how competitive we are, even against those huge mega gyms. Walking away in seventh place is not bad, not when you’re competing against those big gyms,” she said. “So, I’m pretty proud of that.”

Another local All Star cheerleading gym that has fared well on the national stage is Superstar Athletics in Bellefonte. Owner T.J. Banas said, “We are the only program in the area that had a team compete at Cheerleading Worlds, which is the most prestigious competition out there, and a team compete at Summit, which is like Worlds but for a younger age group.”

As much of an honor as that is, Banas said that the accomplishment he may be most proud of was helping some of his former athletes reach Olympian status.

“I personally trained two girls who went on to cheer for the University of Kentucky, which is the first team that will represent the USA at the Olympics in 2018,” Banas said. “To me, that was my personal biggest achievement. It was huge for me to see them get that invitation.”

As a provisional sport, cheerleading has been given a three-year trial, during which the IOCC will decide if it is viable enough in the international market to be named an official Olympic sport. According to Slogosky, “The Olympic version of cheer will be the school version rather than the All Star version.” This means that the routines will include less dance time and will also include a cheer, she said.
Another key difference from All Star cheerleading is that in school cheerleading competitions, there is no differentiation between skill levels or school size.

“At the high school level, we do not get the luxury of being broken up into divisions like single A, double A, triple A, etc. We compete against schools of every size. And. for a small school like ours, that’s a huge disadvantage, because the maximum number of athletes you can have on a team is 15. Fifteen girls from the large pool of a 6-A school can be a lot different than 15 girls from the pool of a small school,” Slogosky said.

“I am so proud of my young ladies. In the six years since high school cheerleading became a sport, my team has never not received a bid to states. Several times, we have gone straight to finals. That’s a big deal, especially for a small school like us. We’re one of the only small schools that are real standouts like that, and we are pretty proud of that fact.”

The Philipsburg-Osceola high school cheerleading team won its second District 6 title Dec. 9 and will compete at the state championships in Hershey next month.

In addition to the titles her high school team wins, Slogosky herself was named Coach of the Year at PIAA State Championships in early 2017.

“That was a huge honor for me and my program,” Slogosky said. “My kids are what make me look good, and I know it. I’m pretty proud of our tradition of excellence here, with our small school.

‘These kids work really hard. Just like any other athletes, they spend a couple of days in the weight room, they have two-to-three-hour practices three or four times a week, all on top of their regular sideline cheer job. They are super dedicated, plus I just went to watch seven of my athletes get inducted into the National Honor Society. These are academically-oriented, hardworking athletes. I’m super proud of them.”

Slogosky said she sees the sport continuing to evolve.

“The cheer world is kind of morphing a little bit right now,” she said. “High school cheer is becoming huge again, and it’s drawing kids away from some of the smaller All Star programs. The bigger gyms are starting to take over … people are starting to pay attention and treat it more as a sport.”

Cheer Central All Stars and Superstar Athletics offer classes and competitive opportunities for all skill levels and all ages, beginning as young as age 3. Cheer Central All Stars is located at 289 Railroad St., Philipsburg. Superstar Athletics is located at 270 Rolling Ridge Drive in Bellefonte.