BOZEMAN --Montana's cheerleaders are getting more advanced every year, but safety is more important than learning how to do crowd-pleasing stunts, according to a woman who's coached hundreds of cheerleaders over the past 11 years.
Health is more important than weight, added Mary Kay Minor, head cheer/dance coach at Montana State University-Bozeman.
Six hundred high school and junior high cheerleaders from Montana, Canada and surrounding states attended one of three Montana State/UCA cheerleading camps held in Bozeman this summer. As freshmen squads practiced group stunts in the gym, Minor talked about the "extreme changes" she's seen since 1986 when 84 cheerleaders attended camp.
"I think we are more concerned with the kids learning the basic techniques and learning safety than we are in learning the more dramatic stunts," Minor said. "We won't sacrifice safety to teach the dramatics."
Increased emphasis on safety and crowd involvement are two trends she's seeing among the cheerleaders, Minor said.
College students from around the nation teach the cheerleaders new cheers and sideline chants during the four-day camps, Minor said. The cheerleaders also learn pompon routines, dances, stunts they can do with partners and how to work together as a team. Tumbling is optional. Safety is rewarded.
"We work with coaches on spotting," Minor said. "We work with the kids everyday on safety and the correct way to build. We award kids for the safe spot of the day and not the highest stunt."
Getting the crowd more involved means using music, signs and short, simple cheers, Minor said. Cheerleaders shouldn't use storybook, three-verse cheers if they expect the spectators to participate. They should hold up signs that contain maybe one simple word per sign.
"Crowds will yell one, two, three words with you," Minor said. "Any more than that, you will lose them."
Like a conductor directing music to accompany a silent movie, cheerleaders need to be able to read the action and respond to it.
Cheerleaders need to know when it's appropriate to cheer and when it isn't, Minor said. They have to realize when it's time to do some entertaining and stop telling the crowd to cheer. A 40-point lead, for example, would be a good time for cheerleaders to pull out their repertoire of stunts and pyramids. Safe stunts, of course.
"Don't stop cheering, but don't keep yelling at the crowd to yell," Minor added. "You still do sidelines, but maybe not as often."
As far as appearance goes, Minor said cheerleaders should look professional, neat and well-groomed. For safety's sake, they should keep their hair back and not wear jewelry. Their uniforms need to fit.
It's best not to have strict rules about height and weight, Minor said. Any guidelines should be based on health and safety.
"You can create more problems by having hard and fast rules about weight," Minor said. "You actually can create more problems for the kids by having rules where there is no flexibility, but when you deal with basic good health and safety for the kids, all the pieces fit together."
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