All-Star Anybody Else Dislike The ''cheerlebrity'' Phenomenon?

Welcome to our Cheerleading Community

Members see FEWER ads... join today!

Dec 27, 2010
54
105
I've been around cheerleading for 8 years now and have seen many great cheerleaders perform and they were were respected by teammates and parents and people on other teams. They didn't need to go on twitter and beg to be a ''cheerlebrity'' and put in all this effort to be loved by everyone and have ''fans'' and stuff. I worry that the team aspect, which is of course the most important aspect of the sport, is being lost. No one individual is greater than the team as a whole, good luck stunting on your own. I have talked to some athletes who feel disrespected and like they are supporting players. There are NO supporting players in cheer, everyone is valuable and everybody has a major role.

And this is a problem because everyone knows about the reputations the athletes have. If you take two identical cheerleaders and put them in a college tryout situation and one is more shy and just focuses on his or her abilities and the other is all over twitter gaining followers and gaining ''cheerlebrity'' status that person may get the spot based on reputation. The same thing can happen with awards and other things.

And I very rarely see these ''cheerlebrities'' give any credit to their teammates it's all about them. I find it selfish and bad for the sport. And this is NOT about any one individual, in fact it has nothing to do with the athlete many of you probably think this is about. This is a problem with all star cheerleading as a whole, and specifically the social media aspect of it that is evolving incredibly fast.
 
And this is a problem because everyone knows about the reputations the athletes have. If you take two identical cheerleaders and put them in a college tryout situation and one is more shy and just focuses on his or her abilities and the other is all over twitter gaining followers and gaining ''cheerlebrity'' status that person may get the spot based on reputation. The same thing can happen with awards and other things.

If they are identical, but one is more outgoing sounds like that person would probably fit the college cheer profile better.
 
Shall I also point out that your picture is a mouse? ;)

haha yes, but it's Minnie Mouse! All my kids always get me Minnie mouse things and my bag is covered in Minnie pins, keychains, and bows! Annnnd, I didn't even do it on purpose but gymRAT haha
 
This happens in every sport. Think Bryce Harper or Sidney Crosby or the 16 year old basketball player who's currently on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week. Talent gets noticed.

But there's more room for individual accomplishments in a sport like hockey. We don't measure goals, assists and so on in cheer. There are zero personal stats it's one big combined team score. A hockey player can get the puck in his own end and skate all the way down with no help from anybody to score. The only area of cheer that is like that is the tumbling pass, and you have to be a more complete cheerleader than just tumbling to be a ''star'' so I don't see how that compares.

And I don't see Sidney Crosby on twitter begging for fans and saying his goal is to become a cheerlebrity.
 
If they are identical, but one is more outgoing sounds like that person would probably fit the college cheer profile better.

Or the outgoing, extremely obnoxious person is just obsessed with attention and could potentially be a distraction while the shy one may be a much more team oriented individual who cares about the sport just as much and may even be a better fit personality wise.
 
Here is my opinion for what it's worth...
Kiara Knowlin deserves the "cheerlebrity" status she has, she is literally a World Champion power tumbler and is on the US National Team. Kids should look up to her.
The fan made or parent made "cheerlebrity" bothers me. There are a few out there and it makes me wonder how they will adjust when they age out and have to enter the real world where people outside the sport will say "Blank All Stars who?" And it seems to begin at a younger age than before. The example that immediatly comes to mind is that 5 year old from Rays that was plastered all over tumblr and twitter (fan made not parent, I'm sure her parents were just as horrifid as I would be if a bunch of strangers had an overwhelming interest in my TINY level cheerleader).
I also think it puts unhealthy pressure and demands on a child to live up to this "celebrity" status when all they wanted to do was cheer and have fun with their friends. If my cp falls out of a stunt no one is going to rip her apart on a public forum but if Maddie falls it spawns at least 10 threads.
Unfortunetly this phenomenon is not going anywhere with the 100 cheer mom shows currently in production. You though cheerlebrity was bad now wait until you have show like Dance Moms where a whole team of kids can't get through a venue without security.
 
Here is my opinion for what it's worth...
Kiara Knowlin deserves the "cheerlebrity" status she has, she is literally a World Champion power tumbler and is on the US National Team. Kids should look up to her.
The fan made or parent made "cheerlebrity" bothers me. There are a few out there and it makes me wonder how they will adjust when they age out and have to enter the real world where people outside the sport will say "Blank All Stars who?" And it seems to begin at a younger age than before. The example that immediatly comes to mind is that 5 year old from Rays that was plastered all over tumblr and twitter (fan made not parent, I'm sure her parents were just as horrifid as I would be if a bunch of strangers had an overwhelming interest in my TINY level cheerleader).
I also think it puts unhealthy pressure and demands on a child to live up to this "celebrity" status when all they wanted to do was cheer and have fun with their friends. If my cp falls out of a stunt no one is going to rip her apart on a public forum but if Maddie falls it spawns at least 10 threads.
Unfortunetly this phenomenon is not going anywhere with the 100 cheer mom shows currently in production. You though cheerlebrity was bad now wait until you have show like Dance Moms where a whole team of kids can't get through a venue without security.



*snaps for the queen* You told them!
 
When I cheered about 2 years ago, there weren't any cheerlebrities. There were local ones, and the girls on American Cheerleader or had YouTube videos like ProX. Then I found the fierceboard in 2010, the year of the Ball Up 360. And that's when I heard the term. Personally as a teenager, I don't see anything wrong with self-made cheerlebrities, like the Loves, Kiara, and even Maddie. They're more than a pretty face, they've done something new, or demonstrated talent beyond their years. They also don't let it phase them for the most part. I don't see anything wrong with looking up to a great athlete. I think it's the ones who are given attention based of the look and team that can get out of hand, but in the same token be the ones who are probably really genuine like Jess Pitts from F5 who constantly denies her celeb status. What's wrong with these girls having a role model who lives a life that us actually attainable?
 
Back