Lady Ironmen Competition Cheer 

Round 1 is about different levels of  movements for example some girls can have their arms down and others can have their arms up at the same time.

 Round 2 is when everyone has to be the exact same when tumbling they have to start at the same time but don't have to end at the same time everyone has to do the exact same thing like motions and movements. 

Round 3 is stunting and tumbling each team can have either have multiple or 1 stunt group and they have to do tumbling at the beginning of the round they all do a team tumble where they pick what tumble they want to do some of them do the same some don't.

At the end of some Competitions they play music while they decide who wins, the cheer girls go on the mat and dance with all the other teams. Sometimes when we are waiting for the results of all the rounds we gather around in one big circle and we play a game of Little Sally Walker. 

                                                               Cheerleading Safety And MHSAA Guidelines

MHSAA stands for Michigan High School Athletic Association. MHSAA is an athletic association that is an organization for high school sports in Michigan. The MHSAA is very strict on safety for cheerleading. This means the Mancelona Cheer Team must always have safety at the forefront of their minds! Anywhere that Mancelona cheerleaders perform, like on a football field, on a competition mat, or in a gym, they must utilize these guidelines.

The MHSAA enforces these rules because cheerleading stunts can be very dangerous if done wrong. The stunts can be dangerous by falling forwards or backwards out of a stunt, falling out of any stunts are dangerous cheerleaders could break bones or receive a concussion, for example last year I was thrown too far backwards in a basket stunt and I landed on my back and fractured one of my discs in my spine. It was a long and difficult recovery period that could have been avoided with proper safety precautions. 

While falling out of a stunt is scary, stunters never know if they are in a position or spot where they can catch their flyers or not. When flying, cheerleaders must always trust that the people basing are going to catch them. It's all about trust. Flying is when the bases pick a cheerleader up by their feet and hold them. Flyers have to stay tight and pull all their weight to their chest. Basing is when a base cheerleader grabs onto their flyer's feet and holds onto their feet to do practiced stunts. Base cheerleaders have to remember to keep their core tight; don't use their backs to lift, always use their legs. Backspotting is when cheerleaders help the flyer get into a stunt; they also hold onto their ankles to help support them. When backspotting a v-sit stunt the backspot has to hold onto the flyer but to help support them which can be hard to do.

Coach Bradley discusses the benefits of the disciplined sport of cheerleading saying , “Cheer for me means getting to see all of the wonderful talent and characteristics that all of the girls possess and help you guys grow those talents and characteristics. Trophies and metals are great but personal growth is so much more rewarding.” Sometimes coaches have to be hard on Mancelona Cheerleaders about a lot of safety problems. Cheerleading is very fun but safety is more important than anything.