USASF New Rules

         The United States All Star Federation decided March 28, 2012 that they would announce some of their new rules for the 2012-13 season, and boy did the cheerleading world not like them. The social networking sites blew up including the world wide of USASF trending.

        The rules in the picture below describe some of the new rules, but they did not include some of the most ridiculous ones. For example, only senior teams are allowed to wear crop tops and they can't show more than 10" of skin, which isn't even logical since there are taller girls in cheer. Also, if the team does have crop tops they are required to wear t-shirts over their uniform while they are not in warm-up or competing.

        The tumbling restrictions they made also frustrated the athletes who have worked all their life to come tho this point in their career. What is the point of a sport if you can't push yourself and be creative and one of a kind.

        The next day USASF sent a message out and is reconsidering the rules change. Good Idea.

Evolution of Uniforms

The original uniforms for cheer consisted of skirts and long sleeve sweaters. It is very apparent that uniforms have evolved through the years, some may even say they are getting ‘skimpier’: however, they are just becoming more aerodynamic.

For competitive cheer the most common trend right now is crop tops, showing the stomach, with some elaborate design usually showing a shoulder or somewhere in the arm. This can be seen in the most elite gyms, Top Gun, Cheer Extreme, Cheer Athletics, ect. However, there are some teams who still wear the full length uniform tops such as Georgia All-stars.

The most controversial part of cheerleading right now in the uniform is the debate between spandex shorts or skirts. The skirts are more traditional and honestly more flattering on the girls who aren’t a size 0. The spandex, while they are more comfortable and you wouldn’t have to worry about your butt hanging out, they can also ride up. I also have noticed the shorts are not flattering on the bigger girls. I think skirts are tradition of cheer and shorts just seem like gymnastics or dance and we need to keep something traditional in the uniform.

What do you think shorts or skirts?

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2012