IESA Headlines

Seventh IESA Cheerleading Championships Set For Saturday

BLOOMINGTON - The seventh year of the Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) State Cheerleading Championships will feature one of the largest number of competing squads ever. There will be 73 performances on Saturday (December 15) in the Exhibit Hall of the Peoria Civic Center. A year ago there were 82 performances. In 2005 there were 48.

The 2007 Championships get under way at 9:00 a.m. in the Exhibit Hall. Tickets to the Championships will be on sale at the Peoria Civic Center. Admission is $5.00 for adults, $2.00 for senior citizens and students K-8. Preschoolers are admitted free.

This year's schedule of events will be:

Note: The awards ceremony in Cheer and Routine will follow the final performance in the respective category. Time listed for the award ceremonies are approximate.

In Cheer, there are 15 Small Team squads scheduled to compete, along with 10 Large Team squads. In Routine, there are 23 Small Team squads scheduled to compete along with 13 Medium Team squads and 12 Large Team squads.

Six-time defending Small Team Cheer champion Shelbyville Moulton is one of 15 squads entered in this division. No other school has won Small Team Cheer in the history of the Championships. Shelbyville Moulton is scheduled to perform at 10:25 a.m.

Defending Large Team Cheer champion Freeport is scheduled to perform at 9:28 a.m. Bloomington Cornerstone, last year's Small Team Routine champion, is scheduled to perform at 12:28 p.m. Lockport Kelvin Grove won the first-ever Medium Team Routine last year and will perform this year at 1:12 p.m. Edwardsville Liberty won back-to-back Large Team Routine titles in 2005 and 2006. This year the Panthers will compete in Medium Team Routine and are scheduled to perform at 12:48 p.m.

There are two event categories of competition in IESA cheerleading. One is Routine (with three divisions based on squad size) and the other is Cheer (with two divisions based on squad size). In the Routine category, Small Team is for school squads with 5-12 cheerleaders, Medium Team is for school squads with 13-16 members, and Large Team is for squads with 17-25 members. In the Cheer category, Small Team is for school squads with 1-12 members and Large Team is for school squads with 13-25 cheerleaders.

Following is a breakdown of what is involved in each event:

Cheer - The squad performs a routine without music for a time period of from 1-3 minutes. The cheer may include stunts, tumbling and jumps. A school may enter either the small team or large team.

Routine - The squad performs a routine with music for a time period of from 1-3 minutes. The normal full routine is the setup to music, then the cheerleading/sideline portion, followed by music to the finish of the routine. A school may enter either the small team, medium team or large team in the event.

Criteria used by the judges in IESA Cheerleading competition allows for them to award up to 100 points to a squad's performance. Categories of points include Communication (15 points), Fundamental Skills (45 points), Group Techniques (15 points), Overall Effect (20 points) and Sportsmanship (5 points). Deductions may occur if the time limit is not met (5 points) and for a squad member being physically out of bounds (2 points per incident).

The order of competition in each event is on the Cheerleading Page of the IESA Web Site. Go to www.iesa.org for complete information regarding the 2007 IESA Cheerleading Championships. Click on the underlined Cheerleading in the (orange screened) box at the top of the page. Once on the Cheerleading home page, you can click on the underlined �Order of Competition� to view the performance schedule for all squads by event.

Year-By-Year IESA Cheerleading State Champions