Expert: Chrissy Torres - 2/6/2009

Question
We were at a college workshop and they discussed college athletics and various divisions.  My dughter would of course like to take advantage of any funding, schalorships, etc, but a question asked when applying was what division or level of the athletic you are?  Are there divions in college cheerleading?  Thank you

Answer
Hi JoAnn,
In college cheerleading, there are some divisions. There is a small all girl, large all girl, small coed, and large coed.
They may have been asking what division your daughter has competed in before.
All the divisions are broken up into even further subdivisions Level 1-6. In each level there are rules for things you can and cannot do. They break it down into levels for each section of cheerleading.
For example, in level 3, you are only allowed to tumble to a backtuck. If your daughter can do a full, then she would be considered a level 5 tumbler. There are many intricacies to these rules, so here is a link to the USASF level guidelines:
http://www.usasf.net/safety/cheerrules/

I hope this clarifies things a bit- let me know if you need more information!

Chrissy