Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called “cheerleaders”) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to entertain the audience, or for competition. – From Wikipedia
Cheerleading in South Africa
South Africa has a rich tradition of cheerleading especially at school level with some of the cheerleading activities involving large numbers of participants involved in synchronized cheering. These performances attract large crowds and are of a very high standard.
These South African School Children take cheerleading to another level.
The video above is from the MTBS interschool athletic competition in Cape Town. MTBS is an annual interschools athletics competition (the largest in South Africa) held between four high schools located in Bellville, Western Cape.
The competition is mainly an athletics meeting and includes cheerleading and flashes. … The name is a derived acronym from the names of the schools in that order.
Here is another cheer from the same event in a different year.
There is also a more traditional form of cheerleading as people in the USA might know and it is governed by SAMCA is the South African Majorette and Cheerleading Association is the SASCOC (South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee) recognized Federation for Majorettes and Cheerleading in South Africa.
HISTORY OF CHEERLEADING IN SA
While Cheerleading started in Minnesota, USA in 1898 by a student named Johnny Campbell, it didn’t reach South Africa until 1992.
It was at a competition in Gauteng (formerly known as the Transvaal) hosted by the Premier League of Show Majorettes (PLSM) that Florida Park High School decided to enter the first ever South African Cheerleading display in the category known as Show.
While Florida Park High School was a majorette team at the time, a few members of the display team quickly expressed their interest in continuing on with the sport of cheerleading, either as a separate or additional division to the sport of majorettes.
With limited resources and no access to the internet, the members were left watching VHS video tapes sent to them by an acquaintance in the USA as training material. It is due to the diligent efforts and hardcore dedication of these members that the sport of cheerleading has blossomed into what it is today.
At the end of 1993 the sport was finally making progress as more and more people wanted the cheerleaders to perform at shopping centres and festivals. And so the first South African Cheerleading Consortium was established with founding members Candia Lonsdale, Kim Daly, Justene Kretschmar and Craig Stembridge.
The Consortium led to the cheerleaders travelling to Europe to partake in various parades, including the London Parade and Paris Festival. While in the UK in 1994 the members attended 3 cheerleading courses with Cheer Across Britain and the British Cheerleading Association.
Soon after the cheerleaders were hired by the Spartans Basketball Team to cheer at all their local and international competitions that took place within South Africa. The Cheerleading Consortium also signed on with the Paraplegic Basketball Association and cheered at all their games with the sole intent of keeping the crowd motivated and the excitement up.
The hard work done by the Consortium in 1993 and 1994 led to the PLSM formally accepting Cheerleading as a formal competitive section separate from majorettes. In 1995 the cheerleaders enjoyed the first season of their very own section at competitions.
Between 1994 and 1996 all the majorette leagues in South Africa, on directive from the South African Sport Confederation and Olympic Committee, combined together to form the South African Drum Majorette Association (SADMA) with cheerleading as a section at all competitions.
In 1997 Candia Lonsdale, Cameron Nash, Kim Daly and Michelle Malan became the first Cheerleaders to be awarded Provincial Colours. This was followed up in 1998 with the awarding of the first Provincial Coaches Colours and the first SADMA Coach Colours being awarded to cheerleading coaches.
In 2003 the first cheerleaders attended the SADMA National Team Trials, held in Pietermaritzburg over December. Eight cheerleaders were awarded the first SADMA National Cheerleading Team Colours at the trials.
By 2008 SADMA had formally joined the International Cheer Union (ICU) and sent Allan Donaldson (the National Team Director at the time) and Candia Lonsdale to the ICU Championships held in Orlando, Florida to establish whether it would be feasible to send a team representing South Arica to participate.
Upon request by the ICU to assist them in their bid to obtain Olympic recognition, SADMA in 2010 formally changed its name to the South African Majorette and Cheerleading Association, or SAMCA as it has come to be know as today. This was a phenomenal achievement for the sport of cheerleading in their long journey to become a fully fledged sport within South Africa.
In the same year Allan Donaldson and Candia Lonsdale became the first adjudicators from Africa to judge at an ICU Championship. Since then the ICU has selected Tina Du Plessis, Hylton Graham, Allan Donaldson and Candia Lonsdale in various years to adjudicate at the ICU Championships.
Since SAMCA affiliated to the ICU the following teams have been sent to represent South Africa at the ICU Championships:
2011 – The First South African National Cheerleading Team: Co-ed
2013 – South African National Cheerleading Team: Co-ed
2015 – South African National Cheerleading Team: Co-ed
2017 – South African National Cheerleading Team: Co-ed
South African National Cheerleading Team: All Girl
2019: – South African National Cheerleading Team: Co-ed
– South African National Cheerleading Team: All Girl
– South African National Cheerleading Team: Junior
History from: https://www.samca.org/cheerleading/history/
Traditional cheerleading is alive and well in schools and one school in particular, Bryanston High School in Johannesburg has taken to cheerleading.
Cheerleading was introduced to Bryanston High School in 2003. After many successful inter-high athletics displays it was evident that there was a great deal of talent within the school and it was introduced as an extra mural. Since then it has gone from strength to strength. The Bryanston Cheerleaders have won the Provincial Championship for the last 6 years and the National Championships in 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2012. At the National Championships in 2012 they won the title of Champion of Champions. There are 4 sections they compete in – Co-Ed Cheerleading, All Girl Cheerleading, Partner Stunts and Girls Group stunts.
Here is some Bryanston Magic
There are +/- 120 students that participate in cheerleading each year. The cheerleaders get a sense of belonging to the sport. You don’t need to be the “typical” sporty person – anyone can do cheerleading, it’s all about technique and trust. It is said “Any man can hold a girl by the hand, but only the elite can hold her by her feet”
So cheerleading in South Africa is alive and well and definitely an area of national pride.
