Three cheers for the Big North by Darren Cooper of The Record
The International Olympic Committee is way behind the Big North Conference.
Last week, the IOC gave provisional recognition to cheerleading, which enables IOC funding for the sport and puts it on what could be a long road toward competition at a future Olympiad.
The Big North Conference has had a formal competitive cheerleading format for several years. Teams go head to head in regular-season events, and this season there will be a conference championship for the 31 schools participating, which is approximately the same number of North Jersey schools that field swim teams.
The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association does not sanction competitive cheerleading as a sport, relegating it to club status at schools.
This is a double-edged sword for the sport. Yes, on one hand, it would be cool to have a state championship and a set season, but without formal recognition it gives the coaches and athletes flexibility to compete how, when and where they want.
“I don’t know that they would want them to be limited to only one season and that they can’t compete in other sports during that time,” said Big North executive director Sharon Hughes. “Those are the things that could happen if the NJSIAA got involved. They might have the best of both worlds right now.”
“The state should without a doubt start a competitive cheer program,” said Paramus Catholic coach Heather Messer. “I don’t think it should be cheerleading in general, because a lot of schools want to keep football cheerleaders, but those rules need to be revised, so that you can’t stunt and tumble. There needs to be competitive cheerleading with a set season and set rules.”
If there is anyone who is the Mother of Cheerleading in North Jersey, it’s Messer, who has worked at Paramus Catholic for 19 years. The Big North probably wouldn’t have competitive cheerleading if not for her.
“She is by far the driving force,” said Northern Valley/Old Tappan coach Cathy Sergiano. “It’s all the coaches working together, but without her, we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”
First, get past the notion that cheerleading isn’t a sport. Please. Think of competitive cheerleading as a hybrid of gymnastics, tumbling and dance routines. It’s complex and dangerous.
“It’s an extreme sport,” said Sergiano, who is in her 12th year with the Golden Knights. “It combines strength and stamina with a gymnastics component and the girls should be recognized that not everyone can do this.”
Now supervised by Lakeland athletic director John Yost, the Big North devised a unique way to put the‘ “compete” in competitive cheerleading. It has head-to-head matchups among teams beginning in January. For the sake of head-to-head competitions, teams compete against one another based on the number of girls performing. Teams of 12-18 performers compete against other teams with the same number. Teams with more girls do the same.
Routines are two and a half minutes and teams compete twice – almost like two separate dual meets, in that teams rotate against who they go up against. Judges score the performances on a 100 point scale, highest point total wins. The best a school can do in one day is go 2-0. All of these regular-season victories are added up to determine a regular-season division champion.
When it comes to the official conference championships, school size and general classification within the Big North become the guiding points for matchups. The number of girls is not a factor.
The format, although it sounds complicated, has been a success.
“The teams that you would consider middle of the road are becoming incredibly competitive,” said Messer. “Every year we want them get better and we think it’s because we are competing against each other, challenging each other for new schools and bringing the level of cheerleading up for everybody.”
Finding gym space and time to practice are still difficult for competitive cheer teams, but it’s clear the sport is growing in numbers and popularity.
Messer’s teams have been one of the dominant programs in the Big North since the conference adopted the sport. She half-jokes that if the NJSIAA would formally recognize competitive cheerleading she would have to stop recruiting girls to come to her school.
“We compete for the state championship every year,” said Messer. “Every year we are in the top two or three, and we take a trip to nationals. This year we are going to Orlando.”
And one day, they might go to the Olympics.