Florida High School Athletic Association to Demo STUNT in The Spring 2012 Season

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) has announced that it plans to introduce the new sport format of cheerleading, "STUNT," at the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (FIAAA) Conference in May.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110204/DC42655LOGO)

A new competitive team sport that was derived from traditional cheerleading, STUNT removes the crowd-leading and focuses on the technical and athletic components. STUNT has a four-quarter format, which includes partner stunts, pyramids, basket tosses, jumps and tumbling skills. Originally designed to be considered for NCAA Emerging Sport status, STUNT has found fans at the high school level who realize the value of a viable new sport for female athletes at a younger age.

With Board Approval, the FHSAA will include STUNT as a division beginning with the 2012-2013 FHSAA Competitive Cheerleading season. The sport of STUNT will then be monitored as it grows and if necessary will be restructured into its own season as deemed appropriate by the FHSAA Board of Directors.

"Competitive cheerleading has traditionally been a popular sport offered by the FHSAA, with thousands of participants every year," says FHSAA Executive Director, Dr. Roger Dearing.  "We applaud USA Cheer for developing a format that remains true to cheerleading's roots, while challenging athletes with a new level of competition."

Bill Seely, Executive Director of USA Cheer, is pleased to welcome the state of Florida to STUNT. "With its high participation rate, Florida is an ideal environment for STUNT. Universities such as the University of Florida and the University of South Florida have already embraced STUNT, and it makes sense that the format will work for high school athletes as well."

For more information, contact Sheila Noone at 901-251-5959.

About the STUNT format
Each STUNT game will comprise four quarters in the following categories:  Partner Stunts, Pyramids and Tosses, Group Jumps and Tumbling, and Team Performance. Within each quarter, teams will perform skill sequences of varying levels of difficulty, technical execution and synchronization. Anyone who follows sports will be able to follow STUNT. Teams compete simultaneously, and the head-to-head format simplifies the scoring process, allowing fans to track the results of the competition as each round is completed. Because of the new format, teams will have records and national rankings, which will determine their post season play, much like other sports. In addition, post season play can be tracked by the fans, much like "March Madness." For more information on STUNT, visit http://usacheer.net/.

About USA Cheer
The USA Federation for Sport Cheering is a not-for profit organization and is the national governing body for all disciplines of cheerleading. USA Cheer exists to serve the entire cheer community, including club cheering (All Star), traditional school based cheer programs and the new sport of STUNT. USA Cheer has three primary objectives: help grow and develop interest and participation in Cheer throughout the United States; promote safety and safety education for cheer in the United States; and represent the United States of America in international cheer competitions. 

SOURCE USA Cheer