National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Excited About New STUNT Format

New Sport format recognized as a benefit for female collegiate athletes.

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) is recommending STUNT, the new sport format developed from cheerleading, as an emerging varsity women's sport to their Athletic Director membership.

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USA Cheer, the governing body for cheerleading in the United States, created STUNT to help provide more opportunities for cheer athletes at the high school and college level. In its first season, 22 college cheerleading teams participated in STUNT. The University of Louisville nabbed the title of first-ever STUNT Champions.

A new competitive team sport that was derived from traditional cheerleading, STUNT removes the crowd-leading and focuses on the technical and athletic components, which include partner stunts, pyramids, basket tosses, jumps and tumbling skills. Originally designed to be considered for NCAA Emerging Sport status, STUNT has resonated with college level athletes.

"Because of the overwhelming popularity of cheerleading, we are confident STUNT will be able to increase the number of female athletes participating in sports at the high school level," says Bruce Whitehead, Executive Director of the NIAAA. "And we are confident that our members will embrace this new sport with open arms."

Bill Seely, Executive Director for USA Cheer agrees. "We are thrilled to have such an incredible partnership with the NIAAA. Athletic Directors are the heart and soul of this sport's progress, and we're encouraged to see STUNT embraced by Administrators and Athletic Directors. To have the full support of the Athletic Directors and Administrators is a huge step for us in building cheer's newest sport."

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. 

About the NIAAA:
The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association preserves, enhances and promotes the educational values of interscholastic athletics through the professional development of its members in the areas of education, leadership, and service. The NIAAA's commitment to leadership programs, resources and services support the athletic administrator's efforts in providing quality athletic participation opportunities for students. The NIAAA promotes a positive working relationship with state athletic administrator and State and national athletic/activity associations in addition to developing strategic alliances with other education based agencies. For more information, please visit http://niaaa.org.

SOURCE USA Cheer