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Staff writer

Minnesota has a proud history in cheerleading. A University of Minnesota student led a chant at an 1898 football game, which has been recognized as the birth date of organized cheerleading.

Yet, at the same time that Minnesota high school hockey teams played at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, a group of over 20 cheerleaders from the north metro area flew to Orlando, Fla., for their final competition of the season.

The team finished sixth out of 12 teams in their division.

Competitive cheerleading does not get a Minnesota State High School League tournament. Some schools do not even offer cheerleading, so opportunities to emulate what they have seen on ESPN and in the movies are limited.

That is why parents are so thankful that their children have an opportunity to compete against the best from across the country at the competitive cheerleading nationals competition in Florida, which took place March 13 and 14.

“It gives them a sense of themselves and them having to work for something themselves,” said Ann Johnson of Oak Grove, who has two daughters on the team - Alyssa, 14, and Lizzy, 11.

The competitors are having a great time, too. Tumbling and stunts seemed to be a favorite.

The 21 girls and two boys, most of them teenagers, are part of a team organized by Northern Elite All-Stars. This non-profit organization was formed in 2001 in Eagan to give cheer, dance and gymnastic athletes a chance to improve their skills through practices, performances and competitions.

Northern Elite opened its second location in Ham Lake last year. It offers a variety of competitive cheerleading teams for stunts, individuals, co-ed, all girls and adaptive. Its coaches also put on clinics or can give private instructions for individual competitors.

Before this, Johnson said her daughters were at Jam Hops in Ham Lake.

Ronni Bartholdi, 15, of Isanti was involved with ballet and tap dancing for about nine years before she made a Northern Elite competitive cheerleading team last year, according to her mother Jayne Bartholdi.

“It gives her a sense of direction, responsibility and dedication,” Jayne Bartholdi said.

Competitive cheerleading squads not associated with a school began emerging in the early 1980s. The “Bring It On” series of movies as well as the competitions televised on ESPN and the founding of competitive cheerleading gyms like Northern Elite has drawn more attention to the sport and it has become more than a group standing on the sidelines and cheering on another sports team, said Steve Hogenson, one of the two Northern Elite coaches.

“Cheer has grown a lot in the last four to five years,” Hogenson said.

The competitive cheerleading schedule is year-round. Tryouts are coming up and there is a lot of practice before competitions begin, which are concentrated from late October through March. The regional competition in November determines if a team will go to nationals. Between regional and national competitions are a number of invitationals to allow the team time to hone their skills.

The sport of competitive cheerleading has opened a lot of doors for Hogenson, who has coached at Northern Elite for three years after being on the football, basketball and competition cheerleading squads at the University of Minnesota. He hopes the experience of competitive cheerleading will open up a lot of doors for his students.

“It’s a really good sport to develop team skills, because in football if you drop the ball it’s no big deal, but here, if you drop one of them it’s a problem,” Hogenson said.

Bryan Haese, who also coached the Northern Elite team that competed in Florida last weekend, is in his second year at Northern Elite and has coached basketball cheerleaders at the University of Minnesota.

With tryout clinics coming up in a couple of weeks, Hogenson hopes to see even more participation at Northern Elite.

“It’s a great group of kids that are together, and we’d love to see that grow,” Johnson said.



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