VietNamNet Bridge - That very American of activities, cheerleading with its signature pompoms, tumbling and cheering, used to be an alien concept in Vietnam but has been now become more and more popular through Hollywood teen movies like the 2000 blockbuster cheerleader-themed flick ‘Bring It On’, High School Musicals.

In fact, it was not until less than 10 years ago that a tiny minority of Vietnamese youths came to know what cheerleading is.

Recently, it has begun to take off in Vietnam, and the year 2010 can be considered the first milestone in Vietnamese cheerleading history, when cheerleading was, for the first time, included in U-league, the national sports competition for university students.

The magnificent waves of skillful cheerleaders tumbling, jumping, chanting and dancing to the highly stimulating music and the amazed, wide-open eyes of the audience in Tan Binh Stadium were a sign that cheerleading would become a popular and attractive activity to the Vietnamese youths in the future.

Nguyen Ha Mi, fourth-year student of Foreign Trade University and also member of this school’s cheerleading team, expressed her passion for cheerleading, “This activity requires great teamwork. Mutual trust is the most important factor. If you don’t trust yourselves or your teammates at the base of a pyramid, you can never form the pyramid.”

“As this activity’s language is cheering, it is very stimulating, young and fresh. And the stunt moves are the spirit that brings motivation to the sports team that you cheer for,” she added.

However, as cheerleading in Vietnam is still learning to walk its very first steps, those who are interested in this invigorating activity are met with great difficulties and shortfalls.

The cheerleading teams participating in U-league shared that they first pursued cheerleading with many no’s: no coach, no expert, no music mixer and no practice room.

Nguyen Le Thanh Long, HCMC University of Pedagogy’s team leader, said, “At first, we only learned from the videos on Youtube, and tried to imitate them; therefore, as for the moves to form the pyramid, we did them quite instinctively.”

During the morning practice session of the cheerleading teams for the semifinal on January 8, a member of Hong Bang University had to leave due to injury caused by a teammate’s inaccurate landing, and in only 20 minutes two other people were carried out of the practice field.

Another great difficulty is the availability of practice places for cheerleaders. Hanoi’s Foreign Trade University’s team had to practice on their concrete schoolyard before competition, and most of the team members had scratches and minor injuries all over them due to the lack of proper practice mats.

The obstacles, nevertheless, did not lower the youths’ spirit and passion for this lively sport, which once again proved its great attraction. Under the instructions of experts from Thailand, our young cheerleaders learned how to execute critical moves and avoid injuries, as well as starting to grasp the great spirit and unique characteristics of cheerleading.

In the U-league’s cheerleading final round on the 8th and 9th of January, all the four teams from Da Nang’s Duc Tri College, HCMC’s University of Pedagogy, Hanoi’s Foreign Trade University and Hong Bang University presented to the spectators in Tan Binh Stadium spectacular performances with their energetic dance sequences, skillful tumbling moves and lively cheering, bringing us a totally different competition, a more professional and high-quality one than any other previous cheerleading competition in HCMC.

Source: Tuoi Tre News