Indicators to control and evaluate the acrobatic technical
component of the national Cheerleading teams of
Colombia
Abstract
The research took place in Colombia, a country where Cheerleading is widely accepted
in university sports; In this country, in this sport, a characteristic of the preparation of
its national teams is the training in periods of concentration, where the need to control
and evaluate the acrobatic technical component of these teams has been confirmed. To
satisfy this need, it was essential to determine the indicators, so the objective was
specified: to define the quality indicators of the technical acrobatic actions of
Cheerleading and their evaluation scales. To achieve this objective, a creative process
was used in which the members of the coaching group intervened as protagonists in the
production of knowledge, while their proposals were validated and corrected by the best
specialists in the country as experts. The quality indicators of the technical actions were
arrived at, a classification of these, unprecedented for Cheerleading; as well as the
execution and effectiveness rating scales as elements to consider in the control and
evaluation of that component in Cheerleading.
Keywords: Cheerleading, acrobatic technical component, indicators
Introduction
Cheerleading is an extremely complex sport that can involve a high volume of acrobatics,
jumps, pyramids, dances and animations with very complex and varied mechanical
structures (International Cheer Union [ICU], 2021; Sánchez and Elizondo, 2021). Their
competitive exercise, commonly called routine, consists of carefully designed
choreographies, involving pyramids, acrobatics, throws, catches, lifts, turns, jumps and
dance steps (Dugas et al., 2020; Synytsya et al., 2024; Xu et al., 2024 al., 2021).
In these routines, two fundamental roles are recognized when executing the different
technical acrobatic elements: the bases and the flying ones; In the case of the latter, they
carry out the flight phases resulting from launches and dismounts in search of the highest
possible height, so as to generate impact and projection on the public and the jury present
(Müller et al., 2024), therefore that the biomechanical factors of speed, trajectory and
angular momentum are considered decisive for its successful execution. The bases
support the postures, help in projections and placement, provide impulses in throws in
close coordination with the flyers (Donovan and Spencer, 2019).
The present investigation takes place in Colombia, a country where Cheerleading is
widely accepted in university sports, which has allowed its participation in international
championships, with two Pan American championships and a world championship.
A characteristic of the preparation of the Colombian national teams of this sport is the
training in periods of concentration, since it makes it possible to bring together in them
the best cheerleaders in the country who are training in their departments and cities in
good technical and material conditions, and control the preparation received according to
high-level competitive demands, with a view to participating in official competitions of
the International Cheer Union (ICU) representing their country.
No information has been found in the literature studied about the particularities of training
in periods of concentration. However, there is a need to control and evaluate the acrobatic
technical component of the Colombian national Cheerleading teams, depending on the
training concentrations.
Harre (1983) points out that the planning and evaluation of training and competencies
constitute a unit within the framework of the direction of the training process by the
coach. The evaluation, in addition to serving to control the implementation of the plan,
has the primary function of determining the degree of effectiveness of the training
methods and means applied. In this sense, it is considered that in order to meet this
requirement, it is essential to search for forms of technical control in Cheerleading, to
record and evaluate the execution of the acrobatic elements in this sport and objectively
know the performance. of the athletes in this component.
On the other hand, and taking into consideration the results of a previous exploration
(from the specialized literature in this sport, from the planning documents and
methodological guidelines for the concentrations of the Colombian national Cheerleading
team and informal interviews with its coaches), it was found that, being a recently
approved sport, in its scarce scientific-technical bibliography, no training control and
evaluation systems have been found, duly endorsed or presented for discussion.
To design a control and evaluation system for the technical acrobatic component of the
national Cheerleading teams of Colombia, depending on the training concentrations, the
quality indicators of the technical acrobatic actions of Cheerleading and their evaluation
scales must be defined, and this is the objective of this work.
Methodology
To fulfill the objective of the study, the following algorithm was established:
a) Analysis of technical documents to extract the proposal of indicators for the evaluation
of the technical quality of the cheerleaders in their performances.
b) Application of the expert judgment method (Delphi) to evaluate the proposal of
indicators.
c) Definition of the indicators of the acrobatic technical component in Cheerleading.
d) Application of the expert judgment method (Delphi) to assess the organization of the
indicators in joint and individual actions that are presented in the competitive exercises
(routines) of Cheerleading.
e) Determination of the evaluation scales of execution and effectiveness of the defined
indicators.
The documentary analysis, the participatory work with the technical group of the national
Cheerleading team in Colombia, together with the evaluation by the selected experts,
allowed us to determine the necessary indicators in the evaluation of the acrobatic
technical component, as well as the evaluation scales of the quality of execution and
effectiveness, as elements to consider in the control and evaluation of that component in
Cheerleading.
Results and discussion
- Results of the analysis of technical documents to extract the proposal of indicators for
the evaluation of the technical quality of the cheerleaders in their performances.
The information regarding the judging manuals and evaluation forms of the International
Cheer Union (ICU, 2021) was reviewed as it is the entity that organizes the World
Championship for national teams and the International All Star Federation (IASF, 2020),
which are the existing normative documents and codified evaluation systems most used
today in the field of Cheerleading.
From there, the elements related to the indicators that are evaluated of the acrobatic
technical component in Cheerleading were collected. The requirements to belong to the
Coed premier teams were also reviewed, a document that was promulgated by circular
003 in June 2017 by the Colombian Cheerleading Federation FEDECOLCHEER
(Circular No.003, June 4, 2017. Call for Try Outs Selections Colombia., 2017) which
specifies the requirements for the technical skills that athletes must have at the time they
present themselves to be evaluated with the purpose of having the possibility of belonging
to the national team.
Other existing documents were reviewed that allowed an analysis regarding the
competitive technical-acrobatic evaluation and frequently used in other tournaments of
this sport, such as the regulations of the International All Star Federation (IASF, 2020),
and U.S. companies. All Star Federation (USASF, 2020), which are references in their
judging system for many of the championships held in Colombia; It is necessary to clarify
that there is not yet a unified regulation for all national and international Cheerleading
competitions, which is why this search was necessary in order to achieve the greatest
possible number of indicators to be taken into consideration in the proposal.
Assessment of the proposed indicators by the experts
The experts answered a questionnaire related to the definition of quality indicators of the
acrobatic technical component to be considered in the control and evaluation of that
component in Cheerleading.
An initial list of possible indicators was sent to them digitally, proposed based on the
review explained in point a), and endorsed by the national team coaching team, to define
the quality of execution of the technical acrobatic component. , with the instruction of
issuing their criteria according to the scale explained in the corresponding questionnaire.
The processing of this survey through tables of absolute and relative frequencies
expressed in percentages, made it possible to select the quality indicators to be used in
the control and evaluation of the acrobatic technical component.
- Definition of the indicators of the acrobatic technical component in Cheerleading
The use of theoretical methods, the results of the interviews carried out and the expert
criteria applied, allowed the different indicators to be classified into joint and individual
actions.
Because it is a team sport where the acrobatic exercise is developed from the coupling of
two athletes: one in the role of flyer, and another as a base and in correspondence with
the phases of each acrobatic exercise (initial, main and final) where The technical-
acrobatic actions (indicators) already defined are executed, the following order is
established. (Table 1)
Table 1. Indicators of joint actions in the acrobatic component of Cheerleading
Execution phase Indicator
Indicator
Ascent
(Initial Phase)
Synchronization
Height
Rhythm
Transitions
Permanence
(Central phase)
Stability
Projection
Markings
Clearance
(Final phase)
Control
Projection
Subsequently, taking into account the role played by each athlete in the development of
the actions of the acrobatic component (base or flying) and considering that the actions
of each of them must be observed separately, to ensure an individual assessment of the
actions in the role that corresponds to each one, these individual indicators are ordered
for each corresponding role, which is seen in table 2.
Table 2. Indicators of individual actions in the acrobatic component in Cheerleading
Role of the cheerleader
Indicator
Base
Grips
Receptions
Postural Control
Flying
Spins
Investments
Postural Control
Body and Facial Expression
In figure 2, with the integration of the two previous tables, an unprecedented classification
in this sport can be seen, which systematizes the results presented in the two previous
tables. For this, the classification criteria of joint actions and individual actions were
applied, based on the tables presented previously.
In the joint actions, the criteria used to group the indicators of the acrobatic technical
component were the execution phases of those actions and in the case of individual
actions, the role played by the cheerleaders in those actions. The figure presented allows
a better understanding of the composition of the indicators in the joint actions and
individual actions during the technical-acrobatic execution.
Figure 2. Proposal of indicators of the acrobatic technical component in
Cheerleading
- Assessment of the organization of the indicators in joint and individual actions that are
presented in the competitive exercises (routines) of Cheerleading by the experts
After having defined the indicators with the first questionnaire by means of a list
reduction, the experts are asked to assess their organization in joint and individual actions,
according to flight and bases and they are presented with the general classification of the
selected indicators.
The majority of the experts agreed in recognizing the value of the organization of the
indicators of the acrobatic technical component in joint actions and individual actions for
the acrobatic technical component of Cheerleading, all recommended the use of this
classification in the control and evaluation to be considered in the control and evaluation
of that component and expressed the following criteria:
✓ They recognized the need to apply these indicators to control the acrobatic
component.
✓ They considered the separate evaluation of joint actions and individual actions to
be very necessary; as well as, its differentiation for bases and flyers.
✓ They declared the result achieved as very important, based on the fact that it would
allow them to more precisely delimit the evaluation of the actions in the acrobatic
technical component of Cheerleading and that they did not know this
classification, so it is a novel result, which can contribute to the control and
evaluation in this sport and in general to its technical preparation.
- Determination of the evaluation scales of execution and effectiveness of the defined
indicators
Once the indicators were obtained for the control of the acrobatic component, it was
decided after consultation on various sports that share some of their characteristics with
Cheerleading (among them, the need to give quantitative value to qualitative criteria of
the quality of the technical elements that make it up). compose), adapt the quality
evaluation scale taken from the development and high competition program for age
groups in Rhythmic Gymnastics built by Dias et al. (2019), specifically in its section on
testing technical ability, since it was considered relevant, by the technical group of
coaches of the Colombian national team, for its application in the evaluation of the
indicators of the acrobatic technical component during the preparation of Cheerleading
athletes in national team concentrations. This scale, shown in table 3, has already been
sufficiently presented and validated in Rhythmic Gymnastics, with reviews and
applications around the world, since 2019.
Table 3. Quality evaluation scale of acrobatic technical indicators
Description
Scoring range
Not completed. The stunt being attempted is not recognizable 0,0 -1
The stunt is barely recognizable. Poor technique, incorrect body position
(posture) or fall.
1,5 – 2
The essential technical characteristics have been achieved. Poor technique
and execution.
2,5 – 3
The stunt is shown with acceptable technique and execution; controlled.
It can be introduced in a competition exercise.
3,5 – 4
The acrobatics is shown with very good technique and execution. There
are no development or completion errors.
4,5 – 5
Note: For a more precise assessment of quality, half-point grades may be awarded (e.g. 1.5; 2.5; etc.). Table
adapted from the development and high competition program for age groups in rhythmic gymnastics (Dias
et al., 2019). The evaluation of the quality of technical execution = VC Quality Value is given in increments
from 0 – 5 points.
To determine the level of effectiveness of the athletes in performing the same acrobatic
element, the technical quality evaluation will be recorded in three consecutive executions,
adding the results obtained, where the maximum possible score will be 15 points, which
will be equivalent to 100 % effectiveness of the element executed.
Table 4 makes it possible to estimate the percentage of effectiveness of the same acrobatic
element according to the result of the sum of the scores obtained in the three consecutive
evaluations of acrobatic technical quality:
Table 4. Rating scale of the effectiveness of acrobatic technical indicators
Sum of points obtained
Effectiveness in %
Category Evaluative
14,40 a 15 96 al 100 %
Excellent
12,15 a 14,39 81 al 96 % Good
9,15 a 12,14 61 al 80 % Regular
9,14 and below
Less than 61 % Bad
Conclusions
The quality indicators of the technical acrobatic actions and their evaluation scales of
execution and effectiveness were defined on the basis of the differentiation of the base
and flying actions, through the participation of the coaches and the criteria of experts,
taking into account the competitive demands of Cheerleading and constitute elements to
be considered in the control and evaluation of the acrobatic technical component in
Cheerleading.
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