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Las Porristas, Cheerleader Girls From South And Latin America
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The USASF was formed in 2003 by these various competition companies to act as the national governing body for all star cheerleading and to create a standard set of rules and judging standards to be followed by all competitions sanctioned by the Federation and ultimately leading to the Cheerleading Worlds. The USASF hosted the first Cheerleading Worlds on Saturday, April 24, 2004. And in 2009, the first All-Level Worlds was held. It included teams from all levels to compete, and each that won would go on to the online championships. There they would be put up head-to-head against other teams over the nation to win the Worlds Title.At the same time, cheerleading coaches from all over the country organize themselves for the same rule making purpose, calling themselves the National All Star Cheerleading Coaches Congress (NACCC). In 2005, the NACCC was absorbed by the USASF to become their rule making body. By late 2006, the USASF was ready to expand its reach even further, by facilitating the creation of the International All-Star Federation (IASF), the first international governing body for the sport of cheerleading.
Currently all-star cheerleading as sanctioned by the USASF involves a squad of 6–36 females and/or males. The squad prepares year-round for many different competition appearances, but they only actually perform for up to 2½ minutes during their routines. The numbers of competitions a team participates in varies from team to team, but generally, most teams tend to participate in eight-twelve competitions a year. These competitions include locals, which are normally taken place in school gymnasiums or local venues, nationals, hosted in big venues all around the U.S. with national champions, and the Cheerleading Worlds, taken place at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. During a competition routine, a squad performs carefully choreographed stunting, tumbling, jumping and dancing to their own custom music. Teams create their routines to an eight-count system and apply that to the music so the team members execute the elements with precise timing and synchronization.
There are many different organizations that host their own state and national competitions. Some major companies include: Universal Spirit, AmeriCheer, Cheersport, Planet Spirit, Eastern Cheer and Dance Association, and the JAM Brands. This means that many gyms within the same area could be state and national champions for the same year and never have competed against each other. Currently, there is no system in place that awards only one state or national title.
Judges at the competition watch for illegal moves from the group or any individual member. An illegal move is something that is not allowed in that division due to difficulty and safety restrictions. They look out for deductions, or things that go wrong, such as a dropped stunt. They also look for touch downs in tumbling for deductions. More generally, judges look at the difficulty and execution of jumps, stunts and tumbling, synchronization, creativity, the sharpness of the motions, showmanship, and overall routine execution.
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