Cheerleading ranges from yelling to intense
physical activity for sports team motivation, audience entertainment or competition based upon organized routines. The routines usually range anywhere from one to three minutes, which may contain many components of
tumbling,
dance,
jumps,
cheers, and
stunting in order to direct spectators of events to cheer for sports teams at games or to participate in cheerleading competitions. The yellers, dancers, and athletes involved in cheerleading are called
cheerleaders. Cheerleading originated in the United States, and remains predominantly American, with an estimated 1.5 million participants in all-star cheerleading. The presentation of cheerleading as a sport to a global audience was led by the 1997 start of broadcasts of cheerleading competition by
ESPN International and the worldwide release of the 2000 film
Bring It On. Due in part to this recent exposure, there are now an estimated 100,000 participants scattered around the rest of the world in countries including Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.