Elite Cheerleading: A Foundation For Championship Cheering

Elite Cheerleading is not, as its title suggests, a course for Rockefeller and Vanderbilt adolescents, but an award-winning program designed by Mike and Theresa Nuzzo, whose University of Pittsburgh cheerleading squad has won three consecutive national championships. The program teaches viewers basic cheerleading movements, and the importance of vocal projection and strong facial expressions, before moving into the physical routines. Dances, jumps, partner stunts, pyramids and basket tosses are all demonstrated by current and past Pitt championship squads, and safety tips are presented throughout. Safety is important since the increasing complexity of cheerleading routines sent 15,600 cheerleaders to emergency rooms in 1993--three times as many as in 1980 (a statistic I just read in the April 1, 1995 issue of Bottom Line). Better than Fundamentals of Cheerleading (VL-4/86), this is highly recommended. (R. Pitman)