Marketing and Communications

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Take cheerleading, remove the crowd-leading elements, but keep the technical and athletic components, and you'll have STUNT. The emerging sport was developed by USA Cheer to provide new opportunities for female athletes at both the collegiate and high school level.

Members of the Bowling Green State University cheerleading team are now competing in STUNT matches across the country.

"We take great pride in our cheer program and the valuable service they provide to our athletic teams, University and community," said Anne Marie King, head cheerleading coach and coordinator of spirit groups. "We also take pride in the athleticism of our team members. STUNT applies the athletic skills derived from cheerleading into a game format, which gives our program the ability to expand and enhance the athletic opportunities for our members. STUNT has been a great fit for our program."

STUNT includes pyramids, basket tosses, group jumps and tumbling, as well as a team performance. Each competition is made up of four quarters. Within each quarter, teams perform skill sequences of varying levels of difficulty, technical execution and synchronization. Teams compete simultaneously, allowing fans to track the results of the competition as each round is completed.

BGSU STUNT won its first matchup March 18 against West Virginia University. On March 23 and 24, the team traveled to Philadelphia for a tournament at Temple University and competed against Morgan State University on March 24. BGSU won both games against Morgan State—22-15 and 24-14 bringing their record to 3 - 0.

"STUNT has been a beneficial and positive experience for our program here at BGSU," said team member Delayna Herndon, a junior majoring in dietetics from Brownstown Township, Michigan. "It's a great way to demonstrate our athleticism and continue to represent our program and University at the national level. I believe that we can become a predominant STUNT team across the nation."