Cheerleaders from across the state have descended on the Spa City as Hot Springs hosts the Arkansas Activities Association state cheer competition.
Competition started Friday afternoon with an estimated 40 teams competing in the Performance division, while upward of 60 teams are competing in today's Game Day division.
"The ones that (performed Friday) are ... the Performance division," Christyal Parker, assistant executive director with the AAA, said. "That's going to be more your tumbling and stunting-oriented programs. And then Saturday's more our Game Day division. ... It's basically incorporating the traditional elements of cheer that you would see on Friday nights at the sidelines on the football game, or on the basketball court -- those elements into a competition model."
Parker said there were "upwards of 100 teams" that would be performing over the two days of competition. With schools required to compete in just one of the two divisions, most schools compete in the Game Day division.
"I would roughly say it's probably closer to like a 40-60 split, where you'll probably see 40 to 45 (Friday) and then probably closer to 60 (Saturday)," she said.
Teams competing in the Performance division are judged in multiple categories, including crowd leading, overall impression, stunts, pyramids and jumps. The performances can last up to two minutes and 30 seconds with at least one minute of cheer without music and up to a minute and a half with music.
Today's competition will see teams performing up to three minutes with at least one minute of crowd leading, or cheering without music. Teams will be judged on their crowd leading as well as performance with a fight song and band chant, which is a performance with marching band music or a drum cadence.
The AAA has been hosting state cheer competitions since 2008, Parker said. Teams compete based on their school's classification.
"Football classifications are only applied to football," she said. "Every other sport is called the Other Sports classification. Cheer and every other sport -- basketball -- uses that. Since they don't have conferences in cheer, so we just organize them by their classification and the size of the division."
Competition in the Game Day division starts at 9 a.m. today with the final awards presentation around 5:30 p.m.
Lakeside cheerleaders do a backflip during their performance in the state cheer championships at the Hot Springs Convention Center on Friday. - Photo by Lance Porter of The Sentinel-Record
Lakeside cheerleaders lift a teammate during their performance in the state cheer championships at the Hot Springs Convention Center on Friday. - Photo by Lance Porter of The Sentinel-Record