Minnesota Golden Gophers Spirit Squads

The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Spirit Squads comprise the cheerleading

Cheerleading

Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

organization at the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota. Being the first program ever to form worldwide, the University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota

The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...

is the Birthplace of Cheerleading. Today, there are five separate squads: a co-ed squad, an all-girl squad, a basketball cheer squad, a dance team, and a hockey cheer squad. The Goldy Gopher mascot

Goldy Gopher

Goldy Gopher is the mascot for the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus and the associated sports teams, known as the Golden Gophers, as well as the defending UCA Mascot National Champion...

is also a part of the program. The squads consistently perform well at national competitions including a 4-peat in dance. Their current head coach is Sam Owens.

History

The precursors of cheerleading began appearing at Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

in the latter half of the 19th century. In the 1880s when a Princeton graduate name Thomas Peebles brought the game of American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

to Minnesota, he also brought the idea of organized fan cheers. It wasn't until 1898 after a losing streak in football, a Minnesota student name Johnny Campbell began leading cheers forming a squad of yell-leaders for the football game between Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

and Minnesota. Minnesota won the game 17-6 with the credit for that victory largely going to Campbell and his squad.

In the 1920s, gymnastics and other athletic motions were first incorporated into routines by Minnesota's cheerleaders. It was also at this time that cheerleading transformed from a largely male activity to a largely female activity.

Today though the pioneering is now dominated by all-star programs and cheerleading schools, the Minnesota Spirit Squads continue to lead at the collegiate level consistently reaching national finals and finishing in the top 10 as Cheerleading

Cheerleading

is changing from being an activity in support of other sports into a sport of its own.

Coaches

The Spirit Squad coaches have remained relatively consistent, since Sam Owens took over the program after graduation from it in the early 90's. The 2011-2012 list of coaches is below.

Head Coach - Sam Owens

Program Director - Beth Frees

Maroon Cheer Coach - Sam Haun

Gold Cheer Coach - Morgan Carroll

Dance Coach - Amber Jackson

Dance Assistant Coach - Amanda Gaines

Hockey Cheer Coach - Kristina Anderson

Mascot Coach - Mike Elder

Maroon Cheer Team

This Co-Ed Cheerleading squad size varies from year to year, but always has a healthy mix of men and women. Mostly they appear at Gopher football

Minnesota Golden Gophers football

The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers are one of the oldest programs in college football history. They compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. The Golden Gophers have claimed six national championships and have an all time record of 646–481–44 as...

and basketball

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball

The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represents the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Golden Gophers have played in the Big Ten since the conference began sponsoring basketball in 1905...

games and are an annual participant of UCA Finals.

White Cheer Team

This squad cheers specifically at Men's

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball

and Women's basketball games. They are coed with a limited number of men, though recruitment of males is ongoing throughout the years.

Dance Team

The Minnesota Dance Team consists of 16 women dancers. Typically they perform at Gopher football

Minnesota Golden Gophers football

and basketball

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball

home games as well as post-season play. Between 2003 and 2006, these women won four straight national championships in UDA competitions. They won two more National Championships in 2010 and 2011.

Hockey Cheer

Although the Minnesota Spirit Squads compete annually in national competitions, the Hockey Cheer is now the only non-competitive squad in the program. The all female squad competed at Collegiate cheerleading camps until the mid-1990s. This squad, cheers at every regular season home and post-season neutral site game of men's ice hockey. On occasion they also appear at pep fests and other Golden Gopher

Minnesota Golden Gophers

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are the college sports team for the University of Minnesota. The university fields both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, gymnastics, golf, ice hockey, swimming, tennis, and track and field. Men's-specific sports include baseball, football, and...

sporting events. In general, there are anywhere between 9-15 cheerleaders, usually around 12. They are known for their figure skating abilities and perform on-ice stunts, the complexity of which set this squad apart from other hockey cheerleaders, particularly at the collegiate level. Despite stunting now being somewhat limited, they continue to use modified stunts, figure skating abilities, and uniform selections that critics favor among collegiate squads.

Members of the 2007-08 squad portray cheerleaders for a fictional high school hockey team in the 2008 film Killer Movie

Killer Movie

Killer Movie is a comedy horror film released in the United States in April 2008. The film premiered during the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. It stars Paul Wesley, Kaley Cuoco, Torrey DeVitto and Leighton Meester and was written and directed by Jeff Fisher...

directed by Jeff Fisher

Jeff Fisher

Jeffrey Michael "Jeff" Fisher is the former head coach of the Tennessee Titans of the NFL. He has a 146-120 career record as an NFL head coach.-Early life:...

and starring Paul Wesley

Paul Wesley

Paul Thomas Wasilewski , known professionally as Paul Wesley, is an American actor, best known for his roles as Stefan Salvatore in The CW TV series The Vampire Diaries and as Aaron Corbett in the ABC Family miniseries Fallen....

and Kaley Cuoco

Kaley Cuoco

Kaley Christine Cuoco is an American film and television actress. She first came to attention for her role as Bridget Hennessy on the Emmy Award-winning sitcom 8 Simple Rules. She later starred as Billie Jenkins on the final season of the supernatural drama series Charmed...

.

Some Minnesota hockey fans refer to them as the Squad of the Unattainable.

Goldy Gopher

Goldy Gopher is the mascot for the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities campus and the associated sports teams, known as the Golden Gophers, as well as the defending UCA Mascot National Champion.

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