The "Bring It On" movies were with us from 2000 all the way until 2009. They made us all want to be a cheerleader. Throughout our awkward adolescent pre-teen/teenage years, we could always rely on "Bring It On" to release a new totally stereotypical cheerleading movie. For me, my favorite had to be "Bring It On: In It to Win It." This is the one where the two teams, The Sharks and The Jets, former rivals, join forces to win the cheer competition. It was basically a rollercoaster of emotions and a beautiful Cinderella story. However, even though the "Bring it On" movies made us all want to be a cheerleader, they made their mistakes. Watching them over as a former cheerleader, there are obvious mistakes made. So here’s a list of the 11 main cheerleading mistakes the "Bring It On" movies made.
1. We don’t use spirit fingers (that much)
Obviously, cheerleaders love their spirit fingers, but we don't use them nearly as much as they portray in the movies. Spirit fingers translate to pom pom shaking in the real world of cheerleading (which there is definitely a lot of).
2. Cheerleaders are not as catty
3. The routines aren’t actually that long
A typical competition routine is two minutes and thirty seconds, but in the movies, they are almost four minutes. I get that it's Hollywood, but you would actually collapse from an asthma attack, even if you don’t have asthma.
4. The captain doesn’t make up routines
In the movies, they make it seem like the captain is the center of the team. Obviously your captain is important and you trust them, but in the end you are a team, and you all work together.
5. There is a coach
These teams never have a coach! This is probably the most unrealistic aspect of "Bring It On" movies. High school, and even college teams, never run themselves; there is always a coach!
6. Football isn't the only sport that matters
There have only been two scenes in the entire franchise that show the teams cheering for football. As a high school team, one of your main duties as a cheer squad is to cheer on any team –– whether it be football, basketball or whatever.
7. Some of the stunts they perform at the high school level are illegal in competition
All two tier pyramids that are performed in the movie are not allowed to be performed at high school level, only college.
8. The uniforms
Some of the uniforms worn, like the camo outfits in "Bring It On: All or Nothing," are not allowed. One: they're not matching at all, and two: some of them are wearing shorts. You can’t do that!
9. The spirit stick is not that serious
In "Bring It On: In It To Win It," the entire movie is centered around being cursed by the spirit stick. Although some teams might have a spirit stick, we really are not that crazy about it. It's more of a tradition than a cheer religion, if you know what I mean.
10. Their competition routines never have an actual cheer
In high school competitions, all cheer routines have a cheer component along with stunts, a dance and tumbling. In the movies, there is never a cheer. As a cheer team, you must cheer.
11. Winning isn’t always the most important thing
This is so cliché, but in all the movies, the teams are focused solely on winning. Of course it's awesome to win as a team, but it's not all cheer is about. Cheer is about being with your team and being a family, winning and even losing together.
So the "Bring It On" movies aren't entirely reliable when portraying cheerleading. But as a cheerleader, whenever they're on TV, I always watch. It's safe to say that despite the misconceptions, I don’t love the movies any less. Cheer is life.
