Around 1800 the first yell (structured chanted slogan to encourage a sports team) was called on an American campus during college football at Princeton. First it was a mere matter of boys and men.
From 1920 there were girls cheerleaders. In Minnesota they started also doing gymnastics at their Yells. The (first paper) poms did their onset in 1930. The first cheerleader association was founded in 1949 by R. Lawrens Herkimer "Herki" from Dallas.
In the seventies, cheerleading was used outside of American Football and Basketball with other school sports like wrestling, swimming and baseball. In 1978 there were cheerleading championships.

Today cheerleaders are especially women at sports who occur in the breaks to amuse the public and to incite.
Chearleading has evolved into a dance sport that is done in a team. There are associations that fight each other in their own leagues.
Cheerleading consists of elements such as dance, tumbling (gymnastics) and acrobatics.

The dance elements are based on movements including of street dance, hip hop, aerobics, jazz dance and striptease. Each team has its own style that also depends on the choice of music, the level of the group and the vision of the coach.
Typically for cheerleading are the motions: tightly executed, placed arm movements, usually in the form of letters. For example, the images of the High V or Low V, in which the arms are held at an angle along the body in the shape of a V, or the Right K, where a K is formed with the arms on the right column.
In addition, they do ripples in groups or rows of the same dance step or perform any movement on another count that gives the effect of a wave.
Trained cheerleaders do tumbling too. The most common movements are a cartwheel, handspins, tucks and layouts.

A final element, acrobatics, includes stunts and the construction of complex human pyramids. Made by three groups: the bases (bottom row carriers), flyers (2nd level) and spotters (who help, support and supervision).
For safety reasons they go only two, up to three levels high.

"Poms" or "pom - pons" comes from the French word pom - pon. This swirling hand tassels were originally a spherical brush on a kepi or beret, whose color in army and clergy reflected the status of the wearer.

Cheers!