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CHEERLEADING AS a PART of FINNISH SPORTS CULTURE an Overview of the Development of Cheerleading in Post-Modern Finnish Sports Culture from 1979 to 2018

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CHEERLEADING AS a PART of FINNISH SPORTS CULTURE an Overview of the Development of Cheerleading in Post-Modern Finnish Sports Culture from 1979 to 2018 CHEERLEADING AS A PART OF FINNISH SPORTS CULTURE An overview of the development of cheerleading in post-modern Finnish sports culture from 1979 to 2018 Riikka Nykänen University of Jyväskylä Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences Social Sciences of Sport Master’s Thesis Spring 2018 ABSTRACT Nykänen, R. 2018. CHEERLEADING AS A PART OF FINNISH SPORTS CULTURE. An overview of the development of cheerleading in post-modern Finnish sports culture. University of Jyväskylä. Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences. Social Sciences of Sport. Master’s thesis, 102 pp. 4 appendices Cheerleading was born in the United States of America in the late 19th century and arrived in Finland in 1979. First, cheerleading was a sideline activity of other sports, but later it became a sport of its own. Now, cheerleading has become a visible part of Finnish sports culture and a popular alternative next to traditional sports. There has not been done academic studies about the development of Finnish cheerleading before this research. The purpose of this thesis was to present the development of Finnish cheerleading from years 1979 until 2018. The main focus is on the time period from 2005 until 2015, when the development of cheerleading as sport, has been quick. Furthermore, the aim of this study was to study the development of cheerleading in post-modern Finnish sports culture. This is a historic research about Finnish cheerleading. The data was collected from resources, such as annual reports of the Finnish Cheerleading Federation, newspapers, websites, international researches and books. The qualitative methods were used, however some of the numeric data was used to support and enable the comprehensive analyzation of the data. The relation between the changes in Finnish sports culture and cheerleading, is clear. Cheerleading arrived in Finland during the age of divergent activity and characteristics typical for that age, such as the popularity of team sports, explains partly the integration of cheerleading. The data illustrate that cheerleading has integrated into post-modern Finnish sports culture. Cheerleading has developed from a spontaneous entertainment to a well-organized sport, acknowledged by the government and other associations nationally and internationally. Cheerleading has become more professional in terms of administrative matters and advanced education of coaches. The active and enthusiastic people in the field of cheerleading, international success and accessibility of cheerleading, have been factors behind the rapid growth. Furthermore, in 2016, cheerleading was 12th most popular sport among children and youth. Professionalization of the administration of FCF, strategy and constant development, have had key roles in integration of cheerleading as a part of Finnish sports culture. Key words: the sport and physical culture, age of divergent activity, cheerleading, development of sports, gender TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 6 2 RESEARCH TASK AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STUDY .................. 9 2.1 Research questions......................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Research data ............................................................................................................... 10 3 FINNISH SPORTS CULTURE ............................................................................ 13 3.1 Concepts of sport in Finland ........................................................................................ 13 3.2 The structure of Finnish sports culture ........................................................................ 15 3.3 The phases of Finnish sports culture ........................................................................... 16 3.4 Post-modernism in Finland .......................................................................................... 18 3.5 Post-modern sports culture in Finland ......................................................................... 20 3.6 Birth of new sports ...................................................................................................... 23 4 HISTORY OF CHEERLEADING ...................................................................... 28 4.1 The birth of cheerleading ............................................................................................. 29 4.2 Cheerleading: Terminology and definitions ................................................................ 31 4.3 Gender in the early years of cheerleading ................................................................... 32 4.4 The establisher of National Cheerleading Association ................................................ 34 5 DEVELOPMENT OF FINNISH CHEERLEADING FROM 1979 TO 2015 .. 36 5.1 Cheerleading entering Finland in 1979........................................................................ 36 5.1.1 Birth of the Finnish Cheerleading Federation in 1995 ....................................... 41 5.1.2 The management of FCF ..................................................................................... 44 5.2 Formation of Finnish cheerleading in the 2000s ......................................................... 49 5.2.1 New name, new implementations ......................................................................... 49 5.2.2 Becoming as an acknowledged sport by the government in 2003 ....................... 51 5.3 Establishment of Finnish cheerleading from 2004 to 2009 ......................................... 52 5.3.1 The 10th anniversary in 2005 .............................................................................. 52 5.3.2 The new umbrella organizations ......................................................................... 54 5.4 Professionalization of cheerleading from 2010 ........................................................... 56 5.4.1 The first full-time employees in 2010................................................................... 56 5.4.2 The implementation of the first strategy in 2013 ................................................. 58 5.4.3 The 20th anniversary in 2015 .............................................................................. 60 5.5 The growth of registered members of FCF.................................................................. 63 5.5.1 Members of FCF from 2005 to 2016 ................................................................... 65 5.5.2 Female members .................................................................................................. 66 5.5.3 Male members ...................................................................................................... 69 5.6 Finnish cheerleading regionally ................................................................................... 72 6 CHEERLEADING AS A PART OF FINNISH SPORTS CULTURE ............. 76 6.1 The administrative development of FCF member clubs in years 2013 and 2015 ....... 76 6.2 Commercialization as a part of professionalization..................................................... 79 7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................. 83 7.1 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 83 7.2 Limitations of the thesis .............................................................................................. 91 7.3 Trustworthiness and ethics of the research .................................................................. 92 7.4 Learning process .......................................................................................................... 93 7.5 Suggestions for further researches ............................................................................... 94 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 96 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 - Female members of FCF years 2005 to 2015 APPENDIX 2 - Male members of FCF years 2005 to 2015 APPENDIX 3 - Member clubs of FCF in 2017 APPENDIX 4 - The ranking of Finnish teams in World Championships from 2003 to 2018 The list of figures Figure 1: Structure of Finnish sport system ................................................................................. 16 Figure 2. Changes in the society as a part of establishment of new sports.................................. 24 Figure 3. A "Herkie" done by its implementer Lawrence Herkimer. .......................................... 35 Figure 4. Organization structure of Finnish Cheerleading Federation. ....................................... 45 Figure 5. The age distribution of female members from 2005 to 2015. ...................................... 67 Figure 6. Average age of female members in years 2005 to 2016. ............................................. 69 Figure 7. The age distribution of male members in years 2005 to 2015. .................................... 70 Figure 8. Average age of male members in years 2005 to 2016. ................................................ 71 Figure 9. Cheerleading in the map of Finland in 2017. ............................................................... 73 Figure 10. Members of FCF regionally in 2017. ......................................................................... 75 Figure 11. Timeline of Finnish cheerleading from 1980 to 2017. ............................................... 85 1 INTRODUCTION Cheerleading has been a part of
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