In Spring 2025, a new NCAA sport will start at Quincy University centered around competitive cheerleading.

“I was sad when I thought about having to quit my cheer career in college, so I was immediately hooked when I knew stunt was an option for me,” Gabi Cissna, a senior at Palmyra High School, said.

Cissna was the first cheerleader to officially sign on for the 2024-2025 stunt season at QU. Cissna was a gymnast-turned cheerleader and loves the stunting and competitive aspects of cheer.

Stunt is one of the fastest growing female sports in the country and is being localized next spring for current and incoming QU students.

Stunt meets the specific Title IX requirements for college sports, provides larger scholarships than recreational game-day cheer, and allows for an alternative, competitive environment.

Stunt focuses on the technical and athletic part of cheerleading, where routines consisting of complex stunts are preformed head-to-head with another team. The winner is chosen based on who performed the skills the best and a point is awarded for each round, or “quarter.”

There are four quarters associated with different categories for scoring: partner stunts, pyramids and tosses, jumps and tumbling, and the team routine. At the end, whoever scores the most points, wins.

Stunt leaves out the crowd interactive pieces of game-day cheer, and only focuses the technical, contact, and strictly athletic parts of competitive cheer.

Diane Shoemaker, the head coach of the upcoming stunt program, is the current coach of the game-day cheer team.

Shoemaker said that cheer turning into an official NCAA sport will help legitimize the view of it on campus, and throughout the team.

“I have always seen cheer as a contact sport. It’s very athletic and takes a lot of skill with jumping, tumbling and stunting. But what I’ve noticed is that based on the funding, coaching, and even current squad, is that they weren’t taking themselves seriously as athletes,” Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker said that she believes that the arrival of stunt, and now of being a part of the NCAA, will help students and the community finally put more of a positive light on cheerleading, in addition to the team wanting to push themselves more physically.

Because this is a newly emerging sport, many students aren’t exactly sure what stunt entails yet, and are worried about time commitments, ability levels, and competitiveness.

Madison Stewart, a current member on the QU cheerleading team, likes the recreation and flexibility of the current team aligning with her commitments as a nursing major.

“I’m debating whether I want to join. I love cheering and dancing, I just don’t know if I would be able to do stunt as it seems like a whole other sport and a lot more of my time,” Stewart said.

As the season ends for basketball cheerleading, Shoemaker said that more information will come out about stunt, and clarifications will be made. Shoemaker said that game-day cheerleading only is still an option for students, but it is in each cheerleader’s best interest to join stunt, as it is only a few more days committed for competition.

Game-day cheerleading and stunt cheerleading practices will be intertwined within each other, so Shoemaker recommends doing both if you love all the aspects of cheerleading.

The arrival of stunt makes students, such as Cissna, eager to come to QU. Shoemaker is ready to nurture this energy and bring it to the mat next spring.