Coffee Table Book of: Cheerleading (Paperback)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: Cheerleading is a large format book of cheerleading, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: pompoms, megaphones and bows, the blue mat and the spring floor, gyms, halls and stands empty from first light to late at night, the kit being made and cared for, the early days of yell leaders and paper pompoms, and a few squads seen far off in plain dark clothing.

The kit is laid out plain: gold pompoms, a white megaphone standing on its bell, a big red bow and a white one set with rhinestones, light white shoes, a uniform top on its hanger, tape and scissors, ankle braces, a warm up jacket, a speaker for the music and a red sideline flag, with pompoms, megaphones, a rolled mat, a folding mat, a blue flag, a bow and a pair of shoes carried out to a beach at dawn, a foggy meadow, a hilltop, a snowy field, a moonlit shore, a mountain lake, a frosty meadow and a desert flat.

The making and care follow plastic sheeting slit into strips, a new pompom fluffed out, ribbon folded into a bow, a skirt pressed, a megaphone rolled from card, a mat unrolled, brushed and stacked away, and a long roll of paper laid out for a banner. The past runs from an old college quad, a stadium gate in the snow and an old gym with a running track round its balcony to crepe paper pompoms, a wool sweater, saddle shoes, an old megaphone, a spirit stick, an old leather football and a bonfire on the night before the big game.

Short notes run through the book, on stunts, jumps and the sideline, the mats and kit and how they are made, and the history of the sport from the first yell leaders to the all star gym: pompom strips are slit from thin plastic sheeting, then bunched, folded and tied at the middle, the first pompoms were made of crepe paper, long before shining plastic strips, new pompoms arrive flat and are fluffed by hand, strip by strip, until they are full and round, and lace up braces steady the ankles through jumps, tumbling and landings.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a paperback.