Cheerleading is so quintessentially American that it's nearly up there with apple pie.

But cheerleading has spread around the globe to the point that it's also almost as German as sauerbraten or as Australian as vegemite.

Cheerleading had support internationally before ESPN began broadcasting cheerleading competitions in 1997 and the 2000 release of the movie "Bring it On," but really took off after those developments.

The brand of cheerleading spotlighted in those ESPN broadcasts or in the Kirsten Dunst-starring movie is "All-Star" competitive cheerleading. It is a fast-paced dynamic sport that encompasses stunts, tumbling, tosses and dance. In other words, it goes beyond the image of just shaking some pom-poms on the sidelines. In this brand of cheerleading, the actual cheerleading is the sport, not a sideline activity.

In fact, All-Star cheerleading is as physically demanding as any other mainstream sport and is one of the fastest growing team-based athletic sports worldwide.

There are now an estimated 100,000 participants scattered around the rest of the world in countries including Australia, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands and New Zealand.

Competitions take place all around the globe, from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Thailand to Victoria, Australia, to Nottingham, England.

International cheerleading took a big step forward in November 2006 with the creation of the International All-Star Federation (IASF), the worldwide governing authority for All-Star Cheer & Dance. An arm of the USAF, the federation held its first 2007 International All Star Federation Cheerleading & Dance World Championships in April 2007 at the Walt Disney World resort in Florida.

As All Star Cheer magazine reported, "The Cheerleading Worlds will live up to its name again this month as the U.S. All Star Federation, host of the annual competition, honors the best of the best -- nationally and internationally. This year, the upper international echelon has grown to include 30 and 40 elite All-Star teams hailing from countries around the globe, from Chile to China."

While it was no surprise that the United States team took home the trophy at that championship, heavily American-influenced teams from Chile, Canada and Colombia took the next three spots and China and Australia came in fifth and sixth.

And it's not just the love of competitive cheerleading that has spread worldwide. Athletic teams around the globe have begun adopting the American tradition of having cheerleaders and dancers to engage the crowd.

Cheerleaders are commonly seen at sporting events such as soccer, beach volleyball and even boat racing. The now-defunct NFL Europa brought the sideline form of cheerleading to much of Europe and the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup in South Africa in 2007 was the first international cricket event to have cheerleaders.

When the NFL played its first regular season game in Europe, with the New York Giants taking on the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on Oct. 28, 2007, the Miami Dolphins cheerleaders proved a big hit. They appeared at not only the game itself, but also at soccer matches and several other public appearances in England.

One of those stops had the cheerleading squad seeing firsthand the British passion for cheerleading, stopping at schools in South London to coach budding British cheerleaders.

"I really liked getting the opportunity to coach cheerleaders this morning at the clinic," said Dolphins cheerleader Lynne Martin following the clinics. "It is great to see the interest young British girls have in cheerleading."

Cheerleading has even taken Japan by storm, with the more traditional Japanese style of cheerleading known as Ouendan, which features teams of male cheer squads commonly seen at Japanese league baseball games, mixing with American cheerleading.

Nintendo even released a pair of video games exclusively for Japan for the Nintendo DS. While each of the games start off with teams of male Ouendan cheerleaders, the most difficult modes replace them with female cheer squads that dress in Western cheerleading uniforms.

Additional Resources:

• United States All-Star Federation
• International All-Star Federation
• World Championships videos
• All Star Cheer magazine