Since the 2005-06 school year, Cheer Times has been covering high school spirit groups around the Chicago northern suburbs. In March, 2006, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) certified cheerleading as an official IHSA sport and held its inaugural Competitive Cheerleading state series championship on the campus of Illinois State University, Normal, IL.

Cheer Times has covered every Illinois cheerleading state series event since its inception, and along the way, has supported cheerleader and dance teams by attending regular season football and basketball games.

During the 2006-07 season, we quickly found out about the Illinois Drill Team Association (IDTA) as the primary organization that administers dance, pom, and flag competitions. About the same time, Team Dance Illinois (TDI) was formed and it became the unofficial catalyst for the dance, pom and flag teams. IDTA still holds limited competitions and runs a state series finals at the University of Illinois during the second weekend of March. Meanwhile, TDI conducts 60-plus regional competitions for dance, flag, conference champs, and youth divisions throughout the winter months, culminating with their state finals in early March in Peoria, IL.

Even though Cheer Times has spent the past three years on the road covering collegiate and professional spirit squads across the country, which has taken us away from high school football and basketball games, we haven't forgotten our roots. We still cover cheer and dance invites in Illinois as often as we can for one simple reason: the level of cheerleading and dance talent from Illinois high schools is immense and on par with other parts of the country known for elite-level cheer and dance athletes.