COLUMBUS, Ohio — Cheerleading has become more popular over the years between seeing how competitive it can be in the well-known Netflix “Cheer” documentary, to hearing how much the sport has grown. 

What You Need To Know

  • Maria Wisman refers to herself as "The Cheer Doctor"

  • Wisman cheered at OSU and on Team USA 

  • She trains young cheerleaders to make sure they have the resources they need like other athletes

According to Statista, in 2023, nearly 4 million Americans aged six and older took part in cheerleading. 

There’s a self-proclaimed “Cheer Doctor” who’s made it her personal mission to help these young athletes succeed. 

Maria Wisman has had a passion for cheerleading since she was a little girl.

“I started cheering when I was 5- or 6-years -old,” said Maria Wisman, The Cheer Doctor. 

It’s a passion that not only propelled her to be a cheerleader at Ohio State but also into a career that lets her help the next generation of cheerleaders.

“I noticed there was a big gap with health care professionals understanding what cheerleading is,” Wisman said. 

 While cheering in college, she earned her doctorate in physical therapy and became a licensed strength coach, now referring to herself as “The Cheer Doctor.”

“My main goal with the cheer doctor was to try to bridge that gap and offer more resources to cheerleaders to be able to perform more like athletes and get the strength and conditioning resources they need,” Wisman said. 

Wisman said cheerleading has evolved over the years. From the difficulty of the stunts to the tumbling, it’s become a very competitive sport that can be hard on these athletes’ bodies.  

“All of these exercises are meant to either build strength, endurance or power. All of those things you need with cheerleading,” Wisman said. 

Strength is important for tumbling. Especially when a cheerleader’s not on a spring floor because it causes more impact on the body. 

“This is really targeting the standing tuck, trying to get their legs to flip over faster,” Wisman said. 

Then there’s stunting, where a flyer is tossed into the air, which Wisman incorporates into her training too. 

Wisman advocates for these athletes because she had to work hard herself. After cheering at OSU, she went even further to making the USA National team, something most cheerleaders dream of. 

“I’m truly grateful for my experience on Team USA. It was an amazing experience, got to compete at Worlds twice. And even got to travel to Poland I was a part of the first USA team that got to travel internationally,” Wisman said. 

Following in Wisman’s shoes is 16-year-old Avery Strickland. She trains with The Cheer Doctor and recently made Team USA. 

“I’ve been working towards making team USA for a couple years now, so that’s a really big deal and I’ve been cheering since I was 3 years old so almost 13 years now so a lot of work has been put into it,” said Avery Strickland, junior at Westerville Central High School. 

 With the help of the Cheer Doctor, Strickland said her skills have improved, and she feels much stronger. 

“We’ll do a lot of your basic movement patterns like squat, hinge, push, pull, core and carry to build just their general strength,” Wisman said. 

Athletes like Strickland also think of Wisman as a role model. 

“She was the first one in Ohio that I knew of in Ohio that was on team USA and she paved the way for Ohio State,” Strickland said. 

Paving the way for these young cheerleaders, The Cheer Doctor is helping prevent injuries and helping these athletes become stronger one skill at a time so that they can go on to achieve their dreams.