Manteca Unified high schools are adding competitive cheer as an interscholastic sport starting next school year.
Competitive cheer, that has been offered as a California Interscholastic Federation high school sport along with stunt cheer competition since 2017, will have its own season.
The Manteca Unified district since 2019 has added girls flag football, e-sports, and boys volleyball as competitive offerings.
The 2025-2026 competitive CIF cheer season starts Sept. 1 with the first contest and ends Jan. 31, 2026 with the state championships.
Competitive cheer as a high school sport is huge in Southern California with more than 280 schools competing.
The CIF competitive stunt cheer season that entails a four quarter format starts in February of each year.
The CIF offers 25 high school sports.
The ones that Manteca Unified does not offer are boys and girls teams for lacrosse, gymnastics, badminton diving and field hockey as well as girls volleyball.
Manteca Unified ended gymnastics competition in the 1990s due to insurance issues.
Badminton was also offered for several years in the 1990s.
Diving competition was discontinued in the 1990s as well.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com