The New York Times states that cheerleading is the fastest growing girls’ sport, yet more than half of Americans do not believe it is a sport. A sport is defined as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature” (dictionary.com). Cheerleading at a competitive level is physically demanding and requires team work to be the best. The misconception of cheerleaders being weak, nonathletic crowd entertainers makes people believe cheerleaders are not athletes and that cheerleading is just a hobby but cheerleaders that compete at a competitive level are in fact athletes because it meets the standards of what a sport is, which includes rules and regulations, and overcoming air resistance.
Just like any other athlete cheerleaders are athletic and physically fit. Craig Peters the author of Chapter 3: Spirit or Sport? discusses that The Women Sports Foundation considers a sport to “Involve propelling a mass through air or overcoming the resistance of a mass” (Peters). Although cheerleading is not played with a certain type of ball, they do in fact propel a mass in the air and overcome the resistance of air. Cheerleaders are propelling a body into the air and catching it and they move their body through the air, tumbling, overcoming air resistance. Being on a cheer squad is physically demanding participants need to be fit and strong. Unlike any other sport cheerleading is tossing and catching a dead weight of at least one hundred pounds. In any other sport the ball weighs less than a pound. Shalimar Azine, captain of the Stamford High School cheerleading team states, “You need a lot of strength when you are throwing a girl up in the air. It’s not like throwing a football” (Ruden). Not only is c...
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...rticipants need to be physically fit and it fits the definition of a sport according to the WSF and IHSA.
Works Cited
Arndt, Sandy. “Is There Value in the Sport of Cheerleading?.” Edmonton Journal. 10 Aug 2011: E.6. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. An article explaining why cheerleading should be a sport.
Gutgold, Emi. "Cheerleading Is a Competitive Sport, Too." Morning Call. 17 Aug 2012: A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Marrazzo, Amanda. "Cheerleading Caution Urged." Chicago Tribune. 12 Dec 2012: 1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Peters, Craig. "Chapter 3: Spirit or Sport?" EBSCOHOST.com. N.p., 2003. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
"Sport." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
Tanner, Lindsey. "Cheerleading Needs Sports Safety Rules, Docs Say." Sun-News. 22 Oct 2012: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
For competitive cheer you have to athletic if you want to be good. The cheerleaders are non stop tumbling, stunting, jumping, or dancing for more than two minutes. They never have a break in the routine that is pushed to the max with all the difficulty you can make and all of the legal things you can do in a routine. The sport
“Let’s go ladies! Push! That’s it!” All cheerleaders know these words and are probably used to hearing them from their coaches by now. Would you devote your blood, sweat, and tears to a hobby where you would practice twice a day, stunting, tumbling, jumping, running, falling, hurting, and keeping a smile all at one time? I would any day. Cheerleading is one thing I’m good at and enjoying doing when I have the opportunity. I would say cheerleading is the most misunderstood sport there is. It takes more than yelling and jumping around while smiling at an audience.
While the definition of a sport may vary by the person, the dictionary definition for a sport can be best described as, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment” (Oxford Dictionary). Cheerleading has been a topic of an ongoing controversial debate as to whether or not it should be recognized as a sport. Players that engage in sports, such as, football, basketball, and baseball all display a genuine liking for their sport, which generally emphasizes why they take part in the activity. Similarly, cheerleaders have this same mindset, but society tends to overlook their passion through the generation of the argument that cheerleading does not require
When it comes to the topic of whether cheerleading is a sport, some of us will readily agree that it is. Where the agreement usually ends, however, is on the question whether cheerleading is a sport or not. Whereas many are convinced that it isn’t a sport, other maintains that it is a sport because cheerleaders are athletes, they need to train and be in shape in order to be able to do all the complex maneuvers safely. I agree that cheerleading is a sport because cheerleaders compete against other teams and competition is part of every sport.
There is two things in this world that you should be scared of. The first thing is spiders, and the second is a cheerleader who has just been told cheerleading is not a sport. There are approximately 400,000 individuals in the Unites States in this day and age that participate in high school cheerleading (www.varsity.com). If you ask, most of them would tell you that they work their butts off, and they would say that cheerleading is a sport. In some cases some cheerleaders are fighting for their right to be called athletes because their school districts tell them that they aren’t. By doing this the school districts are portraying the message that cheerleading is a joke, and that it isn’t a real sport. It sets stereotypes for cheerleaders, and they have to work to overcome those stereotypes everyday. The school districts all over US not classifying cheerleading as a sport are in the wrong. For several reasons, all school districts should recognize cheerleading
Because some cheerleading squads don’t compete, society thinks of it merely as a physical activity. Even though cheerleaders’ main purpose is to support other athletic activities, cheer squads whom compete, follow all physical criteria to be considered a sport. Cheerleaders put forth an incredible amount of determination. They practice tirelessly to show off their skills, with little or no recognition for their efforts. Cheerleading is a sport because it requires physical fitness, skill, dedication, and stamina. Cheerleading should be considered a sport globally.
From an outsiders perspective one may see brainless and beautiful robots, which scream and perform neat tricks. This is not the case from the inside; cheerleading is so much more than that. Many people are under the impression that cheerleading is not a sport. I am the voice of reasoning that will let you in, and I will show you that cheerleading, in fact, is a sport. Cheerleading requires much physical demand from the body just as any other sport would. Cheerleading, in general, is a team effort. There are many sides to cheerleading, which make it a versatile sport. When it comes to cheerleading there’s more to it than what meets the eye.
According to Joe Hatton, the author of the article, “Sports Beat - The sport of cheerleading: It’s more than just pompoms and smiles,” cheerleading is a sport because it requires strength, balance, and coordination. The major claim of the article is “cheerleading is a sport - plain and simple - and cheerleaders are true athletes” (Hatton C-04). The article offers the following arguments in support of the claim. Hatton claims because cheerleaders are athletes, cheerleading is a sport. Hatton also says cheerleading is a sport because of the competitive aspects. We believe cheerleading is not a sport, because not all cheerleaders compete. Most cheerleaders rarely, if ever, show athleticism. Cheerleading is an activity based on confidence and school spirit. Activities in schools such as debate clubs revolve around the trust, confidence and competition of the team members yet most people do not consider debate club a sport.
Society often labels an activity a sport if it is rugged, requires endurance, strength, and masculine qualities. Because cheerleading is a predominantly women sport and is characterized by attractive uniforms and cheers, society often shuns the idea of men participating in this activity. Often times the activity is not considered a sport and the males and females are not considered athletes. Both males and females have to fight to encourage others to perceive them as athletes. In 1997, only one all female division participated in the NCAA all-collegiate cheer and dance team national championships. This proves the point that despite the social and cultural costs involved, males are still eager to participate in the sport that they originally founded and feel many more benefits as well.
...d holding up girls should receive the honor that other sports do. There are over 400,000 cheerleaders in the United States (Lauchaire) alone, making cheerleading the fastest growing sport for women. More people are injured each year from cheerleading than from actual contact sports, such as football (Soltis) and wrestling. Given this reasoning, competitive cheerleading and collegiate cheerleading should be ruled as a sport. Since most all-star cheerleaders move to collegiate cheerleading after high school, the level of expectation to always have high mentality strength is the same, making them both worthy of being classified as a sport. The competitive drive, motivation and determination that these athletes have, meet and if not exceed the level of sportsman like behavior of other sports, making cheerleading just as much of a sport as football, soccer or baseball.
There are so many risks cheerleaders take that can be worse injuries in some cases then football players. Which leads me to one of the worst stereotypes. Cheerleading is not just a female sport. Guys usually choose football or basketball over cheer but that doesn't mean a guy can't cheer. The main stereotype is if you're a guy cheerleader you're gay or you can’t cheer if you're a boy. It’s true that majority of cheer teams are girls, however that does not mean boys cannot join. It’s actually a big help if a boy is cheering because stunts will be stronger. Finally, the weirdest of them all. In most movies the head cheerleader is the most popular and is a snob but in real life it's not a fact that if you cheer you a snob. It's true some girls can be snobs at times but it's not just in the cheer
Last year, during one of my high school’s football games, a couple of students approached my friend and I. “Why do we need cheerleaders?”, “Don’t you think you guys are sort of distracting the football players?”, were the questions directed towards us. Because of my timid freshman self, I was unable to answer their question at the time. Why exactly did Cheerleaders matter? As the year went on, I couldn’t help but notice the drastic effects the
There are millions of cheerleaders in America and all around the world today. They stand in front of hundreds of fans and try their best to get the crowd pumped up. They stand outside braving the cold as they are rained, sleeted, and even snowed on. It’s probably the only sport I can think of where you would have to wear hardly any warm clothing and still have to pump the crowd up. How can you not call that a sport?
Cheerleader: a person who is a member of a group (typically a group of young women) who shouts out special songs or chants to encourage the team and entertain the crowd during a game in sports like American football and basketball (Merriam-Webster). In the beginning, cheerleaders did what they were known to do. They lead cheers, with spirit and megaphones, for the crowd to follow. Then, as time went on, cheerleading evolved into co-ed teams, high-flying stunts, which brought about how cheerleaders are perceived today. In the past ten to fifteen years, cheerleading has grown with the number of people who participate and the quality of how they perform their skills. Cheerleading is a sport based on the physical and mental strength the athletes
"Let's go generals let's go ". Do you think cheerleading is a sport? Get your Pom Poms and come along. I love to see people cheer. But I don't think it's a sport. People starting the first cheerleading squad in 1898. The university of Minnesota had the honour. This is huge debate, but these are my