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
Cheerleading is a big part of high school and community culture. For many young girls, and sometimes boys, cheer is a way of life. Often pursued as a profession, cheerleading is a very serious sport. Like most sports cheerleading has different types and divisions. Scholastic cheerleading and All-Star cheerleading have many similarities and differences. Cheerleading similarities and differences include what they do, coaches, and appearance.
Cheerleading is fun! Of course we cheerlead because it’s fun! From cheer camp to laughing on the sidelines, cheerleading is always a good time, especially with your friends. The memories made my cheerleaders whether they be from practices, games, or spirit activities (like decorating for senior night or baking treats for football players) are memories that will be cherished for a cheerleaders lifetime. Cheering is such a positive and happy experience because we are always doing something fun or accomplishing something new, like learning our new pyramid or mastering our routine. I get to get dressed up in my uniform with my bow in my hair and my white, red-track stained cheer shoes and not only cheer on my favorite football team but run around and cheer and stunt with a team of fun-loving girls and bring my community
Chen, Grace. "Pros and Cons of Sports Competition at the High School Level." Publicschoolreview.com. Public School Review, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
I believe that cheerleaders provide hope and gleam when it’s required the most. Cheerleaders are kind-hearted and continuously display it without hesitation. If you think about it, cheerleading is the only sport where it’s mandatory to smile; Whether it’s scorching hot or freezing cold. When on duty as a cheerleader, there is no time to slack off. The games would never be as enjoyable without the cheerleader executing their full
Some states have accepted competitive cheerleading as a varsity sport, but cheerleaders still have to fight for recognition as an athlete because of stereotypical views. Fellow athletes do not see why it should be considered a sport because “it is not as demanding as other sports” ("Competitive Cheerleading Fights"). The definition of an athlete is “a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina” ("Omni Cheer Blog"). As an athlete students must demonstrate their skills in front of a crowd. As a matter of fact competitive cheerleaders meet all the requirements to be considered athletes, so why do they have to continue fighting for recognition as athletes?
According to Brea Darnell, cheerleading is not a sport because of “the inability to compete against an opponent. One of the most important requirements of a sport [is] to compete against another opponent, not just cheer to support your team” (Daily Republic). Pom-poms and sideline chants are aspects of sideline cheerleading that lack in contributing to the definition of competitive cheerleading. Competitive cheerleading is a different side of cheerleading that consists of tumbling, jumping, and dancing, alongside a greater amount of contact activity in comparison to sideline cheerleading. Lori A. Selke, a writer for Livestrong.com, creates the argument that, “in order to gain and maintain those athletic qualities, a competitive cheerleader must train as hard as any other athlete… In addition to attending cheer practice to practice stunting, tumbling, and dancing, cheerleaders must also weight lift and work out several times a week” (Selke). The arrogation of cheerleading illuminates why it is a sport and not just an activity because of the overall devotion to the sport and time a cheerleader must generate to practicing, refining, and executing skills, similar to any other athlete in
One reason that I know that cheerleading is a sport is because you need a lot of upper body mussel and you also need to know how to do all of the things that they are doing to perform.
For example, they have practices every day after school to practice their routines and stunts (Remnick). They have to make posters for all sport teams, go to all of the sporting events, and support and volunteer for the community. Also, everything they do represents the school in some way, so they have to be on their best behavior all the time. Sometimes they even have to cheer for more than one sport at a time, so they will be cheering for a game every night of the week, and they are expected to get homework done and get to bed at a reasonable time for school the next morning. They are more busy than regular athletes, and sometimes cheerleading isn’t the only sport or activity the girls are involved in.
Competitive cheerleading is most definitely a sport due to the athletic ability that is needed, the way that there can be a winner and a loser, and the teamwork that is essential. There are more ways that this sport can be classified as a sport than ways that it cannot be classified. Cheerleading has come a long way from where is started. The difficulty that has now been developed in this sport has made more and more people realize that it truly is a sport. The next step for this new and upcoming sport is to have more and more people able to get scholarships for all the hard work they put into training. Who knows one day cheerleading could be put into the Olympics as a true
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.
...lly waiting. Unlike fishing that take skill in pulling the fishing line and dancing the bait all this athlete has little skill involved with capturing the fish. Even though chance is a major part in determining a true sport I believe this activity to be too dependent on chance and requires too small of human involvement on being successful. This had led me to classify this sport also as a recreational activity.
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.
"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
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