Like most athletes, I looked forward to competition day. Rather it was state, nationals or just a football game. I love cheering, no matter the time of year. Yes, I consider myself an athlete. Cheerleading takes sweat and determination just like any other sport out there. The only difference is that at a cheer competition, judges have the final say. We can’t just pin a man or score a few touchdowns to win. We have to put it all on the mat for three minutes, hit everything solid and even then the outcome is never predictable.
Cheerleading is not the most important thing in my life, not even close, but it is a big part of it. I have so much to stay about the sport that I could probably write a novel. Cheerleading is not just standing on the sidelines and cheering. It goes beyond the expectations of what people think cheerleading is. A competition routine consists of a squad performing tumbling, jumping, dancing, stunting skills and a cheer for three minutes on a competition mat while being completely flawless. Each tumbling pass and stunt is judged on difficulty as well as technique. Dance, cheer motions and jumps are judged on technique and sharpness. The more difficult a pass or stunt the more points awarded. The more
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We don’t just stand around and cheer on our team. Cheerleading is not just looking pretty in a uniform and making a good impression. It is way more than anything, anybody could ever imagine. Being an athlete, who has played multiple sports and wasn’t bad at any of them I will still argue that cheerleading is one of the hardest, most exciting and dangerous sports there is. More injuries happen in cheerleading than on the football field. Just take me for instance, fractured back, multiple concussions, broken nose, multiple knee hyperextensions, bruises on every single body part, pulled muscles, and other problems that I do not even want to talk about. High competive cheerleading takes a huge toll on a
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.
“They’re snobs.” “They’re ditzy.” “They are just brats.” Cheerleaders. There are many problems with stereotyping, and cheerleaders are no strangers to it. Every cheerleader could probably tell you a time when someone stereotyped them, whether that be them as a person or an athlete. While on some occasions cheerleaders really do fit the stereotypical vision of a cheerleader off of a movie, most are not your typical “cheerleader”; intelligent, polite, and athletic are all characteristics of these individuals. Making judgements about a person based on what sport they played is not deserved. Most people in high school would say they knew, or thought they knew how cheerleaders were, but if taking the time to get to know the kind of people they are, then people’s opinion would change.
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
Every minute of the day we are doing something, whether we recognize it or not. How we spend our time can determine where we go. If I waste my time I will look back and wonder where it all went. Through all the practices, games, and extra events, it seems I am wasting my valuable time on something not worthy of my time or making a bad investment of my time. If you asked me if cheerleading was my life my answer would be no, but I spend a lot of time going to practices, games, and events that it is difficult to believe otherwise. Many people, including my sister, would say I should be spending my time doing something more productive than wearing short skirts and throwing girls in the air. However, I believe that I continue to cheer because it is worthwhile in my life.
It also brought joy to other athletes by joining the sport of cheer. It was needed to bring even more entertainment into the world. Cheerleading teaches you how to work as team, fight as a team, and win as a team. Cheerleading teaches you to not be selfish, because you can’t just focus on yourself, you have to focus on your team as a group not just on individual. If someone doesn’t throw a certain skill, my coach will pull them aside, asked them why they didn’t throw, and tell them to next time not be selfish.
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
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
“Cheerleading involves skills which require the strength of football, the grace of dance, and the agility of gymnastics” (“Sport”). Many categorize competitive cheerleading as just an activity without any skill needed: there is nothing further from the truth! Competitive cheerleading is a sport that is dedicated to competition, fits the definition of a sport, and possesses a goal.
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
...for my first cheerleading squad, in the seventh grade, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. In fact, the try outs were so hard and so demanding I did not make the cut. This did not discourage me at all; it only gave me motive to try harder. Next season I came back with a bang; I made the cheerleading squad. Cheerleading is an experience that I would never give up for anything in the world. I learned more lessons on teamwork here than any other sport I played, because in cheerleading I mainly had to communicate with the other cheerleaders. Cheerleading involved much work and effort from me and my team mates. When I first started cheering I was a fairly fat cheerleader; by the end of the season my body was perfect enough for a show all bikini, and this is the one change that made me genuinely realize, “yes, I am an athlete; cheerleading is a sport.”
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.
To stay on the JMU cheer team or to quit was a very hard decision that I had to make this past month. Knowing I had leadership responsibilities as a third year veteran on the team made this decision extremely difficult for me. I had to consider all the parties involved which consisted of myself, my teammates, and my coaches. Several factors fell into play when deciding what was best not only myself but for my team as well. The first and most important factor I had to consider was my physical health as I have back problems that requires annual back procedures in order to be able to cheer. A relatively new factor in my decision making progress was the hiring of the new JMU cheer coach, which was extremely difficult for the upperclassmen to adjust to. My last few personal factors that played a role in my decision consisted of getting a job and focusing more on my school work. Next I had to consider what was best for the cheer team. I knew as an upperclassmen I needed to support the cheer program to help keep it strong and consistent during the coaching transition. This was hard to do when several other upper classmen were quitting the team due to this change. I also knew I had a responsibility to teach the incoming freshman new skills the same way the juniors and seniors taught me when I was a freshman. Not only did my team need me but I also took into consideration the contract I signed when making the team my freshman year. After taking everything into consideration
That was my favorite part of cheerleading because a bunch of squads from different schools come to compete against each other to see who’s the best. We would put up flyers around the school so people might come to watch us but they never did and some were even taken down. Now as far as our cheer squad went, we weren’t that good still because we had an inexperienced coach who did not know how to choreograph dances or cheers. So we continued to be made fun of and not taken seriously by our classmates, which was extremely annoying because we just wanted some respect for the work that we put it. When sophomore year came around we were starting to get a little sick of never placing at competitions and to our luck, we got a new coach the next
Gutgold, Emi. "Cheerleading Is a Competitive Sport, Too." Morning Call. 17 Aug 2012: A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.