Every cheerleader gets upset when someone tries to dismiss cheerleading as a sport. “I know I did”, although cheerleading fits the definition of a sport as stated in the Oxford dictionary. According to the Oxford dictionary, a sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or other for entertainment. Have you ever been to a cheerleading competition? Having you not noticed how physical each routine are? Does this not entertain you? If you can honestly answer yes to any of that question, I believe the truth is you understand some of the elements of cheerleading can qualify as a sport. Not to worry, I came up with some facts I feel will strengthen this argument for cheerleaders everywhere, because the elements of cheerleading posse some differences and similarities when compared to other sports.
Since cheerleading is female dominated and involves dancing the physical demands are down played, but what most doesn’t know that originally males were the founders of cheerleading. I even found out the females wasn’t involved until the late 1950. The American Association of cheerleading, coaches and administrators article states, “Today cheerleading involves skills which require the strength of football, the grace of dance, and the agility of gymnastics”. In other words cheerleading engages all the components of fitness, strength, endurance, and flexibility all at a reasonably high level. Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans trained for 4 days a week focusing on speed and strength, according to Men’s Fitness. Cheerleaders on elite levels train with the same intensity and focus on strength but less speed. In many sports it is important to be fast or quicker than...
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...las Cowboys Cheerleaders, their all about entertaining the crowd with their dance moved and famous line kicks. The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders also entertains us with their reality television series called “Making the team” which airs on CMT. With that said television have played a big part for entertainment, providing a fan with sports at their figure tips. Major sports channels are ESPN and Fox Sports Channels broadcasting live sports, sports news and game stats; they have also added cheerleading to their network line up as well.
Cheerleading has all the elements to be a sport, being a physical activity, competes against other team for entertainment purposes. I have given differences and similarities as I compared cheerleading to other well-known sports. Show them some respect, it’s time you become more accepting to the obvious, that cheerleading is a sport.
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
Unlike gymnastics, you must rely only on yourself to do what you need to do to win. Relying on the rest of your team, cheerleading is a much harder team sport. Gymnastics does have a team score but it only takes the top three scores form each event for the team score. Gymnast must perform wonderful but if they do not then they are the ones to blame. Cheerleading, the most team oriented team sport, relies on multiple people to get one job done.
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
Cheerleading and Gymnastics are different sports that are capable of multiple things. Cheerleading was an all boy sport, became popular after sometime, and it also became a competitive sport that still takes place today. Gymnastics is another sport that came from ancient Greek, was brought to the United States, and to this day became one of the most attractive sports.
I know that cheerleading is a sport. Have you ever got asked if you think that cheerleading is a sport or not. That is what I am going to tell you today. Cheerleading is just like football and basketball it is a game where you compete and get points. But with cheerleading it is not about throwing the ball accost a field or making a basket. It is about how well it is performed. To do good they have to prates a lot and they also have to have a lot of upper body mussel.
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 the US not classifying cheerleading as a sport are in the wrong. For several reasons, all school districts should recognize cheerleading as 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.
The best leadership accomplishment that demonstrates my potential to make significant contributions to the campus community and broader society is cheerleading. Cheerleading has made a huge impact on my life and has created many opportunities for me. It has paved the way for my high school career. Cheerleading provided me with opportunities to lead, volunteer, perform and show the athletic ability of our squad.
Movies portray cheerleaders as the popular girls that everyone likes and aspires to be. But when reality hits at Salem High School, it’s a completely different story. Cheerleading was taken as a joke by the other athletes and even students. It was considered a hobby, but to me it was a passion and something I worked hard to be. Being on the cheer squad in high school was difficult to deal with in school because we were constantly being snubbed by the other athletes and students in our school ever since we were kids in junior high which should not happen because everyone has the right to do what they love and they should not be judged for it being different than everyone else. It was always us versus them up until my junior year of high school when we finally earned the respect of our peers.
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.
Over the years it has been debated many times whether or not cheerleading is a sport or a club so what is the verdict? Is cheerleading a sport or is cheerleading not a sport? Truthfully, there are two types of cheerleading, sideline cheerleading and competitive cheerleading. There are multiple distinguishing factors of competitive cheer and sideline cheer. The hours of practice, the level of skill, and the end goals of the two types are what set them apart. While there is a lot of heavy debate on the topic it is obvious that competitive cheerleading is a sport and is one of the most difficult sports to do well and sideline cheerleading is not.
In today’s society we as a culture have set the standard of how a person is stereotyped. The cruel truth is that being judgmental of others simply because of that person’s clothes, gender, or language, is damaging to that person’s identity and also damaging to the trust that could have been built between individuals.The decision to choose which social group a person decides to be a part of should not define who the person is as an individual. People just like to do different activities that make them happy. A male cheerleader has the abilities that some girls may not, such as demonstrating strong muscle power in necessary situations. Cheerleading may make some males happy and they can do tricks or other things many females won't dare to do.
Football players need to make plays and so do basketball players; Cheerleader also need to “make plays” but we call our plays ‘motions’ and when you put the motions together you have a routine. According to article Is Cheerleading a Sport? “ The Women’s Sports Foundation has narrowed the field to these elements: It must be a physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of mass. Stunting… check! “Contesting” or competing against/with an opponent is required. Competition… check! It must be governed by rules that explicitly define the time, space, and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared. Time limit, mat size, score sheets… check, check, check! Acknowledgement that the primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants. You know those competitions on ESPN? Those are national championships… check! ” If cheerleading isn’t a sport then why does it meet all of the requirements? Cheerleaders go through numerous hours of workouts plus the hours of perfecting the routine and at the very end of the day we have nothing to show for it because no one respects us. As it states in the article, 10 Reasons Why Cheerleading is Considered One of the Hardest Sports in the U.S, “ We have to deal with the stereotypes, the gossip, and the social standards that society puts on us and for some of us this is in addition to the drama and pressure that High School already inflicts upon us. This is a lot of stress to put on young individuals who are still trying to find their identity and it just gets buried and spit on by those who don't even know the HALF of what we really do.” People put a lot of stress on cheerleaders by causing drama saying that it’s not a sport. When you watch NFL cheerleaders it may look easy and they are not the main part of the game - so people think
A cheerleader has been and continues to be defined as an enthusiastic and vocal supporter. Cheerleading is something that I used to eat, breathe, and sleep. For four years, my weekends consisted of pom-poms, stuck up football players, and team rivalries. Before I was able to cheer on others, I went through a grueling tryout called life. I am the individual I am today because of my experiences growing up.