Cheerleading is a Sport | Teen Ink

Cheerleading is a Sport MAG

By Anonymous

     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. In addition, they fail to distinguish between sideline cheerleaders and competitive ones. Sideline cheerleaders’ main goal is to entertain the crowd and lead them with team cheers, which should not be considered a sport. On the other hand, competitive cheerleading is a sport.

A sport, according to the Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors, is a “physical activity [competition] against/with an opponent, governed by rules and conditions under which a winner is declared, and primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants.” Because cheerleading follows these guidelines, it is a sport.

Competitive cheerleading includes lots of physical activity. Like gymnasts, cheerleaders must learn to tumble. They perform standing back flips, round flip flops, and full layout twists. Cheerleaders also perform lifts and tosses. This is where the “fliers” are thrown in the air, held by “bases” in different positions that require strength and cooperation with other teammates.

Just as basketball and football have guidelines for competitive play, so does competitive cheerleading. The whole routine has to be completed in less than three minutes and 15 seconds and the cheerleaders are required to stay within a certain area.

Competitive cheerleaders’ goal is to be the best. Just like gymnasts, they are awarded points for difficulty, technique, creativity and sharpness. The more difficult a mount or a stunt, the sharper and more in-sync the motions, the better the score. Cheerleading is a team sport so without cooperation and synchronization, first place is out of reach.

According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, cheerleading is the number-one cause of serious sports injuries to women. Emergency room visits for cheerleading are five times the number than for any other sport, partially because they do not wear protective gear. While many athletes are equipped with hip pads, knee pads, shin guards or helmets, smiling cheerleaders are tossed into the air and spiral down into the arms of trusted teammates. The fliers must remain tight at all times so that their bases can catch them safely. Also, because cheerleading is not yet recognized as a sport by many schools, neither proper matting nor high enough ceilings are provided to ensure safety. Instead, the girls use whatever space is available. More recognition of competitive cheerleading as a sport would decrease the number of injuries.

So why do many Americans not think cheerleading is a sport? It cannot be because cheerleaders do not use balls or manipulate objects (if you do not count megaphones, pompoms and signs as objects). Wrestling, swimming, diving, track, cross-country, gymnastics, ice-skating and boxing are recognized sports that do not use balls. Some people argue that cheerleaders are just “flirts in skirts” with their only job to entertain the crowd, but cheerleaders today compete against other squads and work just as hard as other athletes.

Competitive cheerleading is a sport. It is a physical activity that is governed by rules under which a winner can be declared and its primary purpose is to compare the skills of participants. Hopefully, cheerleading will become as well-known a sport as football and basketball, and even appear in the Olympics since cheerleaders are just as athletic and physically fit as those involved in the more accepted sports.



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This article has 497 comments.


on Sep. 23 2016 at 12:20 pm
Arturo851 BRONZE, Pasco, Washington
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dude is a savage

on Sep. 22 2016 at 12:38 pm
JuiceyValencia BRONZE, Pasco, Washington
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Favorite Quote:
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You're my hero

hellohello said...
on Aug. 18 2016 at 2:20 pm
Yes, cheerleading is without a doubt a sport. It is really hard with all the flips and stunts.

on Aug. 18 2016 at 2:18 pm
Nice article, but it's still very debatable. How are you sure that cheeringleading is a valid sport?

on May. 23 2016 at 11:34 am
ilovecheer3646,
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments
right,so l.a.l.etc you can just stfu because cheer is ten times harder than horseback riding,try standing up on a running horse while pulling a scorpion,the stunts we do are ten times harder than that.

on May. 23 2016 at 11:28 am
ilovecheer3646,
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments
i agree with Tyrell15 completly just want to add somthing,we respect your sport,why not respect ours?

on May. 23 2016 at 11:25 am
ilovecheer3646,
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments
yes we do win trophies,but also think about this,im a pop warner cheerleader and our compitions are aired on ESPN, a SPORTS channel.

on May. 23 2016 at 11:23 am
ilovecheer3646,
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments
oh really,well i would like to see you do half of the level one things.im a level six and i manage to keep straght A s all while doing a double twist into a full,so do us all a favor and stfu

on May. 23 2016 at 11:19 am
ilovecheer3646,
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right,we throw 100 lb girls in the air,football players throw a 2 lb ball,the difference?we ALWAYS catch ours.

on May. 23 2016 at 11:18 am
ilovecheer3646,
0 articles 0 photos 7 comments
@sambest12498 i would like to see you preform your top dance and cheer rouyine,that has to have jumps, tumbling, and stunting,all under 2 min and thirty secs.no pressure.

HES123 said...
on Apr. 25 2016 at 6:03 pm
Cheerleading in fact IS a sport. We throw girls in the air!! We tumble our hearts out! Only cheerleaders can do that. We work SUPER hard!

murphykk said...
on Apr. 21 2016 at 11:10 am
Marching band is a sport when you practice at 6 am in the morning till you sweating it IS A SPORT

on Apr. 12 2016 at 11:38 am
cheerleader1999,
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
cheerleadin should be a sport football players just through a ball we work must harder they should cheer us on while we cheer copetive

Justdont said...
on Mar. 29 2016 at 3:11 pm
Great! Thanks for your opinion!

girl3 said...
on Mar. 16 2016 at 11:27 am
There is way more than "going to a football game for half time". You think there's just that to the sport, but some teams do competitions. They practice more than 6 hours per week, and trust me, it's REALLY intense. They have to go to regionals, nationals and even worlds. It's even one of the most dangerous sport in the world and I understand why! I think you're misundertsanding the cheerleaders at your school and the ones that are doing it competitively.

on Mar. 15 2016 at 10:15 pm
it is not considered a sport due to the fact that if u can play an instrument you can do it cheer requires you to be fit know exactly what you are doing and stunt safely. we also have to make it look easy and not show how much pain we are sometimes in many of my team mates including me have competed with something broken or broke something while competing

kotabear23 said...
on Mar. 11 2016 at 3:00 pm
Band isn't a sport its a hobby. I play the guitar does that mean i'm a athlete because of that? NO?? It means i have a cool hobby. Dont try to argue something thats pointless. TO argue that cheer is a sport is reasonable i play football and baseball competitive cheer in my opinion is a sport but not when they just cheer on the team.

ladybug1217 said...
on Mar. 10 2016 at 8:51 am
In my opinion, cheerleading is a sport. All cheerleaders have to keep good grades, just like any other sport player. You have to keep your grades great. Cheerleading is a sport and being in a marching band(booorrriiinngg) is not a sport. Being in a marching band has nothing to do with being an athlete. @sambest12498

on Mar. 4 2016 at 2:31 pm
in marching band, you dont break legs, nor do you throw people in the air and are expected to catch them. you may practice for hours and put alot of time and effort into it, but you do not go onto a mat for 2.5 minutes and work your butt off. In cheerleading, you get one chance to show people what youre really like. you do not get do over, like in football when you have different plays and more than one opportunity to score points. so please, tell me cheerleading isnt a sport.

sambest12498 said...
on Feb. 19 2016 at 9:02 am
sambest12498, Gallipolis, Ohio
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
In my honest opinion, cheer leading is not a sport. Im a member of the marching band and if they cant consider that a sport, then cheer leading isnt a sport. we do as much if not more than any other sport, we go to competitons, band camp, way more than just going to a football game for half time entertainment. so if cheer leading is a so called "sport" then marching band should be one too.