Argumentative Essay: Is Cheer A Sport?

Unlike any another high school sport cheerleading is a year round sport not including how much we practice during the summer. Every time we throw up a stunt, pyramid, or tumbling sequence we are risking everything. We are risking Strains and sprains account for more than half of all cheerleading injuries. Of these, ankle sprains are the most common, and that is followed by strains or sprains of the neck, lower back, knee and wrist. Also Back injuries: when we are throwing up Stunts and basket tosses like lifting other cheerleaders above our head, tumbling and dismounting while twisting and rotating can all place significant stress on the lower back, which can lead to back pain. A more serious injury that can occur over time is a stress fracture to the vertebra, one of the bones that make up the spinal column of our body. If the stress fracture occurs on both sides of the vertebrae, the bone can become weakened and

Even though Cheer is considered a school club or an outside activity, cheer should be considered a sport because they compete seasonally and have all the requirements for being a sport. Cheer should be considered a sport because it has all the requirements to be a sport. Some requirements to be a sport are contesting and the sport 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 which cheerleading has both of these (Nicole Lauchaire). This basically means there is no reason that Cheer should not be considered a sport. Some people may disagree saying that cheerleaders wear “10 pounds of makeup,” and “two

The competitive sport of cheerleading is not all about jumping up and down and yelling “Go team, go!”. It’s about using your strength to perform a variety of skills that form together to make a routine. These routines are performed by many teams to be judged during competitions. Practice is required to do well at competitions. In order to become a cheerleader, you need to have tumbling skills, endurance, and flexibility.

Shawna Fox once said while talking about cheerleading "we make it look easy, but like all sports it takes hard work and dedication. " Just like most sports cheerleaders have to have muscle, cheerleaders have to do a lot of hard stunts and jumps and cheerleaders risk serious injuries. Cheerleading is a sport because there is a lot of hard work put into it. Just like most sports cheerleaders have to be in shape and have muscle. Cheerleading involves skills which requires the strength of football, grace of dance and the agility of gymnastics (Aacca.org).

When most people think of cheerleading, they think of the spirit squads that attempt to pump up the local crowd at high school basketball and football games. People are not aware of what these athletes are doing when they are not in front of these crowds. Strangers to cheerleaders who do not follow the sport extensively do not know the exact involvement of the athletes in this sport, at all ages. Cheerleading requires athleticism like all other sports as you must be in shape and at a great fitness level to be involved in most circumstances. Cheerleaders have to know what they’re doing at all times; while knowing what everyone else on the team is doing as well, which involves a high level of mental preparation. Cheerleading, high school or

Cheer isn’t just a sport it’s like a second family. You learn many hardworking and problem-solving skills. You also learn how to fail and get back up from it. It’s not just mentally, it’s physically you condition and become stronger.

One component cheerleaders also must have is flexibility. “Flexibility is the range of motion in a joint or group of joints or the ability to move joints effectively through a complete range of motion. Flexibility training includes stretching exercises to lengthen the muscles” (VeryWell). Flexibility must be present in order for flyers (the girls that are lifted into the air) to pull positions in midair, for the whole team to perform various jumps, and also helps in tumbling, which is a very important skill to have when participating in competitive cheerleading. “Tumbling is a form of gymnastics that requires athletes to use their bodies to flip, twist, roll and jump” (OmniCheer). Tumbling can take years to develop and isn’t an easy skill at all. Some girls work their whole life to just master simpler areas of tumbling and only the best of the best can do some of the hardest tumbling, which incorporates twists while flipping in midair. The last skill that cheerleaders must have is coordination. There is a lot of dancing whenever it comes to cheerleading. Dancing can be considered easy but not when it must be sharp and synchronized with all of the other teammates, along with adding in facial expressions, which appeal to the judges. These aspects take loads of time to perfect and some of these skills take years to even begin learning how to do.

There are many proven facts to support that cheerleading is in fact a sport. ESPN officially declared cheer to be a sport, but that has not seemed to affect people’s opinions.

Cheerleading is simply entertainment for viewers and is a social club for its participants. “Sports Beat - The Sport of Cheerleading: It’s a lot More than Just Pompoms and Smiles,” points out that a main benefit of cheerleading is the ability to “easily transition into the entertainment industry” (Hatton C-04). This statement supports our belief that cheerleading should not be considered a sport. Cheer-leading, the leading of cheers at sporting events is not a sport. Entertainment, versus athleticism, is more of what cheerleading is. Team supporters are present at games/events to raise school spirit and encourage cheering. Cheerleading generally requires a competition to be in progress, so the cheerleading itself can occur. This is not an activity which can take place alone.

Cheerleading is a sport that many people don’t support in a way that they support the popular sports in most schools, like football and basketball. Cheering can open many doors and create an ample amount of job opportunities. By cheering you can also receive full ride athletic scholarships from many schools. A cute skirt and pompoms is not the only thing you have to work for when it comes to cheering. Just as any other sport you have to have a certain grade point average to try out for your cheerleading team and also you are held accountable for maintaining your grade point average with also being held accountable for remembering cheers, games day dates and events that you will have to attend with your team. Cheer teaches you many things other than being able to tumble and shout! As a cheerleader, you learn to encourage anyone that needs that boost of encouragement, we learn how to work together with other people. Your cheer team members will become your family!

When the question “is cheerleading a sport?” many people will quickly jump and answer that question. They will respond with a yes cheerleading is a sport, others will also be quick to say that it is not a sport. There is reasons proving that it is considered a sport and there are some proving it’s not.

Conditioning is a big part of competitive cheerleading. Competitive cheerleaders condition just as much or if not more than football players. I run a mile every practice and then after that we do abs, arms, and leg workouts for about 45 min. We condition so much because we have to have the stamina to tumble, jump,stunt, and dance for 2min and 30 seconds without any break. We also have to have the strength to flip and toss humans in the air. Most sports only have to throw

The Women's sport foundation even wrote that, “any physical activity in which relative performance can be judged or quantified can be developed into a competitive sport as long as (1) the physical activity contains certain defined elements and (2) the primary purpose is competition versus other teams or individuals within a competition structure comparable to other athletics’ activities.” If that is truly what defines a sport, then cheerleading is not a sport because of the lack of competition. But isn’t the school working together and having school spirit more important than some contest? Contests can put the losing team or player down and make the winning people stuck up. The AACCA said, “The primary purpose (of cheerleading) is not competition but that of raising school unity through athletic functions.” School unity is one of the ways students can prepare for adult life. It raises the want to work together with other people. Being a competition should not be a requirement to be called a

The sport of cheerleading has been around for a long time; since 1884 in fact! In the beginning, cheer was a sport dominated by college men. Since, women have taken over, and in 1967 the first ranked college cheer competition was held. Both school and competitive cheerleading offer many rewarding opportunities. Though they are a part of the same sport, the two types of squads are actually quite diverse. School cheer is undeniably a worthwhile and respectable sport, but competitive teams often provide a more challenging approach, and are more suited to experienced cheerleaders.

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.