Argumentative Essay: Is Cheerleading A Sport?

Title IX was supposed to be legislation that mandated that boys and girls receive equal sporting opportunities. In fact the 1972 legislation was fixed so that boys played sports while girls cheered. Therefore, cheerleading is not considered a sport for equity purposes. Football and basketball players on the college and high school level receive great academic and athletic benefits. Privileges include tutoring, parking passes, the use of laptop computers, and unlimited access to athletic facilities, while cheerleaders receive few if any of these benefits. Cheerleaders are left to raise funds on their own for practice equipment, uniform, and routine choreographers.

“Cheerleading is not an extracurricular activity. It is a sport, a sport of academic discipline.” Crowds have been cheering since the begininning of sports, however it wasn’t until the late 1800s that organized cheering was introduced. A man named Mark Peebles brought cheerleading with him to the University of Minnesota and started to create a specific set of cheers for different times during the games. Another student however, named Johnny Campbell, decided to take cheering to a whole new level by organizing a team to lead the crowd during the games. From November 2, 1898 to today Campbell is known as the world’s first cheerleader. Cheerleading has been and should be today known as a sport because it has evolved to become more athletic, competitive and dangerous as any other sport. Seeing cheerleading as a sport will give these athletes the respect and aknowledgment of their accomplishments and achievements, get the safety standards deserved, and “recognition that a traditional female activity can also be a sport (Gonzalez).”

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

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.

You have been training all summer. You have been in the weight room almost every day and wake up so sore you can barely walk. You give encouraging words to your teammates and pump them up right before a game. You are tough and fearless when you take the field. You strive to do your best and want to win. How would you feel if every time you took that field your peers didn’t believe in you and did not respect your sport? Cheerleaders go to the gym and work just as hard as other athletes do, and are not receiving any credit. This makes us frustrated and let down. There are many aspects of cheer that people are unaware of. Being a cheerleader, you have to be able to tumble, stunt, be competitive, have teamwork, and most of all dedication. Cheerleading is a sport because it is physically demanding, requires teamwork, and is very competitive.

When it comes to cheerleading, most of us will readily agree that it is not a real sport. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of why not. Whereas some are convinced that cheerleading doesn’t meet necessary qualifications to officially be a sport, others maintain that it does have qualities deeming it to be a sport. This is because the competition level in high school and college exceeds the expectation of those other sports that put in the time, hard work and effort to win a championship or tournament. Many don’t consider the cheerleaders that get tossed in the air, have extensive acrobatic skills, and the strength to carry their teammates on their shoulders or even in their hands in the competitions. They don’t get the credit they deserve or are recognized appropriately enough for the sport they compete in, earning them the respect of being the athletes they are in the sport they’re apart of, therefore I’m in favor of cheerleading being considered a sport.

Whether cheerleading is considered a sport has become a very controversial topic over the past few years. Due to lack of education of the sport, it is very frowned upon by other athletes. Other athletes seem to feel that cheerleading isn't difficult and requires minimum to no effort. These accusations can be very hurtful when coming from a cheerleader’s perspective. Based on their strength and skill, the amount of practicing and maintaining health, the number of injuries, and its competitive aspect, cheerleading should be considered a sport. The talent that these young men and women have is phenomenal. The performance of their skills looks extremely flawless but no one truly knows what goes on behind the pretty stunts and synchronized

With 7.8 million student athletes, some are bound to get injured. On average 2 million student athletes are injured each year. Although there are regulations in place, athletes compete to be the best that they are able and push the boundaries of the regulations, and they still end up injured. The NCAA looks over college athletics and controls the regulations that athletes are obliged to follow. Without regulations, sports would be “a-wall”, athletes would become even more injured, that might be why cheerleading is the most dangerous sport for females, and on average 26,786 cheerleaders are injured each year. The NCAA does not count cheerleading as a “sport” which means that they do not govern the cheerleading rules and regulations. If the NCAA would adopt cheerleading as a sport, the cheerleading regulations would change, and it would become a safer activity for all participants.

In the article “THE SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEERLEADER AND RITUALIZED SEXUAL EXPLOITATION,” I learned many things. The first surprising thing was the cheerleading started off as mainly a boy sport and now you don’t see nearly as many boys as you do girls involved with cheerleading and I think that is partly because in today’s society boys get made fun of for being a cheerleader. (Bennett) Another major thing that bothers me about cheerleading is that many girls get into cheering for the wrong reason, let’s just say that a lot of it is popularity. All in all there is so much you can argue on either side for cheerleading and hopefully schools are starting to see how cheerleading has changed into something other than rooting on your team, or competing for a national title.

Cheerleading is more than cheering on the sidelines at a football game or bringing the crowd to their feet. Cheerleaders do not have to run around three bases or skate their way to a puck, but they do, however, lift their teammates, jump, dance, tumble, and perform. There was a point in my life where I would eat, sleep, and breathe cheerleading. It is debated whether cheerleading would be considered a sport. Nevertheless, cheerleading has been a passion of mine for most of my childhood, and these experiences made me the person I am today. Before cheerleading, I was incredibly shy, be bullied in school, and did not have many friends.

There is a broad argument about what is and isn’t considered a high school is very touchy. They argue about which sports should and shouldn’t be considered a sports. The big debate for this article is that cheerleading should be considered a sport. Many people say that it shouldn’t for many different reasons. Yes, cheerleading should be considered a sport.

I cheered from 5th grade through my senior year yes believe me when I tell you it was hard, it had drama and everyone complained they wanted to quit at least once some did not me though. I was the person who always had extra everything and could tell what was wrong with a stunt without ever being able to do them myself. “The American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators is nonprofit educational organization that promotes cheerleading safety and education for their coaches” (cheerleading as a sport-AACCA). The U.S. Department of Civil Right Title IX this helps with discrimination in education and activities for both sexes the article was revised in April of 2015. “The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a membership driven organization dedicated to safe guarding the well-being of student athletes on the filed in school and in life” (About NCAA). The article I used above was written by Michelle Brutlag Hosick their associate director of public and media communications. ESPN Entertainment and Sports programing Network keeps up with all sports and up incoming sports. Lastly I used the TRC Arch Database Academic Search Elite under EBSCO Host for my source Education week and their source writer Bryan Toporek. The School I used as a reference Quinnipiac University in Connecticut manipulated the roster by deflating the men’s and inflating the women’s and they used to under report, so U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill thought they were getting

Many have seen her. Many know her. But who is the American cheerleader? Is she a blond haired, blue eyed sex symbol? Is she a drug-addicted girl with no brains and even fewer moral values? Maybe she is just your average, pretty, girl-next-door with a loud voice and lots of spirit. What is clearly true is that cheerleading and cheerleaders have evolved greatly over a century-long history. What started as one bold college student has turned into an activity with over 3 million participants (Brady 1); one that is backed by a $150 million industry (Williams 2). Modern cheerleading has come a long way from its historic roots, but large differences still exist between the iconic cheerleader, the stereotypical cheerleader, and the truth.

At the end of an 8th-grade year, the office called any girls wanting to try out for high school cheer. HIGH SCHOOL CHEER!! The next step of cheer, cheering at the football games, basketball games. I was excited to try out for high school cheerleading. Even cheering with upper classmen! The paper that was given to us had a bunch of words on it, it gave us choices like: “Just Football”, “Just Basketball”, “Football and Basketball”, and another one that said, “Competition, Football, and Basketball”. I thought to myself, “What was the competition cheer like?” No idea, but on the cheerleading Facebook page, there were new coaches. This was going to be their third year as a UHS high school cheer coach. They were also really pretty, and on the

When I was about five years old I started to do sideline cheerleading for the local superlights football team. I enjoyed it then, but as soon as I began to learn about allstar cheerleading, which is also known as competitive cheerleading, my viewpoint on sideline cheer completely changed. At seven years old my friend Molly and I decided that we wanted to tryout for competitive cheerleading. We ended up making the same team, Junior level 2. At the time we were in both sideline cheer and competitive cheer, but as soon as the first season was coming to an end we realized that we have fallen in love with competitive cheerleading and every aspect that comes with it. It was then that we decided to no longer do sideline cheer and to continue on with allstar cheer. The main difference between the two was the amount of tricks we were able to perform. In sideline cheer, it is more chanting for the team and to hype up the crowd. In allstar cheer, you do a two minute and thirty second routine full of tumbling, stunts, jumps, and a dance section. These two types often are confused and it is very frustrating to those who compete in cheer competitively and are constantly told that it is easy and that anyone could “cheer”. These are the people who do not know of competitive cheerleading and everything it stands for. Unfortunately, cheerleaders for professional sports do not help this stereotype. Professional cheerleaders for most teams are there to just look pretty and lead the team to