High School Sports Case Study

Because of the physical demand, skill set needed, and the rules set to tumble, stunt, and jump, competitive cheerleading should be considered an official sport. Yet cheerleading has rules, guidelines, training, and many other things other sports also include. It also is definitely a physical and contact sport which has caused countless injuries throughout the years of the sports existance. But, most people only know cheerleading as sideline (school) cheerleading and have not had a glimpse into the world of competitive (All Star) cheerleading.

In volleyball, there are set rules that every player must follow. Teams have different methods to help their players understand the rules. Some teams memorize them and have “tests”, others learn from experiencing the rules while playing. The exigence behind learning the rules is so that the player knows how to play the game as an individual and as a team. Knowing the rules of volleyball is essential for a well-functioning team. Along with the rules, a player must understand the terminology used consistently throughout the experience.

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.

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.

Cheerleading might be considered to be an extracurricular activity to the average individual, but have you tried it? Even though four years ago, a federal judge ruled that competitive cheerleading is not an official sport, this physical activity includes all of the elements and more of a defined coed 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

The physical activity must have five elements, some include overcoming the resistance of a mass, competition against an opponent, and the rules must define time, space, the purpose of the activity, and the conditions under which a winner is declared. In addition to, acknowledgement that the competition is an evaluation of the skills of the participants and the key purpose of the activity is for competition. Competitive cheerleading fits into all five of these categories through stunts, tumbling, competitions, score sheets, time limits, and mat size. Cheerleading also fits into these categories through the Entertainment and Sports Programming Networks (ESPN) comparing cheerleading routines and a competitive cheerleader’s sole purpose is to compete. Most people in the world do not think cheerleading is a sport for several reasons. Some they think cheerleading does not have a strategy, while others think cheerleaders do not have enough physical ability. However, cheerleading fits into all of the categories of what must take place in order to deem it as a sport (Cheer

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.

The first intercollegiate American Football game was played between Princeton university and Rutgers University in 1869, and cheerleading began in the 1880s with Princeton's all-male pep club. In 1923, women were allowed to become cheerleaders at the University of Minnesota, and during the 1920s, cheerleaders added acrobatics to the cheers (Being a Cheerleader). The first Cheerleading National Championship was held in 1982, hosted by the Universal Cheerleaders Association, and since then there have been many cheerleading competitions and events worldwide (History of Cheerleading). Cheerleading takes physical strength, coordination, and teamwork, and in 2009, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that it is legally classified as a contact sport (ESPN). Yet, despite these things, many people do not consider it to be a sport. They give many reasons it is not a sport, but despite these claims, cheerleading takes a lot of hard work, and should be considered a sport.

The Time magazine is a credible source for this article that aims right at people who are outside of the cheerleading community. This article is all about the athleticism in the sport and the technique of cheerleading. The article gives a lot of statistics about the growth of injuries in cheerleading. One of the famous cheerleading teams was mentioned in this article and they were the World Cup Shooting Stars, which is an organization in New Jersey. The article talks about high school cheerleading today and how many colleges accept cheer as a sport and how you can get a scholarship. In the article the author talks about hoe schools canceled their

“When someone tells you to think of a sport I’m sure the first thing that comes to mind is football, or basketball, or maybe baseball. But what about cheerleading? When you think of cheerleading do you just think of it as an activity that consists of chants on the sidelines with big pom-poms, or do you think of it as a sport with extreme stunting such as tumbling, mounting, and tossing? The question of whether or not cheerleading is or should be recognized as an official sport has been debated since 1997 and still makes its way to court every few years. Throughout this research paper I will explore the question of what defines a sport and whether or not cheerleading should be considered one.”

The Oxford dictionary defines the term sport as, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment,” cheerleading fails to own up to this expectation. The debate between if cheerleading is a sport or not has been relatively debated throughout the last half-century. Usually you'll hear girls (maybe even some males) arguing with other athletes, that their, “sport,” is an actual sport, but it's not. Cheerleaders across the country like to say that cheerleading is a sport, while the other side agree that this is in fact not the truth. This debate has probably been going on since cheerleading had first started in 1898, though

Not on a field, not on a court, but still a sport. Most people will argue that cheerleading is not a sport, but the definition of sport says otherwise. According to the dictionary, the definition of sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Competitive cheerleading teams go to regionals, sectionals, state, and even nationals to compete against other cheer teams. They have rules to follow and a winning team just as any other sport does, so cheerleading should be considered a sport.

Waters stated that “cheerleaders are particularly at risk for head and spinal injuries because personal protective equipment like helmets, mouth guards, etc. is not given out as in other contact sport.” Athletes who play in other contact sports will argue and say that cheerleaders do not do anything to be considered contact. In reality though the sport is known for having one of the dangerous injuries out there which is a concussion. In the Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners said that “A cheerleader may hit her head on a gym floor and that can cause skull fractures in addition to concussions. Traumatic head injuries can happen from falls related to failure to catch a flyer properly.” If you would go around a room full of cheerleaders and ask why do you do this so called sport i promise they will say, because of what you said how it is so called a sport we all use that as motivation to prove to everyone who says we are not athletes that we are. From the way we jump high, clean tight, spin fast, throw hard, and sticking our tumbling and in the midst of doing all of that we make it look easy because they have practiced year round for this exact moment. Also in other sports they have four quarters during a whole game and if one gets hurt you have a whole bench full of players ready to get out on the field for cheer it is the complete opposite they have two minutes and thirty seconds and if they get hurt during those minutes they

In an athletic competition such as basketball, the participant/s should already have an expectation of physical contact to be present in game.