What Is Cheerleading A Sport

Most people overlook cheerleading as a sport unless they were once a cheerleader or know a cheerleader personally. Many people do not realize that most all sports are equal. People do not realize the similarities cheerleading have with basketball. Many people do not think cheerleading is a real sport, yet cheerleading and basketball have a lot of similarities like workout ethics, competitions, professional league and scholarship.

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

In cheerleading athleticism is not required and competitions are not held. Cheerleaders participate in athletics as bystanders. They are there to support and entertain their school.

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.

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.

To begin the argument at hand of whether or not cheerleading is a sport, it must be recognized that there isn’t truly a set/official definition for what a sport is. There are no set of regulations that have been universally agreed upon in which all activities can be examined against in order to determine whether those activities is a sport or not. It’s difficult to put under simple terms and rules what exactly qualifies something as a “sport” without disqualifying any currently agreed upon

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.

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.

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.

My other reason is in cheerleading we go to competition and compete with teams.A website that helps me in this situation that had many quotes was off of www.teenink.com/nonfliction/sports/article/15172/cheerleading-isasport. A quote from the web states "competitive cheerleading includes lots of physical activity and movement.This means cheerleaders compete against teams and people like any other sport.Physical

First of all let’s take a look at cheerleading as a whole and the basics of it. Well to start off there are two types of cheerleaders, competitive and noncompetitive.

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.

One reason people claim that cheerleading is not a sport is that sports require competition, and cheerleading is merely a means of rallying excitement at sporting events, and therefore is not a sport itself. However, in addition to performing at sporting events, many cheerleaders and cheer squads also compete in cheerleading competitions across the globe. In a cheerleading competition, cheer squads perform routines to music, and are judged based on what stunts the squad performs and how well

Training for cheer is not just a one time or a once a week thing it is a constant practice to maintain those abilities (Selke). Abilities that are needed for cheerleading are stunting, tumbling, and dancing so cheerleaders need to weight lift and work out multiple times a week. They work just as hard as any other athletes. Cheerleaders must be able to work together to create pyramids, basket tosses, and stunts in a routine. All of these require timing, teamwork, balance, strength, and stamina which are all clear athlete standards needed to perform in sports(Selke). Most people do not see inside the practices and competitions they just see the cheerleaders on the sideline at a game who entertain the crowd (Bonesteel). Initially they think that it is not a sport because of how easy that looks. Sideline cheering is

Cheerleading got gymnastic in it which is a sport. If gymnastic a sport wy cant cheerleading be a sport? Tumbling is also a sport. Tumbling is in cheerleading and some people stilll dont think it's a sport. If you combined two sports the outcome should be a sport