“At least my sport is actually considered a sport”, or “cheerleading isn’t a sport” were the two phrases that would make me enraged and start arguments. I was a cheerleader throughout my entire childhood, and as a kid this became very annoying. I did not know how to deal with these comments except by going off on a screaming tangent or doing flips no one else on the playground could do at that age. I cheered competitively for thirteen years of my life. It was everything to me until I graduated high school and had to focus on college. I spent hours in the cheerleading gym. I tumbled almost every day as a kid to improve and become a better cheerleader. There were a few weeks where I spent more time at cheer than I did at school. When I became injured during cheerleading I would put off going to the doctors, so I could continue to compete. Cheerleading is different from most sports; therefore, people have trouble understanding as to how it is a sport. Cheerleading has become way more than just yelling for another sports team from the sidelines. It is a sport that brings thousands of people together to watch and support cheerleading teams, while they compete against each other. Cheerleading is way more than just an activity, it is a sport.

For us to recognize that cheerleading is a sport, we must have an understanding of what a sport is. According to Varsity, a well-known cheerleading magazine, a sport “must be a physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of mass, competing against/with an opponent is required, 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, and acknowledgement that the primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants (Varsity).”

Cheerleading meets all the requirements of this definition of the word sport. Cheerleading is very physical. Stunting and tumbling are two aspects of cheerleading that require a lot of physical training. It took me five years to learn and perfect a full twisting layout. In cheerleading a person must think about all of the techniques in order to complete a skill successfully. If this is not done the results can make you become seriously injured. Cheerleading competitions are for cheerleading teams to compete against each other, so that takes care of the second requirement. The third requirement is for the sport to have rules, and cheerleading has plenty. Some of which are the mat size, illegal skills, and the time limit. The last requirement is that there is a comparison of skills. This is exactly what cheerleading is. There is a panel of judges that watches all the teams, compares their skills, and then names a winner. By this definition of a sport cheerleading easily qualifies.

Many people do not believe that cheerleading is a sport because they are not educated as to what cheerleading is. They mistake cheerleading as only the sideline portion of it. There are two very different types of cheerleading, sideline and competition. Sideline does not meet any of the requirements of what a sport is, but competition cheerleading does. According to blog writer, Chris Matyszczyk, “Cheerleading is to sport what manning a concession stand is to the cinema. It actually involves turning your back on a game being played, in order to remind those who are watching that they are supposed to watch loudly” (Matyszczyk). This writer builds his whole argument about how cheerleading is not s sport, there for it should not deemed as one. What this writer does not realize is that sideline cheerleading is not asking to be named as a sport, competition cheerleading is. He thinks that all cheerleaders do is yell at a crowd to cheer for a sports team. This is not true. Usually children start off as sideline cheerleaders, and then they become interesting in tumbling. Soon after they sign up for tumbling classes they tryout to be apart of a cheerleading squad, but as for myself I started off with gymnastics. I did not like gymnastics because the coaches were too strict, and I did not have much fun. Once I started cheerleading, it took up the majority of my time as a kid. I traveled the United States to take part in competitions almost every weekend. I trained my butt off, but as for sideline cheerleading there is no training necessary. There are no competitions, but only cheering on another sport. Therefore, I do agree with the majority that sideline cheerleading is not a sport, but competition cheerleading is. Competitive cheerleading is more comparable to gymnastics than sideline cheerleading is.  A typical floor routine in gymnastics is comparable to an individual competition cheerleading routine. Both of these sports require about the same amount of skills and strength, but cheerleading is a group effort. Cheerleading requires more lifting than gymnastics because of the stunting aspect of it. Cheerleading took skills from gymnastics and incorporated it into a two and a half minute routines filled with flipping, jumping, and stunting. It is magical. In all-star cheerleading, chants are not yelled. It is simply a quick routine showcasing the best skills a team can perform. Whenever a team comes up with a new skill it is applauded throughout the crowd. Cheerleading is respected by people who know what competition cheerleading is. This is a highly competitive sport and more kids are getting involved in this new sport.

Many people believe that all types of cheerleading are not a sport. In the article, “Definition, statistics proves cheer is not a sport” Brea Darnell states that “statistics show that only 15 percent of the cheerleaders in the United States compete; therefore, cheerleading should not be considered a sport” (Darnell). Darnell believes that even the cheerleaders who work their butts off all year long in order to compete should still not be considered athletes. That fifteen percent of cheerleaders train just as much as other athletes, but do not get to say they play a sport. Instead they are recognized as someone who stands on the sideline yelling for a team, but cheerleading is so much more than that. Darnell tries to deny cheerleaders of being athletes by using statistics, but her numbers prove that cheerleaders are. Even though such a small number of cheerleaders who are involved in competition cheerleading, the number is increasing, and they are still athletes. Back in 2009 there was a court case regarding cheerleading being in considered a sport. “Quinnipiac University announced it would be dropping its men’s track, men’s golf, and women’s volleyball teams, but adding a competitive cheerleading squad” (Johnson & Sailors 1). This raised questions and ended up becoming a court case. The judge decided “that cheerleading is not yet a real sport, even though 64,000 high school girls are registered in “competitive spirit squads” (Johnson & Sailors 1). The judge who led this case realized that it is evolving into a sport, but it was wrong to get rid of all the other sports. Cheerleading is the new sport that a ton of kids are now starting to become more interested in. In this case, it seems that cheerleading is not viewed to be as important as the other sports, but the university could not even give this newer sport a chance. In this case, it was a matter of which sport is more important and obviously, it came to the more popular sports. Cheerleading is attacked by many because it is such a new sport, and people think the sport is ridiculous.  If you go to a cheerleading competition the sight is a little scary. There are a ton of girls aged from three to twenty-five who are dressed in ridiculous looking uniforms, wearing a ton of make-up, and have ponytails that are teased higher than the sears tower. Up close cheerleaders look like girls in beauty pageants, but when you think of athletes, they are sweaty people in baggy clothes. Cheerleaders look like any other athlete in practice. Just because cheerleaders look glamourous during cheerleading competitions does not mean they are less of athletes.

If someone was talking about going to cheerleading twenty years ago, you would automatically think that they were a sideline cheerleader. Competition cheerleading was barely a thing back then because cheer has evolved so much since. On an episode of Fox News, the news anchors discuss if cheerleading is a sport or not. They address how cheerleading back in the day was not a sport, but since now that it has evolved so much, that it must be considered a sport. The newscasters compare competitive cheerleading to gymnastics because of how similar they are. They both involve flipping, flexibility, and a judging panel. They also talk about the movie “Bring It On” (Fox News 1:20-2:20). This movie became very popular movie that opened many people’s eyes to the sport of cheerleading. Even though the cheerleading shown in the movie is not an exact representation of competitive cheerleading, it is closer than what most people think cheerleading is. Cheerleading has also spread throughout the entire world. In “A WORLD OF CHEER!” a team from China competed at the Cheerleading Worlds. When they competed, they used ribbon and props, and this is not common in competition cheerleading. The judges concluded that this is not considered cheerleading, because of the props and their odd routine. They ended up not making it past the preliminary round because it was not cheerleading. But when the same team came back to Worlds the next year, they competed just like any other team (Campo-Flores). Cheerleading is more common in other countries than football is. This is an example of how cheerleading is rapidly growing all over the world. Cheerleading started in The United States and now is present in Mexico, Canada, and even South Korea. The quick evolution and spread of cheerleading is undeniable and proves that cheerleading is just becoming an even bigger and more popular sport.

One thing that all sports have in common is injuries, and cheerleading comes with plenty. No matter what the sport, athletes always get injured, whether it is a sprained ankle, a concussion, or a broken bone. “Statistics show that more than eighty percent of cheer athletes have been injured during practice” (Darnell). This shows that many cheerleaders have been injured throughout their athletic career just like any other athlete. “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) was developed in 1906 to protect its athletes but cheerleaders are not included under this realm” (Bagnulo 293). This mean that cheerleaders are not protected by the NCAA to help prevent injuries. This is bad news for cheerleaders because without the NCAA’s protection, there are no precautions taken to protect athletes from these injuries. There have also been a few cases of catastrophic injuries. “collegiate cheerleading accounts for 70.5% of all female catastrophic sports injuries and high school cheerleading accounts for 65.2%. This outweighs any other female sport in the amount of catastrophic injuries” (295). Cheerleading has the highest rate of injuries compared to any other sport, so it is very surprising to learn that these athletes are not protected by the NCAA. Most cheerleaders get hurt by doing skills during stunting or tumbling. Flyers get hurt when they fall out of a stunt and hit the ground. I have seen this many of times throughout my cheerleading career. When an athlete hurts themselves when tumbling its usually from bailing mid skill or landing funny. I experienced many injuries by bailing in my tumbling. I landed on my head and suffered from many concussions while tumbling. I have also been concussed a lot during stunting. When a flier falls from a stunt, it is the bases job to catch the flier. Many times, I was hit in the head with an elbow and suffered from concussions, a broken nose, or black eyes. Whenever I suspected that I had a concussion, I would not tell anyone because I wanted to continue to cheer. This was dangerous because an athlete is not supposed to be competing when concussed, but my love for this sport encouraged me to do stupid things, just like any other athlete.

Most people think that true sports are in the Olympics. But as of December, of 2016, “the International Olympic Committee has spoken, and the International Cheer Union has been given provisional recognition as the governing body of the sport” (Dosh). This is the first step to become a sporting event in the Olympics. 

“the International Cheer Union, will receive at least $25,000 every year and have the opportunity to apply for additional grants. This period of recognition lasts for three years, and at any point during this time, IOC execs can vote to fully recognize the sport. At that point, the ICU can petition to be included in the Games. If the petition is approved, cheerleading officially becomes an Olympic sport” (Orenstein).

This is good for cheerleaders as athletes, because now they will eventually be able to compete in the Olympics, and maybe one day the NCAA will officially recognize cheerleaders. If cheerleading is broadcasted on the Olympics during the next ten years, then the whole opinion of cheerleading will change. Cheerleading will finally be recognized as a sport by everyone. If this happens then the athletes of this sport will reap so many more benefits. Cheerleaders will eventually be able to receive scholarships for college and be a part of the Olympics in the near future. This first step of recognizing cheerleading as a sport by the IOC will also bring more money to the Olympics too. Cheerleaders and spectators all over the world will buy tickets to the Olympic cheerleading competition and also watch on television. This brings in more money to the IOC and targets a whole new sport.

Even though cheerleaders look different from any other athlete, they are just as athletic as them. Cheerleaders practice just as many hours, and they should be recognized as athletes. Competitive cheerleading also matches the definition of what constitutes a sport, so it should be considered a sport by everyone. Cheerleading has become way more than just yelling for another sports team from the sidelines. It is a sport that brings thousands of cheerleaders and spectators together for the competition of many hard-working cheerleading teams. Cheerleaders also suffer from injuries just like any other athlete and should be taken seriously because of this. The IOC has also now recognized cheerleading as a sport, so now cheerleading can apply to join the Olympics. Cheerleading is now a growing sport, and the next step is to be recognized by the NCAA. Cheerleading will eventually be considered a sport to all, and so far this is becoming more of a reality.
