“At least my sport is actually considered a sport,” or “cheerleading isn’t a sport” are the two phrases that would make me enraged and start arguments. I was a cheerleader throughout my entire childhood, and as a kid these comments 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, but I retired as I went onto college. As a kid, I spent many hours in the cheerleading gym. I would tumble almost every day to try improve, so I could become a better cheerleader. There were even times when I would spend more time at cheer than school. Cheerleading is different from other sports; therefore, people have trouble understanding as to how it is a sport. Cheerleading has become way more than just yelling for another sport’s 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 meets the first requirement of being 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 lead to a serious injury. 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 of 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. 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. Yet many, like blog writer, Chris Matyszczyk confuse cheerleading with the sideline portion: “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 a sport, therefore it should not be 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 interested in tumbling. Soon after they sign up for tumbling classes, they tryout to be a part 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.  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. Stunting is a skill involving one athlete, the flier, who is being lifted or tossed by other athletes. 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 routine, 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 a lot of kids are getting involved in this new 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. Darnell tries to deny cheerleaders of being athletes by using statistics, but her numbers prove that cheerleaders are. She talks about how eighty percent of cheerleaders are injured during their cheerleading career, but if this is not a sport, why are so many cheerleaders becoming injured? It is because it is a very intense sport with a high risk of becoming injured, but Darnell denies that to these athletes. 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 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 225). Johnson and Sailors are discussing the problem of Quinnipiac University dropping sports that are deemed as traditional sport, but adding a sport that is new and not as known. This incident 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 determined that cheerleading is not a better sport than the other sports that were being rid of. He saw the sports as equals in athleticism but not in popularity, so he decided that it was wrong to allow the school to replace the other common sports with cheerleading.  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 Mount Everest. 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, but when they are at a competition they are dressed to the nines. Just because cheerleaders look glamorous during cheerleading competitions does not mean they are less of athletes. People view cheerleaders as less than they are because of this aspect. When a person thinks of someone who is dressed as ridiculously as cheerleaders, they see them as lesser than them. For example, a girl who is involved in beauty pageants is seen as less intelligent because they put their efforts into looking good. It is the same way in the sports industry with cheerleading. Cheerleaders are portrayed as valley girls who just say and do obnoxious things, but in reality cheerleaders are just as athletic as other athletes. Just because cheerleaders look good while doing a variety of amazing tricks, does not mean they are not 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. The news anchors address how much cheerleading has changed, and they also 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 was very popular and 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. The movie shows cheerleaders flipping and stunting, but then puts a ton of chants in their routines, but competitive cheerleading rarely includes chants. When cheerleaders are shown in other movies, they never show they athleticism of the cheerleaders. The media shows dumb blondes twirling their hair and holding pompoms. This is not cheerleading. Even in Bring It On, there is always that obnoxiously stupid girl. This helps add to the stereotype. There is also another stereotype when the media portrays cheerleaders. There is always the bossy girl telling the rest of the team what to do. This girl is usually the captain, but in reality, that person would be the coach. I have never experienced a captain who was the cheerleading coach. Usually when a cheerleading team names a captain, the captain’s job is to motivate the team, not to boss the around. The media shows cheerleading completely in the wrong way. The media creates stereotypes that makes fun of people who should be considered athletes.

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. Injuries are very common in cheerleading; therefore, it is very surprising that the NCAA will not protect these athletes.

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 broadcast on the Olympics during the next ten years, then the opinion of cheerleading will eventually change. Cheerleading might be recognized as a sport. 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. Since the media portrays cheerleading as a joke, the world is persuaded into believing that cheerleading is not a sport. Cheerleaders practice just as many hours as any other athlete, and they should be recognized as so. 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 deserved to be recognized as athletes instead of being looked down upon. This sport has one of the highest numbers for career ending injuries; therefore, it should be taken seriously. Cheerleading only continues to grow, and it is only a matter of time that cheerleaders will get the recognition they deserve.
