Athletes are everywhere. We watch them at our local high school games and even on television. We pick out our favorite athletes on a professional sports team and worship them as if they were Gods. We all have a favorite athlete. Perhaps it’s basketball star, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, the Olympian, or Peyton Manning, the famous football quarterback who plays for the Denver Broncos. The commonality that these three, world-class athletes share is that they’re all male. Men have always been in the spotlight in regards to sports. When someone is asked to picture an “athlete” they’re most likely going to envision a muscular male who appears strong and healthy. Perhaps this is because males who perform in sports usually have more muscle mass, …show more content…
We know that athletes usually have a good amount of strength and bodily tone, but what else can we say about them? According to Oxford Dictionary; the definition of an athlete is, “A person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise.” (www.oxforddictionaries.com). We could probably say that any cheerleader is proficient enough in the physical activity known as cheerleading; similar to the way gymnasts are to gymnastics; but, how do they become proficient, and what else makes a cheerleader eligible for the title — athlete? First, not all those who try out for cheerleading are chosen during tryouts, only those who possess a set of basic essential skills will make it on the team. Second, practice is important for any athlete. Cheerleaders rehearse their routines so that there is better skill and synchronization among the members of the group. Additionally, not all cheerleading groups perform solely at local high school sports games. Some cheerleading teams; just like many sports teams, compete against rivals at designated events for a chance to win, and receive a …show more content…
According to Go Big Recruiting Blog, “The tryout may include tests to evaluate strength, speed, agility and sport skills.” (www.gobigrecruiting.com). Cheerleading and other sports teams hold tryouts to ensure that all members added have a basic level of competency in their chosen sport. The tryouts can range from easy to difficult depending on the team’s needs. If the team is not going to participate in competitions then the judges will most likely score each person on their cheers, chants, and enthusiasm (www.cheerwiz.com). If a cheerleading team wants to compete then the judges would focus less on personality and more so on skill competency (www.cheerwiz.com). Tryouts can help to identify an athlete from a group of
Right before a game, football players huddle up as a team and they get “hyped-up” to win. The coach of the team gives them a game plan and they follow it. This same thing applies for the cheerleaders right before they take the mat. Their “game plan” is the routine that a choreographer made for them. Coaches change the routine to make them win. Cheerleaders have to act as a team. (you build a bond with your teammates practicing so much together.) At competitions, all the cheerleaders match from bow to toe. Cheerleaders always encourage their teammates when they are discouraged or feel failure in not being able to complete a stunt.(they
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
We spoke on Friday regarding the issue that surrounds the Dexter Cheerleading Squad in which they are not being allowed to go participate in the state cheer competition. The reason that they are not being allowed to participate seems vague in my opinion as I explained to you during our Friday conversation. The superintendent of our school district claimed during a parent meeting on 1/25/18 in which at least 5 parents made appearance, that since the job posting for coaches stipulated that it was a sideline cheer only, the cheer squad would not be allowed to go. When the question was asked, if any school regulations or policies existed that specified and backed up her decision, she claimed that none existed. Hence, that her athletic
They also specify the rules and guidelines for all of competitive cheerleading. Teams are created by the age and the level of every individual athlete at whichever cheerleading gym they may choose. This being said, “All Star Cheer is the name referred to cheer groups created just for competition and not associated with any school or team.” (Cheer Debate: Is Cheerleading a Sport?) The sole purpose of competitive cheerleading is to put together a two minute and thirty second routine to compete against other teams in your same division around the state, country, and even world. This is just minute portion of what cheerleading is but are some of most important parts of what it is.
The competitive sport of cheerleading is not all about jumping up and down and yelling “Go team, go!”. It’s about using your strength to perform a variety of skills that form together to make a routine. These routines are performed by many teams to be judged during competitions. Practice is required to do well at competitions. In order to become a cheerleader, you need to have tumbling skills, endurance, and flexibility.
Male cheerleaders continuously get gender stigma which means a negative trait or set of traits attached to a social group, due to cheerleading being labeled as a 'feminine sport'. There are some male who become hesitant when wanting to be a cheerleader due to them being labeled as ‘Gay’. One of the female who participated in the study said “cheerleading started with men. I think the media has turned it into a sexualized female sport”. But, they believed this occur because women are helping men protect and maintain their masculine guise. However, the construction of masculinity is achieved through sexual objectification by men who cheer, because society focuses on labeling male cheerleaders homosexual, when in reality they have the advantage
One reason cheerleading is a sport because it is a physical activity.This web helps explain my reasoning about physical activity .You can find this web on https://cheerleading.about.comod/skillandabilities/a/031002.antm.Some cheer teams put in more hours and effort in the gym than teams such as football and basketball.Cheerleading not only shows you and teaches coordination it helps condition competitors,but it also helps you with sportsmanship ,leadership communication skills,organizational skills,productivity and much more.
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
One of the main reasons why the NCAA hasn’t picked up cheerleading as a sport is because it “doesn’t meet all the criteria of a sport”. That is true in some aspects of cheerleading, but for competition cheerleading it meets all of the needs of a sport. What actually is a sport though? According to Webster’s Dictionary, a sport is “ an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.” But according to the NCAA a sport has to meet all the following criteria to be considered a
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.
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.
Cheerleading is a sport that many people don’t support in a way that they support the popular sports in most schools, like football and basketball. Cheering can open many doors and create an ample amount of job opportunities. By cheering you can also receive full ride athletic scholarships from many schools. A cute skirt and pompoms is not the only thing you have to work for when it comes to cheering. Just as any other sport you have to have a certain grade point average to try out for your cheerleading team and also you are held accountable for maintaining your grade point average with also being held accountable for remembering cheers, games day dates and events that you will have to attend with your team. Cheer teaches you many things other than being able to tumble and shout! As a cheerleader, you learn to encourage anyone that needs that boost of encouragement, we learn how to work together with other people. Your cheer team members will become your family!
Cheerleading involves skills which require the strength of football, the grace of dance, and the agility of gymnastics. Complex maneuvers are performed which challenge the limits of the body. Safety organizations such as the AACCA were formed to develop safety rules to guide programs in the safe performance of cheerleading gymnastics, which include jumps, partner stunts, pyramids and tumbling. Cheerleaders do not give up their time to practice for nothing; most teams participate in multiple competitions throughout their yearlong season. Both high school and all-star cheerleading teams are given the chance to compete. Every year high school squads can participate in one of numerous national championships while all-star squads compete against teams from all around the globe at The Cheerleading Worlds. For “Worlds”, teams come from everywhere including China, Chile, Britain, Canada, Australia, and France. Attending the Worlds or Nationals is a privilege, and teams must qualify at smaller local and regional competitions first.
In order to be successful in cheerleading you have to have a strong body and mindset, because cheerleading takes physical and mental strength. Cheerleading is a yearlong sport so if an athlete survives for that long then that means the athlete is dedicated to his/her team. When the athletes finish the entire season they are acknowledged at a banquet. At the banquet the team talks about things in the past and they look back at everything that happened earlier in the season. The seniors of the team and everyone who is on that team for the last year get really emotional. Cheerleading is a tough sport to do but the experiences that they gain with their teammates make the it not so
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.