Is Cheer A Sport Essay

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.

People who do not participate in cheer say it's not a sport. These people say all cheerleaders do is chant and move their arms. Which can be true if you’re talking about sideline cheer and not competition cheer (Elisabeth, 2017). The difference between sideline cheer and competition cheer is that sideline cheer is cheerleaders chanting on the sidelines for their team and competition is they are competing against other cheer teams. However, cheerleaders support high school and college athletic teams and train for competition. In other words, cheerleading is more than a sport.(Varsity.com, 2018). Therefore all aspects need to be taken into consideration while deciding if cheer is a sport or not.

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.

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.

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

Some people think cheer is not a sport, to me it is my life. There is school cheer and competitive cheer, some prefer one over the other or they do both. School cheer is the yippie, go, go, go sideline chants. Competitive cheer is when a team of five or more create a two and half minute routine and compete against other teams on the same level. Both sports take huge dedication to the coaches and teammates.

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

Although it is true that cheerleading does not fall under the category of a “sport” by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies or the NCCA, this does not mean cheerleaders are not athletes. An athlete is a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina. Cheerleaders definitely fall under the category of an athlete because cheerleading is not just smiling and shouting cheers as most people assume. Cheerleaders are trained in some of the most difficult skills such as tumbling and stunting. Cheerleading has become one of the most dangerous school activities, making doctors push schools and organizations to treat cheerleaders as athletes and that cheer is in fact a sport. Nelson feels very strongly about this topic and stresses that, “ It is disappointing how underestimated we are as cheerleaders because as a competitive cheerleader, we practice hard at least three hours a day, not only mastering the skills, but looking good while completing them…we work just as hard as any other sport but we did not get the appropriate

Cheerleading is not a sport at the moment, but people are working on making it a sport by 2017-18. Meanwhile, many government officials have voted that it is not a sport at the moment. Eric Sondheimer and Matt Bonesteel can back up the opposition. The American Medical Association is working on making Cheerleading a sport because it is a dangerous activity towards high school female

Cheerleading is not a sport but it should be because it meets the athletic criteria for the Women's Sport Foundation and its one of the most dangerous sport in the world that should be equally protected as those other sports that are considered sports. Basically there's not only the reasons and evidence I found of why cheerleading should be considered a sport, but there's so much more out there. There is many arguments and thoughts of millions out there that think it should or shouldn't be considered a sport. Since cheerleading was created, its grown and spread dramastically across the world. Its loved by many like myself, I personally cheered for a couple of years and let me tell you it's not as easy as it may seem to those who just watch it.

Shawna Fox once said while talking about cheerleading "we make it look easy, but like all sports it takes hard work and dedication. " Just like most sports cheerleaders have to have muscle, cheerleaders have to do a lot of hard stunts and jumps and cheerleaders risk serious injuries. Cheerleading is a sport because there is a lot of hard work put into it. Just like most sports cheerleaders have to be in shape and have muscle. Cheerleading involves skills which requires the strength of football, grace of dance and the agility of gymnastics (Aacca.org).

Some may argue cheerleading cannot and will not be a sport, but according to Oxford Dictionary, a sport is defined as an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment . People that do not cheer do not get a true perspective of how competitive the sport truly is. Cheerleading does not get the recognition that the sport deserves. Cheerleading exceeds all requirements  due to competitive nature, physical activity, branches of the olympics, rules that are required, advanced skills, and determination.

The definition of a sport is ¨an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of competitive nature¨ (Dictionary.com). Cheerleading meets the requirements of a sport because they need skills like tumbling, balance, and strength, and they are very physical with stunts and tumbling. Cheer is also competitive because you have to have a perfect routine in order to win the trophy. Cheerleading meets all the athletic specifications which are: must involve physical activity, has to be competition, have to be rules, and skills have to be involved (Cheer Debate: Is Cheerleading a Sport?). Cheerleaders work hard and they don't get the recognition that they deserve because they work very hard and get very strong in order to do what they love doing.

Cheerleaders have to stay fit and active so when their running around, tumbling, stunting, and jumping you need to stay fit and active so it wont get hard to do those things. Being able to tumble takes a lot of energy and patience. So cheerleaders need to stay fit to keep their bodies up and keep their arms straight so nothing gets broken. If cheerleaders arms aren't able to keep their bodies up that's bad because if cheerleaders fall down during a tumbling pass points will get deducted and lots of girls/guys can get seriously hurt because of one tiny mistake. Cheerleading requires a lot of upper body strength to stunt other girls and tumble.