Cheerleading is a sport!

By: Melissa Nevarez Cheerleading is known worldwide and is extremely popular. It takes more than a pretty girl shaking her pom-poms in a short skirt yelling go-fight-win to be a cheerleader. In order to be a cheerleader one must be dedicated, have time, work hard, have the strength, be in shape both physically and mentally. A cheerleader must fulfill many duties to oneself and to the team. A cheerleader is a girl/boy that gives to the community, shows school spirit, cheers on the crowd and the team for a victory. But, thats not all a cheerleader does. Cheerleaders practice before and after school for up to five hours a day trying to put a routine together. A routine that consists of many elements such as tumbling, jumps, stunts, dancing, chanting all in less than two minutes and thirty seconds. Their ultimate goal is to win a national title and to win a national title they must create a killer routine without breaking the rules according the association or competition attended. There are many aspects in cheerleading that are equivalent to all other sports such as football, baseball and basketball. A cheerleader puts so much hard work, blood and sweat, heart and dedication for it to not be called a sport. With this said, cheerleading is a sport because according to The Womens Sport foundation cheer has all elements that define a sport. As a cheerleader myself, cheerleading is one of the hardest and most dangerous sports. It really irritates me when someone tries to tell me that cheer is not a sport. Whoever thinks that is wrong. People dont bother knowing and learning about cheerleading. One automatically thinks a cheerleader is just a girly girl wearing a uniform to look cute and shake pom-poms. A cheerleader leads the crowd and the team in the hopes of winning. We have to please many people and keep the crowd entertained. We do performances at pep rallies, games, appearances and plenty of community service. On top of that we have to make time to prepare a difficult routine to win a national title. This is the part that people dont see and is why they think cheerleading is not a sport. To clear things up cheerleading is a sport because it follows the three major points that an activity has to have in order to be considered a sport. The first element that defines cheer as a sport is: a physical activity that involves propelling mass through space or overcoming resistance of a mass (King, p. 2). There is plenty of physical activity with stunts

because stunting can either be a guy lifting a girl high up in the air or also by a group of three to four people. There is plenty of physical activity by all the hits that everyone has to take when the stunt falls or when trying something new. Propelling mass would be lifting the girl up in the air and resistance of mass would be holding the girl up while performing different tricks. The second element is: a contest or competition against or with an opponent (King, pg. 2). In cheerleading there are plenty of different organizations and competitions. Examples of competitions are NCA, UCA, Worlds, and local ones in the community. Each year, El Paso holds competitions in different high schools for example UTEP hosts a competition, MHS hosts Battle of the Sun City and AHS hosts Americans Cup. At each competition there are different divisions where teams compete against up to twenty other opponents. There are also different contests within each competition such as best jumps, best all around, best tumbler, best stunt group and grand champs. The third element is: governed by rules that explicitly define the time, space and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared (King, pg. 2). When competing a time has to be respected which a routine cant go over 2 minutes and 30 seconds if so points are deducted. All cheerleaders must perform with in the 9 mats. If someone steps out its point deducted. There are many conditions that the routine has to follow and the way a winner is declared is by judges calculating and then averaging the scores of each team. The judges score each team on performance, voice projection, timing, spacing, if any rules were broken, tumbling, jumps and stunts. In conclusion, cheerleading is a sport that takes a lot of passion and dedication. It can be proven that it is a sport by simply stating facts. As a cheerleader, it really irritates me when people say its not a sport. One can either do two things; one is to ask a cheerleader everything there is to know about cheerleading, and two is to be in a cheerleader shoes for a day. Ive changed the minds of three boys in my high school by having them compete with us at one of the local competitions. They were practicing with us for about a month but only took one day of practice to have them saying We were wrong cheerleading is a sport. Cheerleading is a combination of both sideline and competitive cheer. It is a physical activity that is governed by rules where there can be a winner having a primary purpose of comparing the skills of participants. Cheerleaders are just as athletic and physically fit as those involved in the more accepted sports. References Drlaffodaypcs. (2013, January 13). UTEP Cheerleaders- Feature Story. Retrived December 9, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TCKeEMT9pg King, B. J. (date unknown). Cheerleading, Drill Team, Danceline and Band As Varsity Sports: The Foundation Position. Womens Sports Foundation.org. Retrieved December 09,

2013, from https://www.womenssportfoundation.org/home/advocate/title-ix-andissues/title-ix-positions/cheerleading_drill_team_danceline_and_band_as_varsity_sports