Cheerleading IS a Sport:Blog Post 3

According to Varsity.com in "Being a Cheerleader - Is cheerleading a Sport?", cheerleading is stated as a sport. Though it’s not written in context saying it is, put all the points that explain what cheerleading is together and you will have a sport. Cheerleaders; male and female, both have the strength of a football player. They need to be able to pick up other girls and do flips while lifting them. Cheerleaders are considered athletes. We compete, have timed routines, tumble, stunt, cheer, and dance. We meet the criteria of what it means to be an athlete. Any other sport; football, baseball, soccer, golf, basketball, hockey, and even World Series poker is on ESPN; so is cheerleading. Tell me how World Series poker is considered a sport and cheerleading would not be? According to the Women’s Sports Foundation, an activity can be considered a sport if:” It must be a physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of mass, “Contesting” or competing against/with an opponent is required, it 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, acknowledgement that the primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants. Cheerleading has ALL of these qualifications.

In my opinion, I’ve cheered for 11 years and I do see it as a sport. Cheerleaders work as hard as any other sport. We have a lot of strength and endurance. Just because we wear tiny skirts and cheer for boys, doesn’t mean we’re not competitive. Tell any cheerleader that it’s not a sport and you will not hear the end of it.

http://www.varsity.com/event/1262/being-a-cheerleader-sport.aspx

Cheerleading injuries Blog Post 5

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Health/story?id=1465814

Heather Cabot from ABC news reports that cheerleading injuries have escalated in the last 2 decades. Its been estimated that about 16,000 cheerleaders get injured every year. The percentage from 1990 to 2002 increased to 110%. Nineteen year old, Bethany Hancock reveals the pain she went through with her 2 reconstructive knee surgeries. Doctors have found and increasingly large number of injuries do to the tumbling and stunts. Many with concussions, bruises, cuts, and even injuries like Bethany’s that require multiple surgeries. Many schools are now attempting to enforce more rules stating that the cheerleaders are prohibited to practice unless its safe. Meaning more mats and not on hard surfaces such as the marble floor Bethany fell on.

I agree with this article because I have done cheerleading for 11 years and I have also had my share of injuries. Being a backspot, I don’t get as hurt as the flyers might, but I’ve come out with a few injuries. I even had surgery in 7th grade for a broken nose. I do believe that schools sould take more caution in where the cheerleaders practice and have mats. Athletic trainers should be on site at every practice in case something were to happen.

Powerpoint presentation

Story Time!

This is the time I won my first national championship. This would have been my second national that I won, but do to my nose surgery, I had to miss it. This was my eighth grade year and I was on the West Miami Middle School cheerleading team; the best team in Miami. The competition was held in Orlando, Florida at the Islands of Adventure Theme Park. We were competing against our two rivals, W.R Thomas Middle, and Everglades Middle. The coach from Everglades and our coach hated each other. They used to coach together back in the day, but since they had their differences, my coach quit. The coach from Everglades was always talking crap about my team. He even told his girls before they went on stage, “you better beat those f-cking chongas.” (Chonga- a girl, particularly of Hispanic origin, that wears hoop earrings big enough to fit your arm through, big shirts and really small, tight shorts. Her shoes would most likely be really big sneakers, such as men's basketball shoes. Her hair would be worn very tightly gelled on her scalp, looking as though it would cut circulation. She probably outlines her lips with lip liner, but doesn't use any lipstick.) As you can see, he hated us. We went out there and performed our hearts out, and we killed that routine. We were so anxious to find out who one. This was a two day routine. By the end of the first day we were in second place, but that second day, we knew we had to bring it. We performed our routine, again and waited for the results. Of course, we knew we were going to win and we did. When we heard that the West Miami Cheerleaders had one first place we started jumping up and down waiting to get our trophy. My mom and my best friend’s mom started chanting out “Chongas! Chongas! Chongas!” That’s what we needed to hear. We left with our national champion banner, our enormous trophy, and our national champ jacket. Nothing to compare to the way I was feeling that day.

Nationals, 8th grade year

Make a live audience poll at Poll Everywhere

Obsession of cheerleading

Cheerleading to me is a way of life. Growing up, I cheered for 11 years. Yeah, i know that's a lot. What can I say, I love it so much. I was the mascot of my old high school since i was five. They told me I had to stop cheering there when i was 10 because i was getting too big. I grew up with three older brothers that played football since they were little. I wanted to play too, but my parents wouldn’t let me. I decided, what’s another way of getting involved in the game? Cheering for them. To scream at the top of my lungs along with th3 crowd so that I get even more pumped. It’s been my life since I was 5 and getting shut down when I tried out for FGCU cheerleading shot my dreams. I did all star cheerleading for years which is mighty competitive. Having thousands of random people screaming while you perform a 2 minute and 30 second routine to win a competition is thrilling. The loud, mix of songs and special effect noises just makes it more fun. The stunts, the tumbling, the cheer, and the dance; what a routine consists of. Stunting is like flying in the sky, youre so high. Tumbling is scary as hell, but you have to go in fearless. It’s all about that championship trophy and that national champ ring. That’s what it’s ALL about.