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
Nice post and great video.
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