Question by igoe4: Why do people not think cheerleading is a sport?
I don’t see why alot of people think cheerleading is not a sport. Cheerleading gets stereotyped as typical sluts waving pompoms and yelling like idiots but it really is so much more than that. I have been a competitive cheerleader for 3 years and it is a very hard SPORT. It is all about strength, flexibility, team work, stamina and ofcourse spirit!! Everything that something needs to be known as a sport!
Best answer:
Answer by Irish Sean
Today, everything is considered a “sport”. Poker, bowling, billiards, etc.
Cheer-leading is a sport, just not a traditional one.
Give your answer to this question below!
What points do you get? How do you “win?” Is it a team or individual activity?
Sure, it’s athletic, but a sport – I disagree.
Of course, when you have competitions, you get points, and someone “wins,” but that’s not when most cheerleading takes place. And if that’s your criteria, then a drum core tourney is a sport, and so is a car or dog show.
I have been cheering for 9 years going on ten. Im on a level 5 team and I feel that when you say im a cheerleader they think of the movies like bring it on or something when its so much more than that. Cheerleading is a sport its been a sport for 2 years now. we work just as hard as football,basketball and baseball players!!
I agree with Darren…
I think that anything that is “judged” cannot be a sport… I dont even think boxing is a sport unless the person gets knocked out…
But can you imagine instead of runs in baseball… that judges judge the players performance??? I mean… get real…
There needs to be a level of competitiveness… not a judge that thinks “oh hey, those skirts are cute… i give them a 10”
But its up there… and running around clapping your hands and yelling go team and stacking pyramids… in my eyes.. is not a sport… Im sure to all the 15-18 year olds it is… but your not going to make a career out of it…
Sport = NO
A sport is defined as follows: A Sport is an activity that is governed by a set of rules or customs and often engaged in competitively. Is cheerleading governed by a set of rules? Yes, it is. Every level has its own set of rules that each team must abide by or face MAJOR deductions on the competition score sheet. Is cheerleading often engaged in competitively? Heck yes, it is even broadcast on ESPN.
Here’s where I think the discrepancies come into play. When one mentions the word cheerleader, often times, one of two images come into mind. A group of girls on the sidelines yelling Go Team Go, or the “fake me out” cheerleaders (no disrespect intended) like the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. In my defense, I honestly think they are dancers. I never see them throw any stunts, or tumbling passes. Just dancing and pom waving, to me def classifies as a dancer. Moving on….
For those that ARE involved in competitive cheerleading, we take offense when folks say it is not a sport. We work just as hard, we follow just as many rules as some of the other sports and we never really get the credit that we deserve. We tumble, we stunt, we catch bodies, we jump, we cheer, we dance, we get hurt, we please the crowd, we compete, we win, we lose, we make it to the Cheerleading Worlds and fight for the coveted title! Cheerleading is definitely a sport.
i totally agree w/ u
stereotypes never seem to go away
they should try one of the simple jumps and they will change their mind
cheerleading is not a ‘real sport’. i will probably be the only cheerleader to take this side. i have been cheering for 5 years in middle/high school(both sideline and competition) and one of those years on all star as well. of course it takes a lot of hard work and you need to be athletic, but cheerleading is definitely a performance.
one main difference between a sport and a performance is the fact that sports use objective points to know who wins(how many goals scored, etc.) and performances are scored based on the opinion of a judge.
in sports, you have plays and/or stradegies to prepare you for the game, but you don’t always know how its going to happen until you get there and play the game. when you perform something, you know exactly what youre going to do and when youre going to do it because you practice the same routine over and over in order to PERFORM it.
you want to argue? i can go all day…
its a sport. nuff said.
People who think that often believe stereotypes or don’t know the athleticism cheerleading takes.
Like you said, many people think of sluts in tiny outfits waving around pompoms and shouting “Go team Go!”. And I’m sure there are a few places where that is true. But I know in most cases it’s not. Most cheer takes real atheticism hard work and dedication. I know cheerleaders are more athletic than many people who participate in other sports.
And as for this whole judging argument, I guess you can rule out anything involving a ref or umpire from being a sport. They judge what happened on plays and sometimes end up deciding the win in tight situations. So what if cheer has judges? Every other organized sport also technically does.
its like dancing , and golf the majority of people dont see cheerrleading as a sport or competition.yet they have championships?