By: Chloe Long
Many people think that cheerleading should be a sport because of the time and effort cheerleaders and coaches put in. According to dictionary.com a sport is, “an athletic activity, requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature…”. Under this definition cheerleading would qualify as a sport because it is an athletic activity that involves great amounts of skill, physical prowess and competition.
Cheerleading should be considered a sport because it requires immense amounts of skill. Cheerleaders have to have the skill to tumble in the air and on the ground. They have to do cartwheels, back handsprings and even flips as they come off of a pyramid or stunt. A cheerleader at the bottom of a stunt has to support the flyer or the person in the air, and if they do not know how to correctly lift the flyer they could injure themselves and others around them. According to Dr. Samantha Rosman, a Boston-area pediatrician, “These girls are flipping 10, 20 feet in the air. We need to stand up for what is right for our patients and demand they get the same protection as their football colleagues”. Rosman is worried about the cheerleaders’ safety and since it is not a technical sport there are not as many regulations in place for safety. Making it is easier for a cheerleader to get hurt. They need to have a good memory so they can remember a four or five, minute routine with dances, running to positions, stunts, and tumbling. If a cheerleader forgets this during competition they could lose the competition for their team and even, make it so a stunt cannot go up. It requires many skills and tactics that if a cheerleader does not have they could be sacrificing their entire team in competition or even injure someone.
Cheerleading requires a lot of physical prowess qualifying it to be a sport. Cheerleaders need to be able to either be thrown through the air confidently or they have to be able to throw another person up in the air and successfully catch them while making it look easy. Cheerleaders need upper body strength for tumbling, throwing, and catching each other. A cheerleader will need lower body strength to lift a girl with their legs and for tumbling. Cheerleaders need a lot of strength in their upper and lower body because they need strength to do almost everything in their routine. They have to have great amounts or physical prowess and strength to participate in the sport.
Cheerleaders have many competitions throughout the cheer season, there are people judging them and the rest of their team on their every move. They have to show pride for their team throughout their routine. If they do not try or even care the judges could notice and it could cost them the competition. Cheerleaders are typically under a lot of pressure from their team and their coaches to win a competition, but they cannot show that pressure because of the judges watching them. They have to perform at their best even when they are under a ton of pressure. Cheerleading competitions have many teams and therefore more competition that they are trying to beat. Cheerleading has more competition than some other sports because there are so many more aspects to it.
Cheerleaders work harder than many other athletes and they do not even get recognized for playing a sport. Cheerleading takes more skill, physical prowess, and competition than many other sports which should qualify it to be a sport. Football players run around throwing a ball and mindlessly tackling each other, and football is a sport, so since cheerleaders throw 100 pound, people in the air, why would cheerleading not be considered a sport?
Many people think that cheerleading should be a sport because of the time and effort cheerleaders and coaches put in. According to dictionary.com a sport is, “an athletic activity, requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature…”. Under this definition cheerleading would qualify as a sport because it is an athletic activity that involves great amounts of skill, physical prowess and competition.
Cheerleading should be considered a sport because it requires immense amounts of skill. Cheerleaders have to have the skill to tumble in the air and on the ground. They have to do cartwheels, back handsprings and even flips as they come off of a pyramid or stunt. A cheerleader at the bottom of a stunt has to support the flyer or the person in the air, and if they do not know how to correctly lift the flyer they could injure themselves and others around them. According to Dr. Samantha Rosman, a Boston-area pediatrician, “These girls are flipping 10, 20 feet in the air. We need to stand up for what is right for our patients and demand they get the same protection as their football colleagues”. Rosman is worried about the cheerleaders’ safety and since it is not a technical sport there are not as many regulations in place for safety. Making it is easier for a cheerleader to get hurt. They need to have a good memory so they can remember a four or five, minute routine with dances, running to positions, stunts, and tumbling. If a cheerleader forgets this during competition they could lose the competition for their team and even, make it so a stunt cannot go up. It requires many skills and tactics that if a cheerleader does not have they could be sacrificing their entire team in competition or even injure someone.
Cheerleading requires a lot of physical prowess qualifying it to be a sport. Cheerleaders need to be able to either be thrown through the air confidently or they have to be able to throw another person up in the air and successfully catch them while making it look easy. Cheerleaders need upper body strength for tumbling, throwing, and catching each other. A cheerleader will need lower body strength to lift a girl with their legs and for tumbling. Cheerleaders need a lot of strength in their upper and lower body because they need strength to do almost everything in their routine. They have to have great amounts or physical prowess and strength to participate in the sport.
Cheerleaders have many competitions throughout the cheer season, there are people judging them and the rest of their team on their every move. They have to show pride for their team throughout their routine. If they do not try or even care the judges could notice and it could cost them the competition. Cheerleaders are typically under a lot of pressure from their team and their coaches to win a competition, but they cannot show that pressure because of the judges watching them. They have to perform at their best even when they are under a ton of pressure. Cheerleading competitions have many teams and therefore more competition that they are trying to beat. Cheerleading has more competition than some other sports because there are so many more aspects to it.
Cheerleaders work harder than many other athletes and they do not even get recognized for playing a sport. Cheerleading takes more skill, physical prowess, and competition than many other sports which should qualify it to be a sport. Football players run around throwing a ball and mindlessly tackling each other, and football is a sport, so since cheerleaders throw 100 pound, people in the air, why would cheerleading not be considered a sport?