Is cheerleading a sport?

[CheerNbHappy]

Yes it is a sport. they are working as hard during practice and games as the players are, and they need to be in top shape and execute during competitions just like players in a game. so i think it is a sport

[goldenboy]

After reading the posts in this thread I've changed my mind and I now consider it a sport. But they do not work as hard as the players, unless you're talking about volleyball or golf. I know at our school the football team practices for around 5 hours a day in the summer and that's outside in the sun, the cheerleaders are in the gym or cafeteria for about half that time. They do work hard but not as hard as the players.

[MaryvilleRebels]

I run 4 miles every Wednesday for the HIGH JUMP! I ran the 400, but that was because they made me, and I was also a decathalete, but the point is, that I work hard every dang day in order to be the best at track I can be. I run 4 miles on Wednesdays when I really don't have too! I don't party, I don't stay up too terribly late, all because I want to be the best I can be at high jumping. Not to mention working out all summer long, doing leg works 3 days a week for 3 hours, then running with my older brother (who is a pitcher at Maryville College) and then practicing jumping for 2 more hours, then doing sprints for another 2 hours. All summer long, just so I can high jump in college. How many cheerleaders can say that they spend all summer long training!? Doing stuff they don't HAVE to do in order to be better. Sure they work hard and they practice and its just as dangerous as any other sport, and you can't say its too terribly dangerous because I've been hit in the face with a baseball, i've torn muscles in basketball, i've ruined my back in football, and i've broken my nose in high jumping. I may sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but really I am just trying to prove that they really don't do much of anything too difficult. Sure I can't do some of the stuff they do, but I haven't tried, and sure none of them can jump over a bar thats at 6'2", and sure none of them can dunk, so why do they think their "sport" is so superior? They say its totally hard, but is it? Do they really have any more pressure than another athlete? Sure they have to throw people in the air, but is that any more difficult that dunking? I know actors and singers that go through just as much pain and practice as cheerleaders, but 10,000 people don't get to see them perform on Friday nights, and they don't get rings everytime they have a great performance. One of my best friends is the best Tenor in the state of Tennesse, what did he get for that? NOTHING!! But our football team wins state and our CHEERLEADERS get rings!? I don't really have anything against cheerleaders, other than the fact that they claim they are involved in a sport, I think they are athletes, and that they deserve respect for what they do, but I also think that they need to EARN the title of being involved in a sport, they need to realize that when they are at a game on Friday they shouldn't be talking to their friends by reading lips, and they need to realize that if they want to be a sport, they need to start acting like they are a sport and be all business, no going to the stands at halftime!

[BriC]

I would have to say cheerleading is a sport. My ex-girlfriend was a cheerleader (i think she was part of a team called "sharks") and I couldn't believe how much those girls (and some guys) go through. She eventually had to quit because she was hurt when she wasn't caught after being thrown into the air and permenately hurt her arm.

[beethoven]

Cheerleading is a very tough and demanding sport. The amount of conditioning alone would humble most other high school sports. Several of the better squads are supplementing their training with weights, free weights. The risk of injury is as high if not higher than a lot of other sports, to the point that some schools have banned tumbling and stunts.

 

Rock on Cheerleaders.

[CheerNbHappy]

Cheerleading is a very tough and demanding sport. The amount of conditioning alone would humble most other high school sports. Several of the better squads are supplementing their training with weights, free weights. The risk of injury is as high if not higher than a lot of other sports, to the point that some schools have banned tumbling and stunts.

 

Rock on Cheerleaders.

Right on!!!!! Wish i had a nickle for every sprained ankle, pulled muscle, and strained ligament or tendon. I'd be filthy rich

[Baseballerfb13]

ive tried to stay unbiased in this whole thread but my patience has run out... maryvillerebels was absolutely right in every aspect of that post. it bothers me now that after he makes that connection, cheerleaders get on here to toot their own horns, saying how hard it is and how hurt they get, trying to convince people that cheerleading is a sport. i can understand you defending it b/c you want people to think its a sport; id do the same thing if someone tried to say football wasnt a sport, for whatever reason. im sure the competitions are tough, but cheerleaders training doesnt rival the other sports in the school. you could say, "well, they're girls, and strenuous exercise could be tougher on them." tell that to the girl's basketball players and the softball players whose REAL sports demand way, way more than cheerleading has ever imagined. no doubt the competitons and tumbling and stuff is hard, but cheerleading as a whole is nothing compared to the other sports in high school.

[mchsballer]

Respect is earned on the feild, not on the sidelines.

[MaryvilleRebels]

Right on baseballer, I think that the cheerleaders work hard, but no where as near as hard as others. I spend a ton of time in the weightroom working on my legs and I have never seen a cheerleader there working out, but I have seen basketball players, volleyball players, softball players, track runners, and soccer players (all girls). Now I'm sure it takes muscle to throw a 90 pound girl into the air, but when there are 3-4 girls doing it, the weight is pretty evenly distributed and not that heavy for any of them. Every sport has its risks, in basketball, I've seen guys crack their heads open on the backboard because they jumped too high going for a layup, it sounds stupid, but so does not catching the girl you just threw in the air. I don't really think that cheerleading is that much more strenuous than other sports, and I think that cheerleading injuries are more common because they don't have the same heart and drive as other players in other sports. Why do I say this? Well they aren't competing, if they get hurt, why would they want to go on? We had a kid play football this year with a broken leg, he practiced for a week and played a game on Friday and didn't even realize it was fractured. Would a cheerleader do that? No, as a matter of a fact, she probably wouldn't even come to the game to watch her fellow cheerleaders perform, she'd either come to talk to friends, or she wouldn't come at all. In any sport, if you're injured you show up to cheer on your team from the sideline and share in the glory or defeat. We had a guy that played on the basketball team break his collarbone and he took it upon himself to be the teams waterboy of sorts, if someone needed water or a towel, he'd make sure they got it. Will a cheerleader do that? NO! I think that cheerleaders are very gifted athletes, but I do not think they compete in a sport.

[CheerNbHappy]

ive tried to stay unbiased in this whole thread but my patience has run out... maryvillerebels was absolutely right in every aspect of that post.  it bothers me now that after he makes that connection, cheerleaders get on here to toot their own horns, saying how hard it is and how hurt they get, trying to convince people that cheerleading is a sport.  i can understand you defending it b/c you want people to think its a sport; id do the same thing if someone tried to say football wasnt a sport, for whatever reason.  im sure the competitions are tough, but cheerleaders training doesnt rival the other sports in the school.  you could say, "well, they're girls, and strenuous exercise could be tougher on them."  tell that to the girl's basketball players and the softball players whose REAL sports demand way, way more than cheerleading has ever imagined.  no doubt the competitons and tumbling and stuff is hard, but cheerleading as a whole is nothing compared to the other sports in high school.

so would you say that a gymnast, competeing in a floor exercise routine isn't an athlete, and gymnastics is not a sport. because the training for that is similar to the tubmling needed to be a cheerleader. and we lift weights. granted we aren't bencing twice out body weight but we don't need too. following that logic, football linemen are much more athletic than receivers or DB's because they do more in the gym and take more punishment on the field

Edited August 9, 2003 by CheerNbHappy

[MaryvilleRebels]

Cheer....first off, I want you to ask a wide reciever what his biggest fear is as a receiver, and I bet he'll tell you its the middle of the field. The wide reciever will go against someone twice his size and won't see the person until he lays out the reciever, I think thats a little more punishing than what some linemen do. Also, if a wide reciever can't bench a whole lot, they make up in vertical leap and in speed. Now, a gymnast is competing, they are doing their personal best to beat others. Cheerleaders do no compete to make you cheer more or to beat the cheerleaders on the other sidelines. Yea, they work out, but its they aren't trying to work in order to be the best they can be, they are working out mainly to keep a good appearance. From what I can tell the hardest training cheerleaders do is training themselves to eat less.

[CheerNbHappy]

You need to take it off the football field or basketball court. No at a game, we aren't trying to beat anyone, we are trying to uplift the spirit of the people in the stands, but that is only a small part of it. competitions get pretty intense, and there, you are trying your hardest to beat the other teams. to run and tumble faster, and jump higher, and do your stunts with more power and speed than the competition. yeah the weights help you look good, but they also make you stronger and faster so you can get more power in your moves, just like a football player