Differences In Competitive Cheerleading

What do you think of when someone asks you, what is a cheerleader? The way many people across the globe view cheerleading is merely a stereotype. This stereotype consists of the idea that all cheerleaders are pretty, overly enthusiastic girls that lack intelligence and athletic abilities. Many people have decided on these grounds that cheerleading cannot be considered a sport, but what exactly constitutes a sport? Generally, any activity that requires physical demand, risk, skill, and commitment to succeed is a sport. The technical definition of a sport, defined by the Oxford Dictionary is, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment” (“Sport”). Cheerleading requires these key characteristics that determine a sport.

Being a cheerleader takes a positive attitude and the willingness to work hard! It takes commitment, self-discipline, and dedication. It takes energy and skill and it takes each of us working together to be our very best!

Is cheerleading a sport? Yes, cheerleading is a sport. Many people may argue that cheerleading doesn 't take any real skill, although it actually requires a lot . Cheerleading is very dangerous, takes high amounts of dedication, also fits all the aspects of being a sport, including competition.

Competitive cheerleading has never been called a sport. There has been an ongoing debate as to if cheerleading fits the definition of a sport which is “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature” (Dictionary.com n.d.). By that definition you could interpret it to mean cheerleading is a sport, but there is much more to being a sport than meeting a definition. Competitive cheerleading does require specialized training, extensive practices, and a dedicated team; but to become a sport there are several problems that must be addressed. There is not a consistent set of competitions, no standard set of rules, and no regulations for judging. There has also been many court debates on this subject with cheerleading always on the losing end. In order for cheerleading to become a sport these problems must be addressed.

Cheerleading should be a sport because of the requirements, definitions, and the dangers. You could go from point flyer to having to communicate by blinking an eye.

Cheerleaders throw people 5-20 feet in the air and have to catch them in the same place. On December 3, 2013, cheer was considered one of the most dangerous sport and people still don’t think cheer as a hard sport. People who say cheer isn’t a sport have never experienced it and how hard it is. Cheer takes up more or the same amount of hours as any other athletes put in. In cheer you have to perfect a plan and work on it every practice to only perform for 3 ½ minutes. People think that cheer is on the sidelines, but they don’t know about the part about NCA, WORLDS, and SUMMIT. Cheer is as much a sport like any other sport.

As a student in highschool, I contribute to numerous teams. I participate in cheerleading for varsity football and basketball. For cheerleading we all work together and create cheers and dances that we perform at games. We also are assigned to compose cheers by ourselves to teach the whole squad. I have been a cheerleader for three years now. To be on the cheerleading squad there is a required try out. For the tryout you perform a dance, cheer, and three chants within a small group. The other requirements are that you assemble a cheer and perform it by yourself along with three to four jumps. At my last tryouts I made varsity for football and basketball cheerleading. Another team that I participate in is volleyball. I have played volleyball for six years now. Our volleyball season can revenue three months longer. This past season I was on the junior varsity team. In the upcoming season I will be playing on the varsity team. These teams prepare myself for my future because they help me learn how to collaborate with others.

When people think of sports they think of homeruns being hit, touchdowns being thrown, goals being kicked, hockey players beating each other up, and hearing the swish of the net. Not a bunch of girls running back and forth doing flips and tricks.

On March 11, 2017 the world’s best all-star cheerleading teams will be at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in DisneyWorld for the most prestigious cheer competition of the year. The teams there have qualified by getting bids from regional and national competitions, similar to how gymnasts qualify for large meets by competing well in smaller meets. Throughout the competition hundreds of teams will perform their routine filled with the most elite tumbling and stunting sequences ever performed. The tosses and baskets will be so high that if they were performed in a smaller building the flyers, or girls in the air, would hit the ceiling. The tumbling will be so fast and so powerful that if someone was to radar gun the pass, they would be going over

To a lot of people, mostly boys’ cheerleading isn’t considered a sport. But did you know that cheerleading was originally meant for boys? I bet you didn’t, the first cheerleader’s name was Johnny Campbell; he decided that one day that he wanted to lead chants at the University of Minnesota’s football game. He then created a whole team that would help him lead the crowd at different University of Minnesota sports games. Then, on November 2, 1898, Johnny Campbell was recognized to be the world’s first official cheerleader.

I have been cheering for five years now. I can not remember the times when I was not a cheerleader, it is hard to imagine myself doing anything other than cheer or simply not cheering at all. I fell in love with the sport and within time, my passion towards it grew even more. Cheerleading consumed my life, it was my only focus. I was fortunate enough to grow up with coaches that pushed me to reach limits I did not even know I had, as well as teammates whom I shared the same passion towards the sport with.

The word sport is defined as "An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment”. Cheerleading isnt a sport but people are working really hard for other people to accept it as a sport. Cheerleading is an activity where you make a routine and perform it for points, and even win awards at competitions. When you perform you are against many teams in your division. Cheerleaders take a lot of time to train and prepare for the competition, also cheerleading is more physically demanding than other sports, lastly cheerleading meets all the requirements to be a sport. Overall cheerleading should be considered a sport.

Pom pom’s, short skirts, and lipstick. This is probably what first comes to your mind when you hear cheerleader. However, there is a lot more to cheerleading than that. Throughout these past four years Columbia athletics hasn't just taught me my physical strength, but also the values of commitment, hard work, dedication, leadership, and trust. These values have shaped me into the person I am today and I will continue to use these skills to guide me through my future life.

What is Cheerleading? Many may think it’s a sport that you dress up, apply makeup, slick your hair with a bow, and simply put on a smile, and yell as loud as you can to keep the crowd pumped. Cheerleading includes all those easy and pretty factors, but it is also a sport that you stunt, tumble, and jump. Jumps and tumbling may seem really easy to many people, but there’s more work done than most might think is possible. Stunting is also a major element in cheer, and that’s what really pleases the crowd, but stunting takes tons of work. What is really the secret to perfecting all these major components in cheerleading? The straightforward answer is PHYSICS! Nothing could be done in cheerleading without the use of physics. This year I was honored to be the captain of the cheerleading team in Zapata High School. We started since June in the summer to try to perfect the simple stunts needed to know before we got to the more challenging and difficult ones. This was not easy for us, we failed and failed until the 100th time, we would finally stick the stunt. I would blame this entirely on the fact that not all the cheerleaders have taken physics in high school with Mrs. Pangi. If all of the team would’ve known at least the basics of physics, we wouldn’t struggle as much in the stunting area of cheerleading. Same thing went to play as we tried to jump and tumble, it was all so hard for us. For today’s presentation and research, we all needed to know the concepts of physics dealing

Basketball players are known for their height. Football players for their strength. Lacrosse players for their speed and agility. Baseball and softball players for their coordination. Cheerleaders,they aren’t known for doing much. They are known for being on the sidelines and showing off their bodies. That’s it.