Cheer as a Sport

What started out clearly as a popularity contest has now become something much more. Cheerleading started out as a group of people who just helped bond a school together to further support the athletic teams. “ Today, cheerleading involves skills which require the strength of football, the grace of dance, and the agility of gymnastics. Complex maneuvers are performed which challenge the limits of the body.” (aacca) So, this poses the question, “is cheerleading a sport?” According to Dictionary.com a sport, as we are discussing, is defined as “an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature.” And, the Women's Sports Foundation said a commonly agreed upon definition of a sport includes all of the following, “A physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of a mass. "Contesting" or competing against/with an opponent. Governed by the rules which explicitly define the time, space and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared.  Acknowledged primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative  skills of the participants.” According to these definitions, cheerleading, as long as the squad participates in some sort of competition, can be considered a sport. Here is why. Cheerleading requires participants to tumble. For those of you who don’t know, it’s alright if you don’t, tumbling is the flippy things gymnasts do. It also requires stunting in partner, pyramid or basket toss form. All of which include at least one person being lifted by one or more other people into the air. It also requires a cheer and a dance portion. However, there are certain programs, such as MSSU’s, that do not compete seasonally every year and therefore are not considered a sport. Recently, colleges have attempted to use the cheer squad to maintain their Title IX criteria. Unfortunately, this is not legal as ruled by a federal judge. According to the judge, it is not a sport because cheerleading is “too underdeveloped and disorganized” to be offered as “varsity athletic opportunity.” Also, it does not meet the proper criteria according to Title IX. “ An activity can be considered a sport under Title IX if it meets specific criteria. It must have coaches, practices, competitions during a defined season and a governing organization. The activity also must have competition as its primary goal -- not merely the support of other athletic teams.” However, there has been a newly developed program that will hopefully reverse this declaration. Now, cheerleaders have the opportunity to compete in a setting considerable to gymnastics. Cheerleaders compete in a series of events similar to the bars, beam, vault, and floor that gymnasts compete in. However, these events consist of jumps, standing and running tumbling, cheer, uniform partner stunt and basket, freestyle partner stunt and basket, dance, and pyramids. These competitions will take place seasonally and have a set scoring value. This competition keeps the elements of cheerleading now while also meeting the requirements of a sport as defined by the judge, Title IX, and other sport definitions. Once schools switch to this form of cheerleading and recognized competition as their primary goal, cheerleading is considered a sport.Therefore, cheerleading is a sport.