Is Cheerleading a Sport

852 Words4 Pages
Is Cheerleading a Sport? The late 1800’s is when cheerleading began and was established at the University of Minnesota. It was not until the 1980’s that cheerleaders began to stunt more often in their routines as well as join competitive squads. There are two types of cheerleading. There are side-line cheerleaders and competitive cheerleaders. Side-line cheerleaders are there to entertain the crowd and lead them in chants. A competitive cheerleading team’s goal is to earn the most points while doing a complex routine with anywhere from twelve to twenty members that consists of precise formations, flips, tumbling passes, stunts, and tosses. I do not agree that side-line cheerleading is a sport; however, I do believe that competitive cheerleading is a sport. There is not one set definition of a sport, but a common understood definition of a sport is one from dictionary.com that defines a sport as “an athletic activity that requires physical prowess or skill and often a competitive nature.” I will take aspects of cheerleading and compare it to the definition given. The first part of the definition of a sport states, “An athletic activity that requires physical prowess and skill.” I don’t know how many people watching a cheerleading routine are paying attention to details and not just their looks, but it is a complicated two and a half minute routine. It takes a lot of skill and strength to lift a 120 pound girl into the air while she performs tricks. The skills you need to be a good cheerleader do not come naturally. You need to have talent, and practice hard to perfect these extremely difficult tasks. The second part of the definition states that a sport often has a competitive nature. Anyone who has attended a cheerleading competition has no doubt about whether or not cheerleading involves physical exertion, skill, and extremely competitive team members. A

More about Is Cheerleading a Sport

Open Document