Why Twitter Will Endure Essay

Behind the Teams Imagine for a second it is the fourth quarter and the local football team is leading by a touchdown and the opposing team is driving. Who has the responsibility of rallying the crowd and building support for an important defensive stance? Most people will answer the cheerleaders, because for the most part cheerleaders are viewed in a supportive role, never being viewed as athletes themselves. That couldn’t be farther from the truth, in fact cheerleading demands more athletic ability and dedication than any other two sports combined. First of all cheerleading doesn’t have an off- season it is a yearlong sport, which requires a great deal of sacrifice. The days of showing up and simply supporting the local team is long gone. Today cheer squads not only are expected to cheer at events they also compete themselves on completion squads. The requirements for a competition squad are as physically demanding as any other athletic team. Practice is year-round including cheer camps and qualifying competitions throughout the winter. Cheerleaders like all other athletes compete for an opportunity to participate in a tournament. The UCA Nationals, is held in Orlando, Florida during the month of February every year. The sad thing is most people don’t even know the cheerleaders are competing for a national championship, therefore they receive very little support. Although cheerleading does require a lot of practice and preparation some people will still say it isn’t a sport at all it’s more of an activity. Well in my opinion an activity should be relatively safe. Cheerleading is just the opposite. According to an article in LiveScience Magazine, “High school cheerleading accounted for 65.1 percent of all sports injuries among high school females over the past 25 years”( Staff 20). Although the majority of the injuries are sprains such as ankles