Cheerleading a Sport: Yes or No?

In the United States alone, there is an average of 400,000 high school cheerleaders. 400,000! Not to mention competitive cheerleading, college, or recreational! And as you know, many of them take offense when a person says, “Cheer is not a sport”. They could sit there and argue with you all day about this topic and I’m sad to say that you would lose (that is if the cheerleader or cheer enthusiast knows what they’re talking about).
In the athletics world, there is no crystal clear definition of a “sport”. However, there are many standards that need to be measured when determining whether an activity should be considered a sport or not. The activity needs to be “a physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of mass” (Varsity). Cheerleading has that (psssttt… Stunting). It also has to be “governed by rules that explicitly define the time, space, and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared” (Every cheerleader knows the 2 minute 30 second time limit, the uniform mat size, scoring)[Varsity]. Got it! It needs to be “acknowledged that the primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants” (National Championships on ESPN, “Worlds”, and competitions of the like)[Varsity]. The argument is almost over, however, there is one more requirement that may be a deal breaker.
“The primary purpose is competition verses other teams or individuals within a competition structure comparable to other ‘athletic’ activities”(Varsity). Being as high school cheerleading’s primary purpose is to support the school’s sports teams, it is not considered a sport. Lame! But there are some teams that do compete as well as support their teams. In addition, if a team goes to summer cheerleading camp, there are opportunities to compete against the other campers for the honor of being “Camp Champs”(which my team won at 2 camps). There are individual competitions at camp as well, like the “Jumps” Competition(which one of my teammates won) and “All-American” Cheerleader Competition(which I had the honor of winning). So, cheerleading has all the physical requirements, but because of the competition aspect of the “sports” requirement it is not a sport. Offending hundreds of thousands of cheerleaders in the U.S. alone!
It takes a lot to dance, jump, yell at the top of your lungs, tumble and stunt and look cute at the same time. So cheerleaders everywhere, a round of applause to you! It's also amazing that teams are able to work together flawlessly and put on a great show. Everyone seems to forget that we have a girl's life in our hands and I can't tell you how many injuries my team has sustained. And not because we don't know what we're doing, but because cheer is not that same as it once was. It has evolved into a hardcore test of strength, agility, endurance, stability, and showmanship. Science Daily says, “Cheerleading has become the leading cause of catastrophic injury in young female athletes”. That pretty much says it all. The levels of difficulty of stunts(Yes, there are levels!) can also increase the number of injuries as well as the magnitude of injuries.

While cheerleading may not be considered a sport, it should still be respected. I mean, come on, have you seen the things we can do? It's enough to dance and jump, but adding stunts and tumbling in one killer routine? It can't be beat! The great sportsmanship that I see on and off the field is just amazing, too. When we see other teams perform for us, we always cheer them on and compliment them and encourage them to get better as individuals and as a team. But, every person is entitled to their own opinion and you can't make a closed-minded person see things your way. I'd hate to be cheesy but “Bring It On” and as I always say, “leave it on the mat”.