Is Cheerleading A Sport?

Is Cheerleading A Sport

  • Total voters
    26
Its a sport, they do exercise. Ever heard of the cheer competition? If not, watch Bring it On. People consider Wrestling, Racing a sport, look at the athletic department in school, etc. If all sports need a ball, then what's Hockey?

So if it involves any workout towards your body, its a sport. NASCAR, WWE, Cheerleadering, NFL, Hockey and so on, are all sports.
 
Cassino said:
Calling it a sport in all cases seems much the same as saying that simply riding a bicycle is a sport on the basis that people have races on them.

Just want to clarify my position.
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No. A bicycle (or simply riding a bicycle) is not a sport. Bicycling/Cycling however, can be sport-related as there are plenty of things that consider physical exertion, and people compete against each other. For example, there's the Triathlon, Bike Derby, etc etc.

It's the same with everything else. Simply hitting a baseball can't really be a sport, but participating in the actual game is. These types of things I would like to classify as 'practicing for said sport'. Can't be an all-star is you don't hit baseballs, and you can't win a triathlon if you don't go and ride your bike.

Cheerleading is similar in that regard. The cheers that they do at a football game might not be a sport. But the events/competitions that cheerleaders do could be consider as a sport. Back in High School, the cheerleaders of my High School had a Competing Squad, that competed with other squads, and had districts and state, much like many sports in High School.
 
I personally don't consider it a sport.

But I don't put much weight on the term sport either. Just because something isn't regarded as a sport doesn't mean it's any less respected than something that is considered a sport. It's just a label. I don't consider dancing a sport, I don't consider going to the gym as sport, but I can still highly respect both; and in some cases, I respect them more than other things that are regarded as sport. There is no universal definition for sport (inb4 someone quotes a dictionary, idc what the dictionary says) it is just down to what people decide what they do or do not consider to be labelled as sport.

A burger eating contest is competitive, does that mean it's a sport?
 
A 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 requires physical exertion and skill. The main bulk in cheerleading is in the competition against other cheerleader teams. Cheerleading competitions can be very entertaining. The main season of cheerleading is training for the competitions. A lot of people who don't have any relatives or friends in cheerleaders assume that cheerleading is primarily for games and cheering on a team, but that isn't the case for a vast majority of teams. There are some cheerleading groups that only do one or the other, just like there are some pep bands that only play in the stands. I consider cheerleading a sport, much like I consider marching band a sport.
 
I consider it a sport. Who cares what they do as long as teenagers are out getting some exercise. Cheerleading is a lot like gymnastics and that is considered a sport.
 
Depends. If you're talking about the in competitions then it may be considered a sport. But overall, I don't think so. There's no kind of points or scores that you can get. Even though I say that, it DOES take a lot of muscle and strength to do. You also have to be flexible and have good balance. But it's not a sport through my eyes. Like someone above me said, its more of a performance than a sport.
 
BBA_Beyblader_321 said:
Depends. If you're talking about the in competitions then it may be considered a sport. But overall, I don't think so. There's no kind of points or scores that you can get. Even though I say that, it DOES take a lot of muscle and strength to do. You also have to be flexible and have good balance. But it's not a sport through my eyes. Like someone above me said, its more of a performance than a sport.
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The thing is, it's scored in the competitions in a manner similar to gymnastics, so there most certainly is a widely accepted scoring method. Many people aren't in tune with the competitive side of cheerleading if they're not involved with it in some way themselves.

It got its start as not being a sport, but rapidly became a popular one through scored athletic competitions (probably to satisfy certain legal requirements of school sports as quickly as possible to avoid cutting boy's sports teams) over the course of 25 years between 1950 and 1975.
 
Considering how demanding cheerleading can be, I'd call it a sport. I think it's an impressive display of physical ability, with all the acrobatics and complex dance movements, at least in advanced groups. I saw Bring It On and a couple of other movies about cheerleading. Nothing amazing about them as movies, but they gave me a better understanding of what cheerleading involves. On the other hand, when cheerleading doesn't go beyond shaking pompons and yelling something, there's nothing really athletic about it. ^^;
 
donavannj said:
The thing is, it's scored in the competitions in a manner similar to gymnastics, so there most certainly is a widely accepted scoring method. Many people aren't in tune with the competitive side of cheerleading if they're not involved with it in some way themselves.

It got its start as not being a sport, but rapidly became a popular one through scored athletic competitions (probably to satisfy certain legal requirements of school sports as quickly as possible to avoid cutting boy's sports teams) over the course of 25 years between 1950 and 1975.
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See, I don't consider gymnastics as a sport either. Competitive, sure. I know cheerleading is very competitive and stressful. I have many friends who cheer-lead for the school and separately for specific competitions. I almost was one~ But I view sports as something like soccer, basketball, baseball, or football. Though it probably was for legal requirements, I still don't see it as one. But if you want to go right ahead~
 
I tried out for my school cheer team last year and found out I cannot stunt to save my life. It's harder than it looks.

I would say it's a sport. The more "hardcore" varieties of cheerleading done at competitions definitely require talent and training and not anybody can do them. Sure, waving pom-poms around isn't much, but real cheerleading routines that incorporating tumbling (flips, essentially), different styles of jumps and stunting (when they lift each other into the air) can get very complex and impressive, and likewise hard to perform (and dangerous!).
 
I don't think it's a sport. It has elements of sports, such as the gymnastics and stuff, but it's not really a sport because mostly it's just being flashy and bendable. There are no rules or scores or anything. I kind of doubt that there are cheerleaders who have team names and go around the world playing against one another.
 
I think Wikipedia's definition for "sport" is the best, actually.

Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree of skill, especially at higher levels. Hundreds of sports exist, including those for a single participant, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. Some non-physical activities, such as board games and card games are sometimes referred to as sports, but a sport is generally recognised as being based in physical athleticism.
 
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