Thursday, December 2, 2010

Cheerleading: Sport?

For the past few years, cheerleading and whether it is or is not a sport has been debated over and over again. In my opinion it is a sport. But it all depends on what your definition of a sport is. I define sport as an athletic activity, which requires some sort of skill. Cheerleading fits under this definition, where stunting, jumping, and tumbling would be the skills required. But some argue that the definition of a sport is an athletic activity, requiring a skill and competitors. This is where cheerleading gets debated. Regular high school cheerleading, while it may be athletic and require skills; they do not have competitors. However, competitive cheerleading does meet this requirement. Ok, so you'd think that maybe people could agree that competitive cheerleading is a sport, but no. Then the way sports are refereed or judged comes into play. And cheerleading unlike other sports, such as football or baseball, is a subjectively judged activity. A competitive cheerleading routine is judge by more than one person, and one judge may like your routine better than another, therefore scoring you higher. Where as in football, the ball is either in the end zone or it isn't; taste and preference doesn't matter. This part of cheerleading is what is keeping it from being declared a sport. But whether or not cheerleading is declared a sport, I will still participate and stand-up for the hard work and great athletes that enjoy this activity.

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