Is Cheerleading a Sport

[Beninator]

I vote for sport. Also a great way to exercise the eyes!

[DUBrave5]

I thought that the NCAA didn't recognize cheerleading as a sport, it is recognized as a club. The only reason I think about this is because a while back I brought up a topic about scholarships and how they work because my cousin is a cheerleader at the University of Kentucky and there was controversy about transferring schools and eligibility. That was when I tried looking up the rules and saw that it was classified as a club but not a sport. I'll search for the links and post them if I can find them.

My own view is that cheerleading is not a sport. Yes they have to be in great physical condition, but for 90% of their time, they are not competing against anybody. With the exception of private, state, and national competitions, they are there to get the crowd going at other sporting events and give their team an advantage.

[DUBrave5]

I vote for sport. Also a great way to exercise the eyes!

Lol your avatar is another great way to exercise the eyes. I believe this you are referring to what is known as a spectator sport

[Fetz86]

No, it is not. I limit what I consider sports to be the athletic competitions containing an item (usually a ball of some kind) that is interacted with between two opposing sides. Other activities are merely competitive survival skills (running, swimming, wrestling), leisure activities, (golf, bowling, shooting competitions, car/bike racing) etc. The activities based solely on judging rank even lower on the sport scale to me, like cheerleading and figure skating.

[tornado]

sport   /spɔrt, spoʊrt/ Show Spelled[spawrt, spohrt] Show IPA
–noun
1. an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature.

I would say yes

then Dancing with the Stars = a Sport also...
Quick Change = a Sport
Stacking lug nuts on some stupid TV game show = a Sport

Cheerleaders do compete against each other so therefore I would consider it a sport. ..

But they have only begun to do this quite recently - for the first 100 years of cheerleading there were never competitions...so did it just recently change and become a sport?

[Beninator]

Doesn't the IHSA recognize bass fishing as a sport?

[Out of Balance]

Doesn't the IHSA recognize bass fishing as a sport?

OH YA, Benni Is that a picture of you on the left one And I just bet the indication of the 1 finger is her choice of you, BIG GUY

[Beninator]

OH YA, Benni Is that a picture of you on the left one And I just bet the indication of the 1 finger is her choice of you, BIG GUY

yeah that's the one... I'm still fond of that Brazilian Flag!

[Braves4Life]

Doesn't the IHSA recognize bass fishing as a sport?

Oh my!

Love ya Beni!

[bradleyspirit]

But they have only begun to do this quite recently - for the first 100 years of cheerleading there were never competitions...so did it just recently change and become a sport?

Actually cheerleading started at the University of Minnesota in 1898 as, believe it or not, an all male activity. You're right that competition didn't crop up until much later...but it wasn't 100 years later. Competitions began gaining popularity in the late 60's with ESPN picking up the competitions for broadcast in the early 80's.

Its competitive - very competitive. But in the opinion of this cheerleader (and most collegiate cheerleaders) - we don't want it to become classified as a sport.

A little respect now and then is nice though.

[Chico]

Actually cheerleading started at the University of Minnesota in 1898 as, believe it or not, an all male activity. You're right that competition didn't crop up until much later...but it wasn't 100 years later. Competitions began gaining popularity in the late 60's with ESPN picking up the competitions for broadcast in the early 80's.

Its competitive - very competitive. But in the opinion of this cheerleader (and most collegiate cheerleaders) - we don't want it to become classified as a sport.

A little respect now and then is nice though.

I wouldn't consider it a sport, but they work hard and are a very dedicated group year in and year out. Even though I don't always agree with the way they go about their "cheering", I think we all owe them a big thank you. The 1985-86 group was a special squad. Had a great time with them at the NCAA tournament in Ogden, UT.

[tornado]

Like I said - I really don't care much whether they want to call it a sport..
but after a decade or so of seeing vocal activists arguing loudly that IT IS A SPORT, and should be recognized as such by NCAA,
and that the participants should be given scholarships, and they should be eligible for NCAA competition and titles, etc...

...then all of a sudden, when a school chooses to count the cheerleading scholarships against the total they are required
to give to women as part of faithfully following the activists favorite law, Title IX...
then all of a sudden...those very same pro-women's sports activists are changing 180 degrees and they do NOT want the university doing that!!!

I say you cannot have it both ways to your advantage....and I think they are NOT going to like the court's ruling!!

You see-- if men's sports have to be axed to satisfy Title IX, then that's perfectly OK to these libbers with their Title IX expertise..
but if a women's sport suffers the same fate under the exact same rule...then all holy heck breaks loose and they go on the lawsuit rampage...

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/06/22/sports/0062210_quinni_volleyball062210.txt

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/national/is-cheerleading-a-sport%3F

Here you can vote in a USAToday poll whether it is a sport...

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/06/eye-opener-is-cheerleading-a-sport/1

[Future Walk-On]

I'll go by what ESPN lists under sports and the sub site "College Sports" so no.

[robsam]

Well, Thats kind of sport where cheerleaders show their talent and make any game more entertaining. Some intelligent people may call it an art. I do agree with that also but you can't ignore it for giving a chance in the list of sports.

[tornado]

Update -- the ruling is in....
CHEERLEADING IS RULED NOT A COLLEGE SPORT

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2010/07/cheerleading-judge-sport/1

http://www.salon.com/news/title_ix/?story=/news/feature/2010/07/21/cheerleading_not_a_sport

this case was actually a NO-WIN scenario for the libbers......

--if the judge ruled cheerleading IS a college sport, then schools could get around the Title IX easier by counting the cheerleaders as athletes and axing some of the women's sports teams

--if the judge ruled (as he did) that cheerleading is NOT a college sport, then it significantly hurts those cheerleaders (mostly women) who viewed their "sport" as on par with other college sports


I had always argued that the activists wanted it both ways....they wanted to claim that cheerleading WAS a sport
but they also wanted it to NOT count as such for the purposes of Title IX...they basically wanted to be stroked both ways
like the hypocrites they were. I am happy this finally came to a judicial ruling!! (although Title IX continues to hurt college sports
in general by forcing the schools to use money (and taxpayer money at that) to float ridiculous endeavors that are huge drains
on resources and money. Often legitimate sports that do support themselves have to be cut to make the Title IX people happy.)