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Two different organizations are working towards making Cheerleading a competitive sport at the college lavel and getting NCAA approval.
BUT -- there are OPPONENTS....since making Cheer a sport, will reduce spots on other women's athletic teams like volleyball, softball, swimming, etc...and may even lead to schools, even D-I schools dropping entire women's sports.
If an NCAA school can count the 10, 12, or even 16 slots that they have filled with female cheerleaders towards their Title IX requirements, then there'd be far, far less need for those schools to support BIG-TIME money losing women's sports such as softball, rugby, etc...
The battle will be interesting, but what amazes me is that there's a good sized component of this debate who argue that women ought to HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!!!
They want to find some loophole to get the NCAA to allow Cheer to become a TRUE sport but to somehow have
an exclusion to the TITLE IX rules and NOT have those cheer athletes count towards the Title IX numbers!!!
Talk about hypocrisy!!!
But -- here's the real push behind some parents who have their kids doing competitive cheerleading...
The article linked below points out that some parents shell out upwards of $10,000 a year for training, costumes, and travel
(and even more for makeup & plastic surgery!!) in the field of competitive cheer!
Guess what....they don't want to have to pay that -- they want the schools to have to pay it-- an thus the taxpayers!!!
OT -- here's one aspect of this debate that actually gets almost out into the Twilight Zone...
This article quotes Disney actress Ashley Tisdale ....
"..actress Ashley Tisdale told readers “to anyone who thinks cheerleading isn’t a sport,
I can definitely tell you that it is.” Tisdale plays a cheerleader on the CW show “Hellcats,”
which premieres tonight"
....first...she's just an actress who plays a cheerleader, not a real cheerleader, so just what makes her an expert anyway
and why is this article even quoting her as if her opinion is like the Encyclopedia Brittanica?
....and second, what value is her opinion when a JUDGE, who spent weeks hearing and researching ALL SIDES of this article ruled 100% the opposite!!
Of course everyone can have an opinion but...wouldn't you think the judge is way more of an expert on all the factors??
...everything I read on this topic reeks of hidden political agendas, selfish parents wanting someone else to pay the expenses, and bitter rivalries and disputes even between the virtually identical looking competitors...read this...from one 15-year old competitor who is dissing on the other girls who only do sideline cheering..
"Girls that cheer competitively are braver,” Garcia said about the time difference between sideline chants and the structured two and a half minute routine the cheerleaders complete at competitions. “You’re not just going through the motions – you have to go full out. Not everyone can be a (competitive) cheerleader (like me). You have to be talented, mentally and physically, and you have to have determination. (and thus hinting that those sideline cheerleaders are flabby and wimpy)."
BUT -- there are OPPONENTS....since making Cheer a sport, will reduce spots on other women's athletic teams like volleyball, softball, swimming, etc...and may even lead to schools, even D-I schools dropping entire women's sports.
If an NCAA school can count the 10, 12, or even 16 slots that they have filled with female cheerleaders towards their Title IX requirements, then there'd be far, far less need for those schools to support BIG-TIME money losing women's sports such as softball, rugby, etc...
The battle will be interesting, but what amazes me is that there's a good sized component of this debate who argue that women ought to HAVE IT BOTH WAYS!!!
They want to find some loophole to get the NCAA to allow Cheer to become a TRUE sport but to somehow have
an exclusion to the TITLE IX rules and NOT have those cheer athletes count towards the Title IX numbers!!!
Talk about hypocrisy!!!
But -- here's the real push behind some parents who have their kids doing competitive cheerleading...
The article linked below points out that some parents shell out upwards of $10,000 a year for training, costumes, and travel
(and even more for makeup & plastic surgery!!) in the field of competitive cheer!
Guess what....they don't want to have to pay that -- they want the schools to have to pay it-- an thus the taxpayers!!!
OT -- here's one aspect of this debate that actually gets almost out into the Twilight Zone...
This article quotes Disney actress Ashley Tisdale ....
"..actress Ashley Tisdale told readers “to anyone who thinks cheerleading isn’t a sport,
I can definitely tell you that it is.” Tisdale plays a cheerleader on the CW show “Hellcats,”
which premieres tonight"
....first...she's just an actress who plays a cheerleader, not a real cheerleader, so just what makes her an expert anyway
and why is this article even quoting her as if her opinion is like the Encyclopedia Brittanica?
....and second, what value is her opinion when a JUDGE, who spent weeks hearing and researching ALL SIDES of this article ruled 100% the opposite!!
Of course everyone can have an opinion but...wouldn't you think the judge is way more of an expert on all the factors??
...everything I read on this topic reeks of hidden political agendas, selfish parents wanting someone else to pay the expenses, and bitter rivalries and disputes even between the virtually identical looking competitors...read this...from one 15-year old competitor who is dissing on the other girls who only do sideline cheering..
"Girls that cheer competitively are braver,” Garcia said about the time difference between sideline chants and the structured two and a half minute routine the cheerleaders complete at competitions. “You’re not just going through the motions – you have to go full out. Not everyone can be a (competitive) cheerleader (like me). You have to be talented, mentally and physically, and you have to have determination. (and thus hinting that those sideline cheerleaders are flabby and wimpy)."
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