|
 |
Cheer: The
Overlooked Sport
By Kimberly Ip, Staff Writer
Is cheerleading a sport?
Well is it or isn't it?
A sport by definition is an athletic activity requiring skill or
physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. Cheerleading is
more than just jumping around in a short skirt, it involves numerous
hours of practice and sweat to be able to throw a girl in the air
and catch her with out anyone getting hurt. According to Forbes
magazine cheerleading is the leading cause of sports related
injuries in women. It is risky business getting tossed up in the
air, the head, neck, and back are all very vulnerable in this after
school activity. Can other sports such as golf and even football say
the same? At least football players get a helmet and padding.
There is a big difference in a pep squad and a competitive cheer
team. A pep squad's main goal is to pump up the crowd and get the
fans excited for their high school football or basketball game. A
competitive team attends competitions where fans cheer on the
cheerleaders. They have to dance, cheer, tumble, and perform lifts
and tosses in about a four minute routine. They have judges who
score each team based on the difficulty of their routine and the
winner gets a title and usually a trophy. Amber Snuffer says
“Cheerleading is a sport because we have to lift athletes in our
hands and perform in front of tons of people who watch mainly for
our mistakes.” This is true because more often then not people at
our own school laugh when a cheerleader falls or makes a mistake.
This only goes to show how much adversity every cheerleader has to
go through, the fact that many of us still believe cheer is not a
sport underlines how often we make assumptions. Cheerleading takes
hard work and for those of you who disagree have probably never
attempted to cheer before so how would you know?
As for saying cheerleaders aren’t very smart, we like all other
sports teams at our school have a required grade point average that
we have to maintain in order to stay on the team. This is the usual
for all cheer teams because it is so time consuming. Coaches like to
make sure that the cheerleaders can juggle practice and homework. In
fact in just memorizing a routine shows we have to challenge
ourselves mentally just like how other sports teams have to memorize
plays.
Ever hear of the Laker girls? Yes being a cheerleader can also be a
profession. If you're good enough you can turn your dance skills and
loud voice into a money making machine. It takes a lot of practice
and skill to be able to do a back hand spring full layout twist into
a full scorpion liberty cradle stunt. And yes it is as difficult to
do as it sounds.
Many believe cheerleaders are just for show. James Chow says “No one
goes to games to watch the cheerleaders; we go to watch football or
basketball, not a bunch of girls who dance for a minute during half
time.” Games at school are not what most cheerleaders work so hard
for. We practice for Nationals or the N.H.S.C.C. which is a
competition for just cheerleaders filmed for ESPN. Games are more
along the lines of a warm up for the real deal, a competition.
So is cheerleading a sport? Most definitely it’s a sport because
it’s a physical activity that has rules and regulations, a winner
and a loser, and you can even get paid to do it. Next time you think
of a cheerleader don't think of someone who smiles idiotically and
dances around in a mini skirt. Think of an athlete who worked hard
to be able to perform for the crowd and keep you entertained.
|
