is cheerleading really a sport?

It's a Friday night and there is a home football game going on at school. The band is playing loud and the quarterback just threw another touchdown. You go find your friends in the student section, and you see the cheerleaders just threw a teammate in the air and she completed a stunt. Have you ever thought about the ongoing argument surrounding cheerleading as a real sport?

Cheerleading is a sport, and has been proven to be so throughout all national and state competitions. The physical and mental aspect of cheer is never talked about, only the actual “cheering” part.

Cheerleading has been looked at as an activity because students are only seeing cheerleaders cheer at football games, but not many people see what goes on at practices. Yes, cheerleaders do complete four to six stunts per game, but there is a great amount of endurance and strength cheerleaders need to pull off those stunts. One simple slip up can cause everything to fall down, and could even hurt cheerleaders. 

On Google, the definition of a sport is “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” Cheerleading includes throwing, catching, spinning, and flipping, which all involves physical exertion. Discounting cheerleading because all anyone usually sees is the “cheering” part is not a fair claim, and should be overseen. 

There is also a lot of hand eye coordination one needs to have for cheer, just like baseball and softball, and other sports. There is a lot to think about in cheerleading as well. One must be tight with her motions, or the stunt will look sloppy. One has to pull all the way up, or your entire stunt will fall down. Cheerleading is not just yelling and screaming, it is so much more than what people actually see. 

Though there are a lot of things showing cheerleading is a sport, there are some different types of cheer that are sports, and are not sports. Only cheering, the “Ra Ra”,  on the sideline and never performing stunts is not a sport. If a team were to only cheer and never stunt, there is no actual physical exertion being shown. 

Cheerleading competition is definitely a sport, and credit should be given to all cheerleaders, not just at Buford, but all around the world. There are several similarities between cheer and different sports. This should be agreed upon by others because cheerleaders do more than they are given credit for. There is such a physical exertion cheerleaders show, including stunting and tumbling and they should not be looked down upon because others see only one part of what they do. 

The students at Buford High School do a decent job of acknowledging the strength and leadership the cheerleaders have, but many students don't recognize that at all. Cheerleading is a sport, and we should all acknowledge their physical and mental aspect of what it takes to really be a cheerleader.