Opinion

Cheer is a sport

Grace Griesbach, Writer | 11/02/2021

“Do you do any sports?” Asked the boy.

“I am a cheerleader!” I replied.

The boy had enough guts to say “Cheer isn’t even a sport.”

This scenario is most definitely a conversation I’ve had with many people before. My own brother even has the urge to say exactly this! Most do not understand how physically and mentally challenging cheer is, it does not receive as much credit as it deserves.

If you ever were to watch exactly what we do, you could tell we work just as hard, or more, as any other athlete of a different sport.

As a cheerleader, you do routines that are composed of chanting cheers, tumbling, stunting, pyramids, jumping, and dancing.

These skills are very physically demanding and become harder as the cheer world grows bigger, as routines elaborate more and more.

A key example is what's called a double down in stunting. This is a stunt where cheerleaders catapult another athlete into the air to spin twice before landing. As you imagine this skill, you would picture it being extra difficult and requiring lots of strength.

An advanced tumbling skill called a Full is executed by completing a back 360-degree flip and 360-degree twist. This is just one of the many skills that you could corporate in a cheer routine. A single cheerleading routine consists of many tumbling back and forth.

Not only is cheerleading an endurance sport, but a big part of cheer is performing. When you get out there in front of the audience, you have to bring your all and put on your show face. In competitive cheer, showmanship is a quarter of what you get graded on!

With learning more of exactly what cheerleaders do and how much hard work is put in by those who do cheer, I hope that you carry on more respect for those individuals from now on. Don't underestimate what strong athleticism cheerleaders have to offer.