Cheerleading isn’t a sport? Tell that to the cheerleaders who spend seven months preparing to compete in Long Island and regional competitions along with cheering at football and basketball games.
A sport is defined as “physical activity [competition] against/with an opponent, governed by rules and conditions under which a winner is declared, and primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants.” By definition, cheerleading is definitely a sport. Those who think otherwise are ignorant and dismissive.
As part of my research I asked the students at WHBHS what they consider a sport. Their answers included “something that must involve physical activity,” “movement,” “competition,” “teamwork, skill, and dedication,” “using energy and sweating,” and “you must be able to keep score and have a winner in the end.” Cheerleading incorporates every one of the descriptions given by WHBHS students.
Varsity cheerleader Nicole Recinos feels, “Cheerleading is underestimated with the amount of hard work that is put into it. Practices are everyday for at least two hours and every time a stunt falls down we’re made to do it over and over again until it sticks. Cheerleading season is also the longest season out of any sport. We have football season and basketball season along with competing, just like every other sport.”
Stereotypically, cheerleaders are thought to be high school girls waving pom-poms at football games and yelling cheers to support the players. It is true that we attend games and cheer on our school’s teams, but that is certainly not all we do.
Since competitions are not held at our own school or announced to the students, most people don’t get to see what our season is really all about.
Sophomore Patrick Bonner said, “I think cheerleaders work hard and you guys deserve to be a sport but I don’t get how you compete.”
Like other teams trying to make it to playoffs or win a championship, cheerleaders’ main goal is to place in competition.
Cheerleading competitions are governed by a set of rules made by LICCA (Long Island Cheerleading Coaches Association). Routines must be two and a half minutes and contain a dance, cheer, stunt sequence, team jump, and team tumbling. The more difficult the routine and stunts throughout, the more points the team receives.
Cheerleaders practice just as much, or even more, than any other team. They condition just like other teams and their practices are just as vigorous and dangerous. In the past year injuries in cheerleading have accounted for over 66% of all female high school injuries accounted for by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. (By the way, why would cheerleading be included in that study if it were not a sport?)
A successful cheerleader must have all of the core physical attributes of athleticism—endurance, flexibility, coordination, balance, and strength. Without these skills, performing a two and a half-minute competition routine would be close to impossible. Now, I’d like to see some of the people that don’t believe cheerleading is a sport go out and perform the way cheerleaders do.
People think cheerleading isn’t a sport? Just because it doesn’t involve scoring a ball into a goal? Wrestling, swimming, diving, track, cross-country, gymnastics, ice-skating and boxing don’t involve that either, but they are all recognized sports.
Athletic director, Ms. Masterson, supports the cheerleaders and said, “I totally believe cheerleading is a sport because our cheerleaders are some of my best athletes in the school.”
This year the Westhampton Beach Varsity Cheerleading team has three competitions scheduled. The dates of the competitions are December 11th, January 23rd, and 29th. So, if you’re still unsure if cheerleading is a sport, come see us compete and let us change your mind.