Why Cheerleading Is A Sport
Do you believe doing flips, jumps and shouting is a sport? Cheerleading is a sport. Seventy-two percent of people believe it is and twenty-eight percent believe it is not a sport, according to Debate.org. I am one of those people who not only believe cheer is a sport, but know it is a sport. Although there was a court ruling years ago that declared it to not be a sport, there is no reason why cheer should not be considered a sport. It meets all of the requirements of being a sport and it involves a lot of hard work and dedication! First off, do you know the actual definition of a sport? If not, this is what it is, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or
…show more content…
others for entertainment.” There are two different kinds of cheer. The kind you would see at a football, wrestling, or basketball game which is more for entertainment. These are the cheerleaders you would see most often. The other kind of cheer is competitive cheer. This is where two or more teams will perform a two and a half minute cheer routine that includes tumbling, stunts and jumps. You don’t really do much shouting at these competitions. Competitive cheer is very entertaining to watch and also very competitive. That's what a sport is, something competitive and I would definitely say these cheer competitions are competitive. Some even say it is more entertaining than football or baseball. It is definitely a lot harder than both of these sports. Besides the competitions being hard to do, do you know what goes into a typical cheer practice? At our local high school, Hempstead, they start out their practices with 15 minutes of running. They then do 15 minutes of stretches, a few minutes of motion drills, and they do a few jumps and tumbling. Then they start the actual practice. They run through a few cheers and teach some new ones for around an hour. After they finish the easy stuff like that, they work on stunting. Stunting is when cheerleaders do most of their tricks. They fly girls into the air and tumble and jump. You would be surprised by how much work that takes. If one cheerleader messes up when a flyer is in the air, the flyer could get really hurt. You need to concentrate and use lots of strength. This is something a lot of people can't do. All of these exercises and stunts can be very hard and very difficult. Hempstead's cheer practice is pretty hard but some schools have even harder cheer practices. According to http://aacca.org/content.aspx?item=resources/test.xml, their exercises are harder.
In cheer, you use a lot of upper body strength.
This means you use your arms a lot. The main muscles you use are your pectoralis major and minor muscles in your chest, your deltoid muscles in your shoulders, and your latissimus Dorsa muscles in your back. You use these muscles when doing a single arm-swing motion in a jump, when you lift a flyer in the air and put them in a pyramid and also when you tumble. Some stretches the cheerleaders do to strengthen these muscles include doing pushups and chest stretch. This helps them become a little more flexible and ready to lift people. In fact, have you ever realized cheerleading is kind of like football? They have different names for different motions, drills, and cheers just like football players have names for different actions or ways they are going to grab the ball back and things of that matter. They are very similar in more ways than just that. If you consider football a sport, you should consider cheer a sport too. Even if it is true that the federal court declared cheer to not be a sport back in 2010, according to http://www.livestrong.com/article/435894-reasons-why-cheerleading-is-a-sport/, there are plenty of reasons it is. 2010 was six years ago. Lots of things have changed since then. Cheer has become more competitive and more work. Most people believe cheer isn't a sport because they only see the cheerleaders on the sidelines of a game. They haven't seen them in the competitions. I might even agree with you that sideline cheer isn't much of a sport, but that's because it's just practice for
them. In conclusion, cheer is most definitely a sport. It meets the requirements of being a sport. It is competitive and involves some sort of skill. Cheerleaders work really hard throughout the year and do not get the respect they deserve. Do you believe cheer is a sport? If you truly don't believe cheer is a sport, I would like to see you go to one practice and make your decision then. If you want some ideas as to what exercises you do, go to http://www.livestrong.com/article/435894-reasons-why-cheerleading-is-a-sport/ http://www.varsity.com/varsityresources/effective-cheer-practices. You will know just how difficult it is.
Just one single practice or exercise routine on these websites and you will know the right answer to this question.
others for entertainment.” There are two different kinds of cheer. The kind you would see at a football, wrestling, or basketball game which is more for entertainment. These are the cheerleaders you would see most often. The other kind of cheer is competitive cheer. This is where two or more teams will perform a two and a half minute cheer routine that includes tumbling, stunts and jumps. You don’t really do much shouting at these competitions. Competitive cheer is very entertaining to watch and also very competitive. That's what a sport is, something competitive and I would definitely say these cheer competitions are competitive. Some even say it is more entertaining than football or baseball. It is definitely a lot harder than both of these sports. Besides the competitions being hard to do, do you know what goes into a typical cheer practice? At our local high school, Hempstead, they start out their practices with 15 minutes of running. They then do 15 minutes of stretches, a few minutes of motion drills, and they do a few jumps and tumbling. Then they start the actual practice. They run through a few cheers and teach some new ones for around an hour. After they finish the easy stuff like that, they work on stunting. Stunting is when cheerleaders do most of their tricks. They fly girls into the air and tumble and jump. You would be surprised by how much work that takes. If one cheerleader messes up when a flyer is in the air, the flyer could get really hurt. You need to concentrate and use lots of strength. This is something a lot of people can't do. All of these exercises and stunts can be very hard and very difficult. Hempstead's cheer practice is pretty hard but some schools have even harder cheer practices. According to http://aacca.org/content.aspx?item=resources/test.xml, their exercises are harder.
In cheer, you use a lot of upper body strength.
This means you use your arms a lot. The main muscles you use are your pectoralis major and minor muscles in your chest, your deltoid muscles in your shoulders, and your latissimus Dorsa muscles in your back. You use these muscles when doing a single arm-swing motion in a jump, when you lift a flyer in the air and put them in a pyramid and also when you tumble. Some stretches the cheerleaders do to strengthen these muscles include doing pushups and chest stretch. This helps them become a little more flexible and ready to lift people. In fact, have you ever realized cheerleading is kind of like football? They have different names for different motions, drills, and cheers just like football players have names for different actions or ways they are going to grab the ball back and things of that matter. They are very similar in more ways than just that. If you consider football a sport, you should consider cheer a sport too. Even if it is true that the federal court declared cheer to not be a sport back in 2010, according to http://www.livestrong.com/article/435894-reasons-why-cheerleading-is-a-sport/, there are plenty of reasons it is. 2010 was six years ago. Lots of things have changed since then. Cheer has become more competitive and more work. Most people believe cheer isn't a sport because they only see the cheerleaders on the sidelines of a game. They haven't seen them in the competitions. I might even agree with you that sideline cheer isn't much of a sport, but that's because it's just practice for
them. In conclusion, cheer is most definitely a sport. It meets the requirements of being a sport. It is competitive and involves some sort of skill. Cheerleaders work really hard throughout the year and do not get the respect they deserve. Do you believe cheer is a sport? If you truly don't believe cheer is a sport, I would like to see you go to one practice and make your decision then. If you want some ideas as to what exercises you do, go to http://www.livestrong.com/article/435894-reasons-why-cheerleading-is-a-sport/ http://www.varsity.com/varsityresources/effective-cheer-practices. You will know just how difficult it is.
Just one single practice or exercise routine on these websites and you will know the right answer to this question.