Cheer
Cheerleading is a Sport
What constitutes a sport being a sport is a major topic of debate. One such sport that is often questioned is cheerleading. Some people believe that cheerleading is a sport, while other people argue that cheerleading is not a sport. I believe that competitive cheerleading is in fact a sport. It is even said that 65% of all the catastrophic injuries in womens sports in the past 25 years have been cheerleading injures (Renee). People who think that cheerleading is not a sport often give reasons such as, “If a girl is going to risk injury, why not engage in a real sport that has an authentic competitive component, unlike a “cheer-off”, which is absolutely pointless? Yes, pointless – cheerleading is just that. If cheerleading is a sport, then Carmelo Anthony is a ballerina” (Downey). The Women’s Sports Foundation recently agreed upon four elements that define a sport. The four elements include: “A physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of a mass,” “Contesting or competing against/ with an opponent,” “Governed by the rules which explicitly define the time, space, and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared,” and, “Acknowledged primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants” (Ziegler). As my first argument, I will address the first element under the definition of a sport, “A physical activity which involved propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of a mass” (Ziegler). When it comes to cheerleading, stunting and tumbling meet the requirements of this definition. A stunt is a move preformed by a group of cheerleaders, the group consisting of a flyer, two bases, a front and a back. The flyer is the person who performs the stunt is also known as the person being thrown into the air. This person is held up by or thrown into the air by the bases, front and backs. In order for the stunt to
What constitutes a sport being a sport is a major topic of debate. One such sport that is often questioned is cheerleading. Some people believe that cheerleading is a sport, while other people argue that cheerleading is not a sport. I believe that competitive cheerleading is in fact a sport. It is even said that 65% of all the catastrophic injuries in womens sports in the past 25 years have been cheerleading injures (Renee). People who think that cheerleading is not a sport often give reasons such as, “If a girl is going to risk injury, why not engage in a real sport that has an authentic competitive component, unlike a “cheer-off”, which is absolutely pointless? Yes, pointless – cheerleading is just that. If cheerleading is a sport, then Carmelo Anthony is a ballerina” (Downey). The Women’s Sports Foundation recently agreed upon four elements that define a sport. The four elements include: “A physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of a mass,” “Contesting or competing against/ with an opponent,” “Governed by the rules which explicitly define the time, space, and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared,” and, “Acknowledged primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants” (Ziegler). As my first argument, I will address the first element under the definition of a sport, “A physical activity which involved propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of a mass” (Ziegler). When it comes to cheerleading, stunting and tumbling meet the requirements of this definition. A stunt is a move preformed by a group of cheerleaders, the group consisting of a flyer, two bases, a front and a back. The flyer is the person who performs the stunt is also known as the person being thrown into the air. This person is held up by or thrown into the air by the bases, front and backs. In order for the stunt to