Is Cheerleading Considered a Sport?
The first thought people usually have of cheerleading is high school cheer, where school cheerleaders do their best to hype up a crowd of students to have more spirit for their playing team. This type of cheerleading is called sideline cheer. Although sideline cheer is a type of cheerleading, it certainly is not the only one, which people tend to forget. Aside from sideline cheer, there is Pop Warner Cheer, All-Star Cheer, college cheer, and professional cheer. These specific types of cheer belong to two broader categories, which are known as spirit squad and competitive cheer. With all of these different types of cheerleading, it leads people to question whether or not cheerleading is considered a sport.
As someone who grew up doing All-Star and Pop Warner cheer, cheerleading has very unique characteristics that make it very different from regular sports. This differs though, considering the types of cheerleading are all different from the others in a variety of ways. Most categories of cheerleading contain four components that make cheer as recognizable as it is, which are dance, tumbling, stunting, and jumping. The definition of a sport according to the online American Dictionary is, “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.” Cheerleading has those exact qualities since it takes lots of practice and effort while also being extremely competitive and performative. People who think cheerleading is not considered a sport don’t realize that there are different types and that cheerleading is not an easy activity to do. Some say that because it is not strategic in the sense that you mostly do a routine that has been taught, it is not a sport, which would imply that gymnastics and competitive diving do not qualify either. Today, lots of people are still debating on whether or not cheerleading can be considered a sport, but it depends on the type of cheer and your own perception of what a sport is!
