What makes a sport a sport? Some people may think competing against other teams or the presence of physical activity makes a sport a sport. Some argue that cheerleading is not considered a sport, while others disagree.
“[I think cheerleading is a sport] because of all the activity we do. We’re just as active as anyone in any other sport. It’s just that we do different activities,” junior cheerleader Madison Cohen said.
Junior Waverly Logan, who is also a cheerleader, agrees with Cohen. She believes the activities they do make cheerleading a sport.
“It’s a lot of physical activity. We lift people up in the air, we have very sharp motions and we throw our bodies around in flips,” Logan said.
Others believe that cheerleading is not a sport.
“I don’t think high school cheerleading is a sport because they don’t really do anything but cheer on your teams,” junior Tyler Wall said.
Logan thinks that people don’t believe cheer is a sport partly because of their attire.
“[It’s] because of what we wear. We wear skirts and matching bows,” Logan said. “They probably think it’s teeny-bopper because we don’t have pads and shin guards and stuff like that.”
Cohen believes that some aspects of cheerleading can be less athletic than other sports.
“There [are] some parts that aren’t completely sporty. Cheering a team on may not be considered a sport, and it can be done by a fan, but being a cheerleader is more than just cheering on the team,” Cohen said.
In most sports, you compete against each other to eventually work toward a win or loss. That is not the case in high school cheerleading.
“It’s athletic, but it’s not a sport. You can’t win or lose. If it were more competitive [it would be a sport]; I think competitive cheer is a sport, but not high school,” junior Dylan Clark said.
Most believe that competitive cheerleading is more of a sport than high school cheerleading.
“Competitive cheerleading is definitely more of a sport than high school cheerleading,” Cohen said. “You have different difficulty levels, so high school cheerleaders may not be able to hit all the stunts that competitive cheerleaders can do.”
Wall agrees with Cohen that competitive cheerleading is more athletic.
“I think competitive cheerleading is more of a sport and high school cheerleading is just for playing around. It’s not serious,” Wall said.
Although people disagree on whether it is a sport or not, most agree that it is dangerous. Logan says many people get concussions or other injuries every year. The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research said high school cheerleading is responsible for 65.1 percent of sports injuries among high school girls.
“Other athletes go out and they run up and down the court but cheerleaders can lift other people. We throw ourselves around and it’s considered one of the most dangerous sports past football,” Cohen said.
— By Jessica Clayton