7/24/2010 - Is Cheerleading A Sport?
There are certain questions that have puzzled mankind since the beginning of time.
What is the meaning of life? How did we get here? And most importantly, how is the sitcom, “According to Jim,” still on the air? I mean, really? Do people find it that amusing?
Anyway, another one of the eternal burning questions was answered last week, legally, that is, and that question? Is cheerleading a sport?
Ah, the question that sends shivers down the spines of sportswriters and media members who cover local sports anywhere in these United States.
Well, for those who don’t want to field the question in an effort not to offend a cheerleader or their parents, U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in Connecticut gave a 95-page answer to the question and the answer, legally, is no.
But the there is a twist to his answer and a sly reason why it was brought up in court in the first place.
You see, Quinnipiac University wanted to replace women’s volleyball with competitive cheerleading to be in compliance with the Title IX, the federal mandate that assures gender equality in all phases of education.
The volleyball team balked and sued the school and the final appeal was heard and announced last week.
According to Underhill, cheerleading “is too underdeveloped and disorganized” to be considered an official collegiate varsity sport. But he added, that it could be in the future and that he recognized the hard work and athletic ability it takes to be a cheerleader at the highest level.
Cheerleading at the collegiate level is not sanctioned by the NCAA, which was a big strike against Quinnipiac. There are national cheerleading organizations, but the NCAA is the top dog when it comes to collegiate sports.
“The university naturally is disappointed that the court has disallowed competitive cheerleading as a varsity sport,” said Lynn Bushnell, vice president of public affairs at the school in a published report.
“We will continue to press for competitive cheerleading to become an officially recognized varsity sport in the future,” she added.
Now, my gut feeling tells me that the school was taking this stance not because it truly believes cheerleading is being discriminated against. I’m sure there are political, and more importantly, financial reasons for its actions.
We will never know, but I’m going with my instincts on this one.
So, is cheerleading a sport, notwithstanding Judge Underhill’s decision?
My answer, is yes. But it has taken me a long time to come to that conclusion and my opinion only changed over the last few years as competitive cheerleading has exploded the last decade.
A little history on cheerleading, if you will. It started on the collegiate level in the Midwest for football in the late 1800s and it was strictly for males, as were most activities in this country.
Over the years, it has developed into a more female dominated arena, especially on the high school level, but that has changed over the years as well. The primary job of the cheerleaders was pretty self explanatory—they were there to fire up the crowd and support their team.
But as it evolved from “Rah-Rah Sis-Boom-Ba” to Broadway-esque dance routines, cheerleading has taken it to another level with national-level competitions every season.
Almost 400,000 student-ATHLETES (Yes, I put it in caps on purpose) participate in cheerleading in the United States. The time and effort put in by these athletes is comparable to those who play sanctioned sports.
There is an old argument against cheerleading as a sport that stated, if the football team didn’t show up would there be a game? The answer would be no. But if the football team did show and the cheerleaders didn’t would they still play? Well, obviously, yes.
But that doesn’t wash anymore because the games are now an outlet and forum for the cheerleaders as they prepare for local, regional and national competitions.
I remember a few years ago, Scott Berge, Vernon’s outstanding athletic trainer, told me he had to deal with a lot of cheerleading injuries because the level of athletic ability and skill need for the stunts was so high that kids were getting hurt.
And they were getting hurt not because they weren’t athletic or trained properly, but because the stunts had become so intense due to the natural ability of the cheerleaders.
Cheerleading, like other sports, has exploded on the youth level where parents travel all over the place for competitions even out of season. It is a whole culture, one that cannot be ignored and shunned aside because of old-fashioned sexism.
More and more you see males going out for cheerleading and on the college level it is almost split. Many guys on the gymnastics team cheer to keep in shape and work on routines.
Now if there weren’t competitions in cheerleading I wouldn’t considered it a sport. In my view, if there isn’t a winner or loser declared, it is not competition. (Yes, I know there are ties in sports, but all the teams involved have an opportunity to win).
The Hunterdon-Warren-Sussex Athletic Association recognizes cheerleading and held its annual tourney in November with Hunterdon Central winning the overall title. And the SCIL held its showcase every year Thanksgiving weekend, so cheerleading has be honored in the Mugs Media area for years.
And as I mentioned before, the routines have come a long way and so have the costumes. Maybe a little too far, for my old-fashioned taste, but that is me.
So the ball or pom-pom is in the cheerleaders’ court. They need to get better organized on the collegiate level and lobby for inclusion into the NCAA or they will treated as second-class citizens and that would be a shame.
That’s it for now, see you on the sidelines.
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