The Truth Behind the Performance

Cheerleading Should Be Known as a Sport

Photo by Antonia Nowels/Maclay Andalusian

Cheerleaders are everywhere, whether you see them watching your favorite football or basketball team, or while scrolling through social media and coming across a video of a performance. What people often overlook is the controversy that cheerleaders receive over whether or not they are considered an athlete.

Cheerleaders are mostly just viewed as pretty dressed up performers or “background entertainment” for games. However, they should be known for more than just that. People often don’t consider that there are two categories of cheerleading: competition and sideline cheer.

Cheerleaders are mostly seen on the sidelines of football games and basketball games. However, it’s a common misconception that is the only place you can find cheerleaders. Competitive cheerleaders travel all over the country to compete against other cheer teams and are scored by judges to find out who places the highest overall, much like any other sports game or match.

The hardest part about being a cheerleader, and what sets them apart from other athletes, is that during their competitions they are also judged on how they compose themselves. As cheerleaders, they must stay energetic and clean throughout their whole routine. They cannot get upset with how they perform halfway through and they must not get sweaty or sloppy at all. Considering that, cheerleaders must have the same amount of endurance as other sports, if not more having to look and act perfectly the whole time.

Similar to any other team, cheerleaders must have good teamwork in order to perform properly. Working together on a sports field means being able to perform the plays to the best of the players ability, just like on the mat when cheerleaders are performing. In stunting, the whole group must have the same timing and coordination or else everything will fail.

A cheer team needs a strong bond with each other in order for the whole team to perform well. Each teammate must encourage the others to work harder and push beyond their comfort zone to reach new abilities. Just like any other team, each teammate needs to be able to work together with everyone else on the team in order for the team to perform well.

Cheerleaders need to workout the same as any other team would have to, sometimes even more. Whether it is using their core to stay up or using their arms and legs to hold their flyer, their strength and physical appearance is relied on to keep teammates from serious injury; their lives literally rest all in their hands.

Cheerleaders might have a lower injury rate compared to contact sports, but the injuries that they do receive tend to be more severe than the other sports. Most injuries can be prevented depending on the physical strength that the girls receive, due to their high demanding skills that they have to perform, some known as tumbling, jumping, and stunting.

However, many that consider cheerleading not as a sport, argue that it is mostly performance over athleticism. While cheerleading does have performances and dances, it is not the only thing they do. Cheerleaders have to tumble and do strength needing stunts. They have to exercise and workout just the same as any other sport, if not more since their teammates’ lives are in the hands of their strength.

A simple solution would just be to give cheerleading the recognition as a sport it deserves. It requires just the same, if not more, as any sport would need. If gymnastics or dance can be recognized as a sport, cheerleading should too.