Cheerleading is a sport!

[CheerLeaderDana]

What do you think of All Star cheerleading? Do you think we are young prostitutes rather than athletes because of our uniforms? I don't care what anybody thinks! I've been doing All Star since I was 6 and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

 

[psychoslice]

I myself don't care for them.

 

[ThirtyThree]

What do you think of All Star cheerleading? Do you think we are young prostitutes rather than athletes because of our uniforms? I don't care what anybody thinks! I've been doing All Star since I was 6 and I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Good for you. I do not care and I will suspect many here do not either.

 

[psychoslice]

To me its a distraction from the game, that is much better than the cheerleading.

 

[SomeRandom]

Depends. Some cheerleading is inane. But competitive cheerleading is a sport certainly. I mean if gymnastics is an Olympic god damn sport then surely competitive cheerleading is a sport.


Please note I have nothing but respect for gymnastics.

 

[Augustus]

My knowledge of cheerleading is derived mostly from 1980s movies. It seemed to consist mostly of wearing a blue and white dress, carrying around pom-poms, and dating someone called Chad or Brock who wore a jacket with a letter on it and drove a red convertible.

Despite knowing nothing about it, competitive cheerleading is clearly an activity that requires skill and athleticism so it is a sport like any other. Not sure why anyone would say it is not other than snobbishness.

Personally, I'm not particularly interested in it, but each to their own.

 

[rosends]

I am currently wrestling with the question of whether every athletic competition is a sport. The question arose over last weekend in a discussion of bowling and professional wrestling and figure skating.

There is no doubt that what you do is grueling and physically demanding. No doubt it is judged by standards and has a winner and losers. But I don't know if I would call it a sport.

 

[Augustus]

I am currently wrestling with the question of whether every athletic competition is a sport. The question arose over last weekend in a discussion of bowling and professional wrestling and figure skating.

There is no doubt that what you do is grueling and physically demanding. No doubt it is judged by standards and has a winner and losers. But I don't know if I would call it a sport.

Pro wrestling isn't a sport, it's more the equivalent of ballet. Its participants are great athletes and highly skilled, but so are ballerinas and trapeze artists. Bowling is a sport though, as is figure skating (imo)

Darts and snooker are ones I often argue over (I consider them sports, others do not). For me a sport is a competitive activity that contains both a physical component and a skill component. So chess wouldn't be a sport as there is no physical component, but darts would be as there is.

If cheerleading is not a sport, then Olympic sports like gymnastics (especially rhythmic gymnastics) and diving can't be sports either. Dressage is in the Olympics and that's no more than getting a posh horse to mince around a square for a few minutes. Sports like boxing rely on subjective judging, so that can't be a reason to disqualify certain sports.

Without being totally arbitrary, there is no way to claim things like cheerleading or bowling are not sports. Professional computer gaming/e-sports is a tough one, much as I don't really want to, I'd probably have to say that it is.

How would you define what is a sport or what is not?

Or do you prefer the response of the judge who was asked to define pornography 'I can't describe what it is, but I know it when I see it'?

 

[Revoltingest]

I myself don't care for them.

While it's quite respectable & athletically demanding, I'd say only competitive cheerleading is sport.
Btw, I find it far superior to jeerleading (aka, political campaigning).

 

[rosends]

Pro wrestling isn't a sport, it's more the equivalent of ballet. Its participants are great athletes and highly skilled, but so are ballerinas and trapeze artists. Bowling is a sport though, as is figure skating (imo)

Darts and snooker are ones I often argue over (I consider them sports, others do not). For me a sport is a competitive activity that contains both a physical component and a skill component. So chess wouldn't be a sport as there is no physical component, but darts would be as there is.

If cheerleading is not a sport, then Olympic sports like gymnastics (especially rhythmic gymnastics) and diving can't be sports either. Dressage is in the Olympics and that's no more than getting a posh horse to mince around a square for a few minutes. Sports like boxing rely on subjective judging, so that can't be a reason to disqualify certain sports.

Without being totally arbitrary, there is no way to claim things like cheerleading or bowling are not sports. Professional computer gaming/e-sports is a tough one, much as I don't really want to, I'd probably have to say that it is.

How would you define what is a sport or what is not?

Or do you prefer the response of the judge who was asked to define pornography 'I can't describe what it is, but I know it when I see it'?

You ask strong questions (I have wondered about dressage and gymnastics as well). I have no clear definition and I'm not even sure I would know it when I see it. If I had a clear definition I could apply it. I just know that some things seem less like "sports" then others. I have no better words. Your points are well taken.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Whenever I think of sports, aside from physical skills and prowess, there needs to be competition among groups like leagues, established rules of the game as well as scoring and field mechanics in place.

I suppose just about anything can be a sport if there is enough people around that enjoy the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. ;0)

 

[Revoltingest]

Whenever I think of sports, aside from physical skills and prowess, there needs to be competition among groups like leagues, established rules of the game as well as scoring and field mechanics in place.

I suppose just about anything can be a sport if there is enough people around that enjoy the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. ;0)

Too narrow a view.
When I go snowboarding (not recently though), I'm doing a sport even though there is no competition.

 

[metis]

I know this will destroy my perfect masculine image that you all have of me , I was a male cheerleader for two years while doing my undergrad work. What happened is that I was on the gymnastics team, and our coach asked who wanted to be a cheerleader as they wanted to include males on the squad, and none of us raised our hand. He then asked who wanted to still be on the gymnastics team, and we all raised our hands, and he said thanks for volunteering to be cheerleaders.

We had so much fun that we didn't even have to be asked for the following year. Hey guys, where else can you handle the women like we did and get away with it? You would hear "Oops, slips-- sorry 'bout that". BTW, it worked both ways, and sometimes I found myself singing soprano.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Too narrow a view.
When I go snowboarding (not recently though), I'm doing a sport even though there is no competition.

I dunno. I could crack a few balls with a bat or go jogging (if I could). It could be seen as sports related, but not a sport in the conventional sense as it's viewed and enjoyed imo.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I have a lot of respect for competitive cheerleading. It's definitely a sport and extremely physically demanding. I loved Bring It On when I was younger, too. Lol.

But stuff like the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders? I don't care much for that. That's basically just about T&A.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I have more respect for competitive cheerleaders than the football team. One requires athletic talent, the one is running and catching ball.

Pro wrestling isn't a sport, it's more the equivalent of ballet.

Tell that to all the wrestlers who have been injured, some severely and killed, who are very athletically gifted, and who are, overwhelmingly, very fit physically.

 

[Revoltingest]

I dunno. I could crack a few balls with a bat or go jogging (if I could). It could be seen as sports related, but not a sport in the conventional sense as it's viewed and enjoyed imo.

If I go snowboarding, zip around all day at a good clip, & gain fitness, it's a sport.
Your examples, if casual & disinterested aren't really a sport.
But if you pursue them with vigor, then sportitude it is!

 

[Revoltingest]

I have more respect for competitive cheerleaders than the football team. One requires athletic talent, the one is running and catching ball.

Tell that to all the wrestlers who have been injured, some severely and killed, who are very athletically gifted, and who are, overwhelmingly, very fit physically.

I'd say it's a melding of sport & theater.

 

[Twilight Hue]

If I go snowboarding, zip around all day at a good clip, & gain fitness, it's a sport.
Your examples, if casual & disinterested aren't really a sport.
But if you pursue them with vigor, then sportitude it is!

Well alright then sport !!!!

"0)

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I'd say it's a melding of sport & theater.

It is. Maybe it's because I've actually done it, but the claims that it's "fake" or "not a sport" tend to get to me, and make me think of Lita, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Dynamite Kid, Mick Foley, Harley Race, Stone Cold, Kurt Angle, Sabu, RVD, and so on. And then there are the ones like the Steiner Brothers, Iron Sheik, Kurt Angle, and others who were Grecko-Roman wrestlers before being pro-wrestlers. And then the huge list of them that played college football and some even in the NFL before pro-wrestling.
There is also a great deal of theatrics behind it, but that shouldn't be used as a point to downplay the athleticism and physical demands of pro-wrestling. I would imagine that even some competitive cheerleaders may even be potentially good fits for the business given they have athletic and acrobatic talent and one can only assume they are used to taking a fall - just put on a different gimmick and they'd probably be in a better position that most people who enroll in a wrestling school.