- Jul 19, 2011
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- 5,502
So I was recently reading an article on the New York Times about cheerleading being considered an NCAA sport. Most the time I don't even read the comments because they are all ignorant uneducated people. However, this time I took the time to read all 200 comments to try and figure out different opinions on why it isn't a sport.
I have found that most people can't get over the name. They hear cheerleader and think sidelines. Their comments showed no mention of anything competitive but shaking poms poms and wearing short skirts to be "eye-candy" to the fans.
I am just wondering if we ever wanted to become a sport, that maybe we need a new name. I know this is already a discussion with the fact that we are to be called CHEER now (I think it was dicussed at the Doral Meeting), but I don't see this as helping any, at all. People will see the word cheer and completely turn it off as cheerleaders. What if we were called something else? Let the side line cheerleaders still be cheerleaders, but let the competitive cheerleaders be called something else entirely. (sure you can do both still )
So a few questions to think about:
Do you think that the perception of competitive cheerleading in the eyes of the general uneducated public will change if competitive cheerleading was named something else?
Do you think it is even possible to change the name?
Is it worth it to try and change the name to become a legitimate sport?
I searched and this was a thread topic from 2010, I think a lot has changed since 2010 and there are a lot of new posters so maybe it should be brought back up.
I have found that most people can't get over the name. They hear cheerleader and think sidelines. Their comments showed no mention of anything competitive but shaking poms poms and wearing short skirts to be "eye-candy" to the fans.
I am just wondering if we ever wanted to become a sport, that maybe we need a new name. I know this is already a discussion with the fact that we are to be called CHEER now (I think it was dicussed at the Doral Meeting), but I don't see this as helping any, at all. People will see the word cheer and completely turn it off as cheerleaders. What if we were called something else? Let the side line cheerleaders still be cheerleaders, but let the competitive cheerleaders be called something else entirely. (sure you can do both still )
So a few questions to think about:
Do you think that the perception of competitive cheerleading in the eyes of the general uneducated public will change if competitive cheerleading was named something else?
Do you think it is even possible to change the name?
Is it worth it to try and change the name to become a legitimate sport?
I searched and this was a thread topic from 2010, I think a lot has changed since 2010 and there are a lot of new posters so maybe it should be brought back up.