- Jun 12, 2012
- 35
- 10
Some of those comments hurt. For example, "If there is no defense, it isn't a sport. Even golf has some element of defense." What? In my opinion, cheerleading is ALL defense. We may not be in a "contact sport" like football, be we DEFINATELY do compete to DEFEND our school, our name, our gym, our coach, titles that we may hold, everything! We "defend" our team against others. Sounds like defense to me..
And "Why the sexy short skirts?" comment.. Yes, we do wear skirts that are short. But half of the all star teams now wear spanks as bottoms instead of skirts, and could anyone even imagine trying to compete in knee-length skirts? Those would not work very well at all, especially for the tumbling and jumps that we do now.
Speaking of tumbling, there was a comment made that "Everything involved in cheerleading is already subsumed under dance and gymnastics. The last thing we need during this era of recession and financial struggle is another meaningless sport." Well excuse me. I wasn't aware that dancers and gymnasts tossed people in basket tosses or held people above their heads while the people in the air do heelstretches, arabesques, scorps, needles, chins, or anything! Do not get me wrong, as a cheerleader, I DO learn by watching dancers and gymnysts and I absolutely LOVE watching their competitions, but there are a lot of things that separate cheer, dance, and gymnastics. Then this person went on to say that the last thing we need in this era of recession and financial struggle is another meaningless sport. That got me. To hear my sport, my life, called meaningless is just plain rude. Honestly, if ever anyone said that to my face, I don't know if I could control myself. We don't call other sports meaningless, so why should they say that about us??
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?
I do think that people would look at competitive cheerleading differently if it was called something else, such as STUNT. Just the fact that the word "cheerleading" has so many controversial topics and stereotypes behind it clouds people opinions, I believe.
Do you think it is even possible to change the name?
I do think that it is possible to change the name, but I think that it would take awhile.. I personally could never see cheerleading called any other name, but I think that a changed name would eventually catch on.
And "Why the sexy short skirts?" comment.. Yes, we do wear skirts that are short. But half of the all star teams now wear spanks as bottoms instead of skirts, and could anyone even imagine trying to compete in knee-length skirts? Those would not work very well at all, especially for the tumbling and jumps that we do now.
Speaking of tumbling, there was a comment made that "Everything involved in cheerleading is already subsumed under dance and gymnastics. The last thing we need during this era of recession and financial struggle is another meaningless sport." Well excuse me. I wasn't aware that dancers and gymnasts tossed people in basket tosses or held people above their heads while the people in the air do heelstretches, arabesques, scorps, needles, chins, or anything! Do not get me wrong, as a cheerleader, I DO learn by watching dancers and gymnysts and I absolutely LOVE watching their competitions, but there are a lot of things that separate cheer, dance, and gymnastics. Then this person went on to say that the last thing we need in this era of recession and financial struggle is another meaningless sport. That got me. To hear my sport, my life, called meaningless is just plain rude. Honestly, if ever anyone said that to my face, I don't know if I could control myself. We don't call other sports meaningless, so why should they say that about us??
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?
I do think that people would look at competitive cheerleading differently if it was called something else, such as STUNT. Just the fact that the word "cheerleading" has so many controversial topics and stereotypes behind it clouds people opinions, I believe.
Do you think it is even possible to change the name?
I do think that it is possible to change the name, but I think that it would take awhile.. I personally could never see cheerleading called any other name, but I think that a changed name would eventually catch on.
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