All-Star Reasoning Behind Not Considered A "sport"?

cheermomforever · Aug 8, 2013

I heard that one of the reasons that cheer is not considered a sport, unlike other sports is that there are no playoffs, semi finals, finals etc. Up until last year only levels 5 and 6 had that at Worlds and this year not all ages were included in The Summit. All other sport events have this. Does this play into at all?

yojaehs · Aug 8, 2013

To my knowledge its all about money lol. Finding the right wording and ruling but at the end of the day it boils down to money. Unfortunate actually!

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cheerKT · Aug 8, 2013

Not to mention the limitations (at least at the collegiate level) and restrictions that cheerleading would face if labeled a sport. Limited practices, NCAA regulations on athletes and whatnot.

Allstar wise all EPs would have to work together in a way that I don't see happening ANYTIME soon.

Big_Sis · Aug 8, 2013

That would be a really poor reason since one of the biggest sports in America - NCAA college football - doesn't have a playoff either. They have a rating system composed of mainly sportswriters & coaches opinions and use some computer data to "rank" the teams. That mostly subjective ranking determines who is invited to bowl games (which could be considered equivalent to national bids I guess) and which 2 teams play for the national championship.

* After years & years of arguing & fighting about it, the NCAA will finally have a playoff system of sorts put in place for 2014. But the entire history before that had no playoff & I do believe football has always been considered a sport

cheerKT · Aug 8, 2013

A lot of people also reject cheer as a sport because to an untrained eye it's sometimes difficult to decipher which team "won". In most of the widely accepted the winner is the team who put the most points on the board. 1 touchdown = 6 points. 1 goal = 1 point. 1 basket = 2 points. Even a non-football fan could tell you which team won. It's not that cut and dry in cheerleading. One double full or one high to high tic toc does not have a set point value. Even gymnastics has a universal "value" assigned to performed skills.

Also the lack of a universal scoring system is a biggie.

Big_Sis · Aug 8, 2013

yojaehs said:
To my knowledge its all about money lol. Finding the right wording and ruling but at the end of the day it boils down to money. Unfortunate actually!

And yeah, it all boiled down to money - pleasing sponsors & host cities - instead of what was best for the programs. :banghead:

Big_Sis · Aug 8, 2013

cheerKT said:
A lot of people also reject cheer as a sport because to an untrained eye it's sometimes difficult to decipher which team "won". In most of the widely accepted the winner is the team who put the most points on the board. 1 touchdown = 6 points. 1 goal = 1 point. 1 basket = 2 points. Even a non-football fan could tell you which team won. It's not that cut and dry in cheerleading. One double full does not have a set point value. Even gymnastics has a universal "value" assigned to performed skills.

This is true, but you still have "judges" making a determination (by real-time eyeballing, no instant replay) in gymnastics, diving, ice skating etc and those are Olympic sports.

I DO agree that there needs to be a universal scoring system. That would help a lot.

Big_Sis · Aug 8, 2013

And by the way, ice skating has a technical score and an artistic score (with the artistic score being completely subjective obviously). If a universal scoring system was implemented would it be better or worse for cheer if we had a similar system & included artistic value? (like how much it involved the crowd etc - coz I see a lot of teams that just look like they are popping skill after skill but not interacting with the crowd at all)

cheerKT · Aug 8, 2013

Big_Sis said:
And by the way, ice skating has a technical score and an artistic score (with the artistic score being completely subjective obviously). If a universal scoring system was implemented would it be better or worse for cheer if we had a similar system & included artistic value? (like how much it involved the crowd etc - coz I see a lot of teams that just look like they are popping skill after skill but not interacting with the crowd at all)

Gymnastics has something similar. A difficulty score (or D-score) and then a execution score (or e-score). My guess is it would help the journey towards people recognizing it as a "sport" but I'm unsure if it would help or hurt cheerleading itself.

Dixie · Aug 8, 2013

I struggle with it being called a sport because I think of a sport as one team having the ability to impact another team determining the outcome. In baseball, I pitch, if you hit that pitch I can catch it and put you out or not. In hockey if you have the puck, I have the right to knock you over to get it. Now, if they let 2 teams on the mat together - a la Bring It On style - or let the other teams slingshot balloons at your stunts, then I think sport. Hunting? not a sport unless the deer gets a gun also. Gymnastics? thats just me performing my skills for a score after you performed yours. Its not just with cheer, I get riled when people call golf, bowling, gymnastics, archery, heck, even competitive eating a "sport". They are definitely an athletic activity. I mean, I can't do any of those things so it takes athleticism and endurance beyond my ability level and I played competitive Jr Olympic level softball. Kudos to them for achieving that level of ability!

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cheerKT · Aug 8, 2013

Dixie said:
I struggle with it being called a sport because I think of a sport as one team having the ability to impact another team determining the outcome. In baseball, I pitch, if you hit that pitch I can catch it and put you out or not. In hockey if you have the puck, I have the right to knock you over to get it. Now, if they let 2 teams on the mat together - a la Bring It On style - or let the other teams slingshot balloons at your stunts, then I think sport. Hunting? not a sport unless the deer gets a gun also. Gymnastics? thats just me performing my skills for a score after you performed yours. Its not just with cheer, I get riled when people call golf, bowling, gymnastics, archery, heck, even competitive eating a "sport". They are definitely an athletic activity. I mean, I can't do any of those things so it takes athleticism and endurance beyond my ability level and I played competitive Jr Olympic level softball. Kudos to them for achieving that level of ability!

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Unrelated but this is my little sister's first year of allstars. I told her the other day when she was stretching out at home that she needs to be working on her defensive strategies as well because at some competitions they let opposing teams on the mat with you. They run in front of your tumbling and try to knock down your stunts while you build them. She was so afraid. My stepdad even came in from the other room and was like "wait......really?"

BlueCat · Aug 8, 2013

When someone starts the argument of whether cheer is a sport, step one should be providing a definition of "sport".

cheeeeer93 · Aug 8, 2013

BlueCat said:
When someone starts the argument of whether cheer is a sport, step one should be providing a definition of "sport".

Agreed. At this point, I think we should just argue the term athletic/athletes instead of sport since it's so broad.

stingrayallstarsbri · Aug 8, 2013

Ive heard that Cheerleading isn't a sport because you can't get any money from it. Stupid but thats what I've been told.

GreatWhite92 · Aug 8, 2013

I used to get all riled up and fight with people about cheerleading being a sport. Went so much as to say "well if it is so easy then why can't you do it?"

Maybe it is just me growing up but I don't really care if my football loving friend doesn't think cheer is a sport. They love football, I love cheerleading. If you try to tell me I am not an athlete then I will ask you politely to perform any set of skills that I can do and show the athletic training it takes to do those skills. But if you tell me it is not a sport I will respectfully accept your opinion as there are many grey areas in defining exactly what a sport is as @BlueCat has mentioned already. Yes I think cheerleading is a sport in my eyes but other people still think our sole purpose is to wave signs and pom poms and that is okay. Those opinions do not really matter to me anyways as they are uneducated.

All-Star Reasoning Behind Not Considered A "sport"?

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