All-Star Article On Espnw Says Cheer Not A Sport

[King]

espnW -- Former college cheerleader says, sorry, cheerleading is not a sport

Interesting. Also interesting that her former school, U of F, made the entire squad ground bound because they didn't see the need for a non-sport to do such dangerous things.

 

[King]

I will ask the this question: why should cheerleaders be allowed to do athletic skills on the sideline?

Cheerleaders cannot be protected the same as a sport on the sideline, because it isn't, so why should any school allow these skills be practiced and performed?

 

[kristenthegreat]

I will ask the this question: why should cheerleaders be allowed to do athletic skills on the sideline?

Cheerleaders cannot be protected the same as a sport on the sideline, because it isn't, so why should any school allow these skills be practiced and performed?

You can't have your cake and eat it too. And in a way, that's what she wants: it's all well and good to say 'people should put money into cheer because it's an athletic activity and requires safety, even if it's not a sport.'

But if it's NOT a sport, NOT potentially able to satisfy Title IX and we officially get word it's dangerous from the AMA, what's the point of putting in money/allowing for tricks? Just ground bound everyone because that way nobody gets hurt and the school doesn't have to allocate the resources for an activity that doesn't require it anymore. Which is essentially what happened at UF. Is that irony?

 

[catlady]

So, her main argument is, if cheerleading becomes a competitive sport and they have to work to meet the competition requirements then cheerleading as a support for their school teams will go by the wayside, because their focus will now be on competition. Several professional athletes go out and support the local community during their season, and no one is arguing since they are not concentrating on competing at that moment, their sport is no longer a sport. To state that cheerleaders will now focus on competition rather than supporting their schools is a very weak argument IMO. She, also, stated Universities and High Schools only compete nationals once a year. Superbowl? World Series? I guess I'm missing her point there, as well.

I found it interesting she called "Stunt" a sport, I had never heard of "Stunt" as its own category until about a year ago. IMO, there is an underlying agenda to get sideline and competitive cheer defined separately. Why? I'd have to know whose pockets are being touched the most to figure that out.

 

[King]

Here is the thing, if cheer doesnt get classified as a sport being able to do the skills goes away. It is something I have seen and faced.

 

[ACEDAD]

There's a part of me that wants to see all schools completely ground bound all their cheerleaders just to see it tick off Jeff Webb.


The Fierce Board: It's probably part of the First Amendment...

 

[King]

There's a part of me that wants to see all schools completely ground bound all their cheerleaders just to see it tick off Jeff Webb.


The Fierce Board: It's probably part of the First Amendment...

Can someone give an argument of why all schools shouldnt be ground bound?

 

[catlady]

Honestly, I think cheerleading is between a rock and a hard place right now. If it isn't classified as a sport, as you said, they risk being grounded. If it becomes a sport and the costs become more than a school can budget, they risk being eliminated totally or it will have to become self supported by parents and athletes.

 

[Ashley]

This article sounds like a shill article courtesy of Bill Seely/USA Cheer. It's all a regurgitation of Jeff Webb's testimony in the Quinnipiac case.

No mention of NCATA?

 

[King]

I think this is my new stance. It should be a sport or it should be ground bound. No in-betweens.

 

[Ashley]

I also don't like how melodramatic it all is. No, it would not be the end of cheerleading, it would be the end of sideline cheerleading, so make the distinction. Whether the author likes it or not, competitive cheer is still called "cheerleading." Pushing USA Cheer's STUNT initiative doesn't change that.

 

[mom2three]

I believe Ashley is 110% correct in her assumptions of the USA/Varsity connection here. They already have reps pushing high schools to adapt stunt as a sport. I was not surprised at all to only hear one alternative mentioned in the article. Varsity you are not fooling anyone. You can absolutely have comp cheer and sideline cheer. The problem is that Varsity is shouting everyone down.

 

[King]

BTW I have had this discussion with my AD before. Why do you have to be able to do skills on the sideline. What is the purpose?

Right now the only answer we have is:

1. Makes the game better to have cheerleaders (they barely buy that)
2. the only way we can keep people interesting in doing it is the skills.

That is it. I have no justification outside of that. If the AA wants the skills its great! If they need justification of the skills, well, you are screwed.

 

[f5forever]

Personally I do not care about sideline stuff. I only cheered sideline one season (the rest of my career was allstar). I think there should be a distinction between sideline cheering and competition. I did not read the article, so I'm sorry if this is mentioned there. If there's such a concern with sideline put restrictions (only 2 high stunts, no flipping/twisting baskets...or no baskets at all). Competition cheerleading is a sport no question (well there SHOULDN'T be a question). Sideline I'm in the air about bc I have known teams that use sideline as an extra practice basically, and others that just use it as a social time kind of thing (basically ground bound and some BASIC cheers/chants). As I said I have no stake in the argument, and frankly I'm tired of people looking down on the sport because of a few people who use to "cheer" saying it wasn't....ask those of us who actually cheered (competitively).


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[Ashley]

Personally I do not care about sideline stuff. I only cheered sideline one season (the rest of my career was allstar). I think there should be a distinction between sideline cheering and competition. I did not read the article, so I'm sorry if this is mentioned there. If there's such a concern with sideline put restrictions (only 2 high stunts, no flipping/twisting baskets...or no baskets at all). Competition cheerleading is a sport no question (well there SHOULDN'T be a question). Sideline I'm in the air about bc I have known teams that use sideline as an extra practice basically, and others that just use it as a social time kind of thing (basically ground bound and some BASIC cheers/chants). As I said I have no stake in the argument, and frankly I'm tired of people looking down on the sport because of a few people who use to "cheer" saying it wasn't....ask those of us who actually cheered (competitively).


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I think she did cheer - at UF. And she was a staffer. So she clearly cheered competitively.