All-Star Sportsmanship

[cheerkd]

So, I am usually a lurker but I had an interesting conversation about sportsmanship with a friend today. Compare cheerleading to any high school sport. Say basketball for instance. During a foul shot fans are screaming and waving signs behind the basket in hopes of the player missing. They shout chants like “start the bus” and “it’s all over” before the game has even finished. This can be said in some aspect about every other high school sport, and even professional sports. This behavior is also accepted. IMO having a legitimate fan base is part of what makes a sport. You don’t see the players screaming and yelling on the court for another player to miss, it comes from the fans. So after the whole NCA debacle and various other threads on sportsmanship it brought me to this question; why is it different for all star cheerleading? If this behavior is accepted in most competitive youth and high school sports then why do we not accept it? As I said this is all my opinion, just some food for thought.

 

[ACEDAD]

It's true for most sports. But not for sports where another athlete isn't trying to keep you from doing your job. For example: gymnastics, ice skating, golf, etc. In those sports I think there is a different expectation.


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[quietmom]

Because we want our kids to win because they are talented athletes who had amazing and well executed routines that beat the other teams with amazing athletes and well executed routines. When a stunt falls or tumbling goes awry, athletes can get seriously hurt. Serious accidents and injuries are nothing to cheer about or wish for. The consequences of missing a basket in basketball pales in comparison to a level 5 team having catastrophic pyramid issues. In basketball an ego may be bruised. In cheer, a spine could be broken. Guess which is more life altering? Try that for food for thought.

 

[cheerkd]

Because we want our kids to win because they are talented athletes who had amazing and well executed routines that beat the other teams with amazing athletes and well executed routines. When a stunt falls or tumbling goes awry, athletes can get seriously hurt. Serious accidents and injuries are nothing to cheer about or wish for. The consequences of missing a basket in basketball pales in comparison to a level 5 team having catastrophic pyramid issues. In basketball an ego may be bruised. In cheer, a spine could be broken. Guess which is more life altering? Try that for food for thought.

Yet how many times does a catastrophic injury result from a stunt being dropped? I would say probably the same amount of times that it results from a football player being laid out in a tackle. Yet fans will still cheer for that without all of the backlash. Im not saying either situation is right or wrong, rather just comparing fans in different competitive sports.

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[Lazydaisytoo]

In basketball, baseball, football, there is a scoreboard right there for everyone to see as the action happens.

With cheer, gymnastics, figure skating, there is no running ticker broadcasting every deduction.

In that sense, fans would not get instant feedback that their jeering "worked," so there is not any reason to do it.

 

[INeverStopCheering]

If this behavior is accepted in most competitive youth and high school sports then why do we not accept it? .

First off, should we not be ashamed of ourselves as a society that that type of behavior is openly "accepted" in most youth sports? Two wrongs don't make a right. Just because other sports allow fans and athletes to act this way, does not mean it's ok. Is that what we want to teach our kids? It's ok to jeer at people? Or that because other people can do it we can too? With all the negative stereotypes surrounding cheerleading, would we really want to add poor sportsmanship to the list?

We don't allow it because we're better than that. And we as an industry know that the lessons our kids learn while with us will last long past the time they step off the mat. Don't we want to raise better? To be the example?

Stepping off the soap box now...

 

[mamabear]

I do think that safety plays into it. I also think that there is a mutual respect for the creative side of this sport that keeps "most" players and spectators from bad sportmanship. I equate it with the mindset that alot of the Xtreme Games players have. Props and support are given- not jeers. When you are executing dangerous stunts and then leaving the final part of the scoring to the whimsy of the judges, you can't (or shouldn't get too cocky) because that extra tenth of a point could matter.

 

[cheernerd5678]

I do think that we kind of have a mutual respect for each other, but I think it also just wouldn't work... In basketball, yelling at someone might psych them out and make them miss their free throw. But yelling at someone and hoping they'll mess something up isn't going to work as well in cheer... They probably can't hear you over the music and your voice would just blend in with the rest of the crowd. Also, it all comes down to the judges in the end. Dropping a stunt doesn't guarantee a loss, and a team could still win. So there's not really any point in trying to get the other team to drop a stunt, because you don't even know that it will make you win. There isn't a scoreboard showing you what needs to happen for you to win.

 

[JulieP]

My two cents... I always tell my teams that I want them to hit a routine and that's all that matters, but really, I want EVERYONE to hit their routine and for the best team to win. I don't love winning when the other team just handed it to us. There's nothing better that close divisions, good competition, and going into awards without knowing whether you're in 1st or 3rd. Granted, you don't always come out with the win in situations like that, but I think it's better than having a blowout win or nobody in your division.

On another note, and this probably won't gain any support from people here, but I don't stifle my team at awards. I insist they stand and clap for every first place team, and they do so gladly. When they announce the other team in second place, I don't insist that my girls sit there silently like a bunch of nuns. I want them to control themselves and be respectful, but I am not going to tell them to be quiet. I understand that we're supposed to let that team "have their moment", but really, if my teams place second, they're not generally concerned with how the first place team reacted.

 

[cheer97]

Yet how many times does a catastrophic injury result from a stunt being dropped? I would say probably the same amount of times that it results from a football player being laid out in a tackle. Yet fans will still cheer for that without all of the backlash. Im not saying either situation is right or wrong, rather just comparing fans in different competitive sports.

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Whether or not a catastophic injury resulted from a fall doesn't mean its ok to cheer when someone falls. While at a basketball game you're trying to psych out your competition, as someone said earlier there is a mutual respect for others teams creativity, etc when it comes to cheer. Even though I'm from one gym, when I see another gym doing awesome stunts and tumbling I'm going to cheer for them because I love seeing a great routine, I'm not going to clap when one of their stunts drops. We don't get a lot of respect in this sport as it is...we don't need poor sportsmanship to add to it. Its rude.