All-Star Why Isn't Cheerleading A Sport?

[Deleted member 15407]

I was thinking the other day; There are so many people that are always like "Cheerleading is a Sport, and heres why!"
And there are a lot of reasons WHY, but why NOT? What qualities does cheerleading lack? What legal stuff does it lack?
I'm curious here what problems there are to make it "an Unofficial Sport" and not a "True sport" that everyone believes it is (such as football).
I mean REAL reasons. Not your "We work hard" kind of reasons.

I apologize if there is another thread like this, i tried to find one, but couldn't

 

[Ems]

A lot of it is talked about here, but it's under collegiate and deals a lot with stunt, Im fine with a new thread though.
What Do You Guys Think Of Stunt? | Fierce Board - We Talk Cheerleading

I think a big part of it is that there is no official governing body. Like you have multiple ways to become a national champion between USA, UCA, NCA, etc.
Also, the format of cheerleading competitions is a factor. With basketball, football, volleyball, any sport, you have a game at least once a week. With cheer, you have a competition every month or less, depending where you are in the country. Plus when you go to a competition you spend a whole 2 minutes and 30 seconds performing and spend most of your time waiting.
The next reason is a little complicated, but is also really important. Sports teams compete for a school, until you get to the pro level. School's have certain amounts of students which determines their division. Also, a lot of school's have boundaries, like if you live in the north end of Metropolis, you go to this high school and if you live in the south end of Metropolis you go to a different high school. All star, you don't have a school you're representing, just a gym, and it's not uncommon for people to drive HOURS at a time to go to a gym with an established name, you can't do that in high school.
Following the same idea, as long as school cheerleading will be tied down to cheering on sidelines, I don't think it will become a sport.

 

[FierceinTeal]

I had a coach a few years ago that say he believes its not a sport because there is no set amount of points for the different elements. Like in basketball you can score 2 points for a basket, football a touch down is worth 6, or soccer 1 per goal. He believes scoring was to subjective from competition to competition.

 

[Deleted member 15407]

A lot of it is talked about here, but it's under collegiate and deals a lot with stunt, Im fine with a new thread though.
What Do You Guys Think Of Stunt? | Fierce Board - We Talk Cheerleading

I think a big part of it is that there is no official governing body. Like you have multiple ways to become a national champion between USA, UCA, NCA, etc.
Also, the format of cheerleading competitions is a factor. With basketball, football, volleyball, any sport, you have a game at least once a week. With cheer, you have a competition every month or less, depending where you are in the country. Plus when you go to a competition you spend a whole 2 minutes and 30 seconds performing and spend most of your time waiting.
The next reason is a little complicated, but is also really important. Sports teams compete for a school, until you get to the pro level. School's have certain amounts of students which determines their division. Also, a lot of school's have boundaries, like if you live in the north end of Metropolis, you go to this high school and if you live in the south end of Metropolis you go to a different high school. All star, you don't have a school you're representing, just a gym, and it's not uncommon for people to drive HOURS at a time to go to a gym with an established name, you can't do that in high school.
Following the same idea, as long as school cheerleading will be tied down to cheering on sidelines, I don't think it will become a sport.

I agree and Disagree. Because think about baseball; theres school (sometimes) and Little League and pro. All of which are considered sports.
ETA: oops. just read the last part about sideline cheer...

 

[INeverStopCheering]

I believe it has a lot to do with our scoring and our event system. Our sport is de-legitimized a lot by the fact that everyone and their uncle is a "national champion." People don't understand the competition system and when you think about it, it really makes no sense.

Another thing is the fact that we are an incredibly subjectively scored sport. It's largely based on someone else's interpretation of your routine. In football, a touchdown is a touchdown, cheering it's not that easy. I think cheering is even worse than gymnastics with the subjectivity, though maybe on par with diving, which I always point out to people who use this argument

 

[Deleted member 15407]

I believe it has a lot to do with our scoring and our event system. Our sport is de-legitimized a lot by the fact that everyone and their uncle is a "national champion." People don't understand the competition system and when you think about it, it really makes no sense.

Another thing is the fact that we are an incredibly subjectively scored sport. It's largely based on someone else's interpretation of your routine. In football, a touchdown is a touchdown, cheering it's not that easy. I think cheering is even worse than gymnastics with the subjectivity, though maybe on par with diving, which I always point out to people who use this argument

Yes i agree! Only controversy is Dance (considered a sport) is someones interpretation as well.

 

[Ems]

I agree and Disagree. Because think about baseball; theres school (sometimes) and Little League and pro. All of which are considered sports.
ETA: oops. just read the last part about sideline cheer...

Yeah, I thought about that, but with little league it's mainly rec. There's like the Little League world series, but going back to my first point, that's one governing body.Same with pro and high school and college. One governing body for each level.

 

[ssccxnce]

no universal scoring,
no universal governing body,
no unified/sanctioned nationals,
too many event producers in it for the money

Penn and Teller did a good documentary and its posted on youtube, fair warning language is not the greatest
http:// Penn & Teller - Bullshit S08E01 Cheerleaders Part(1/2) - YouTube

sidenote one of my old gyms is shown in the clips wee lol

 

[cheermomforever]

the big question is......why is badminton an olympic sport, but not cheer??? or ping pong................oh excuse me TABLE TENNIS! what a joke!

 

[Celeste]

the big question is......why is badminton an olympic sport, but not cheer??? or ping pong................oh excuse me TABLE TENNIS! what a joke!

Just because cheer isn't a sport doesn't mean you can go and hate on activities that are considered sports. Just saying though.

 

[cheermomforever]

Just because cheer isn't a sport doesn't mean you can go and hate on activities that are considered sports. Just saying though.

I am just saying, if they are, then cheer should be too.............

 

[Celeste]

no universal scoring,
no universal governing body,
no unified/sanctioned nationals,
too many event producers in it for the money

Penn and Teller did a good documentary and its posted on youtube, fair warning language is not the greatest
http:// Penn & Teller - Bullshit S08E01 Cheerleaders Part(1/2) - YouTube

sidenote one of my old gyms is shown in the clips wee lol

I just watched the documentary, and in all seriousness when the lady the created Title 9 passes away can someone come and change it? Or challenge it and have it changed so cheer is considered a sport?

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

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the big question is......why is badminton an olympic sport, but not cheer??? or ping pong................oh excuse me TABLE TENNIS! what a joke!

Because they have all of the qualities listed above that we don't:
universal scoring,
universal governing body,
unified/sanctioned nationals

 

[cheermomforever]

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Because they have all of the qualities listed above that we don't:
universal scoring,
universal governing body,
unified/sanctioned nationals

Definately not universal scoring..............one comp it is legal- the next, it is not!

 

[tucknduck]

I believe it has a lot to do with our scoring and our event system. Our sport is de-legitimized a lot by the fact that everyone and their uncle is a "national champion." People don't understand the competition system and when you think about it, it really makes no sense.

Another thing is the fact that we are an incredibly subjectively scored sport. It's largely based on someone else's interpretation of your routine. In football, a touchdown is a touchdown, cheering it's not that easy. I think cheering is even worse than gymnastics with the subjectivity, though maybe on par with diving, which I always point out to people who use this argument

I don't think it's all the national championships so much because in other HS sports, there are many state and conference champions based on school size classification. I do think it's more partly due to the subjectivity in scoring but I think the biggest reason is there's no official governing body as well as a governing body that makes money off it somehow..Yes..Money..If a governing body can take over cheerleading, make uniform rules and make money off it, it will become legitimized...Remember, money talks and the you know what walks.