Article # 1-MP2

Cheerleading, A Sport?

The definition of a sport is an individual or group competitive activity involving physical exertion or skill, governed by rules, and sometimes professionally done. When people hear the words sports, they think of football, baseball, basketball, etc., but they never think of cheerleading. Some people get into big arguments about if cheerleading would be considered a sport or not, and the top arguers would be the cheerleaders. I can relate to both sides why cheerleading could be a sport or not.
I can see why cheerleading would be consider a sport for many reasons. First, the definition of the word sport is: an individual or group competitive activity involving physical exertion or skill, governed by rules, and sometimes professionally done. Notice how it says competitive activity involving physical exertion or skill. Well the last time I checked it took physical exertion and skill to do cartwheels and back hand springs. Another reason is cheerleaders compete in competitions, and again in the definition it said: an individual or group competitive activity. Well you can’t do cheerleading by yourself, so that would fit the definition of a group, and the group, which would be the cheerleaders competes in competitive activities such as competitions. To get better, you have to practice and practice makes perfect, so the cheerleaders usually practice five days a week for three and a half hours at a time and have to go to a mandatory camp during the summer which is about a twelve hour day each day. They also have to maintain a healthy diet and exercise daily to keep in shape.
I can also see why cheerleading wouldn’t be considered a sport. When do you mostly see cheerleaders? You just mostly see them on the sidelines of a football game or a basketball game. They are mostly there just to cheer and be like “Go team, GO!” and “Let’s go (team’s name), let’s go! Clap clap.” Most people think that cheerleaders are just stupid preppy blondes that go out with the jocks on the football team.
So there we have it, two sides of a great and never ending argument, cheerleading can be considered a sport to some people and some people don’t consider it a sport. The following is a poll I took with everyone in the Calloway Confidential journalism staff:

18 people said cheerleading was a sport. I have interviewed some people to support why they said cheerleading is a sport. For people who said cheerleading was a sport, I decided to ask a cheerleader and a non-cheerleader about why they thought cheerleading was a sport. Andie Beth Caputo (cheerleader) says: “It’s just as physical as any other sport. We all contribute the same effort as football and baseball players and deserve to be noticed for it. Like football players have the Super Bowl and baseball players have the World Series, we have competitions and it’s just as competitive as the Super Bowl and the World Series.” Greta Sweeney (non-cheerleader) says: “I’m not a cheerleader and I know I haven’t had any experience with anything like cheerleading, but from the looks of it, it doesn’t look simple.”