Cheerleading not a sport

[Cyn]

My mom was a whore at one point in her life. I don't call her a sex worker.

[Cyn]

Ballet, oddly enough although I'm sure you were all trying to poke fun she did strip for a short time.

It was a joke, but honestly, I've met strippers who were doing it to pay for medical school.

[Rhyis.]

My mom was a whore at one point in her life. I don't call her a sex worker.

I believe penis revitalizer is the correct term.

[Maguspk]

There's nothing wrong with stripping. She was also a model, she was just comfortable with her appearance and looking at pictures, I won't even front, she had a nice body. That's off subject though, the point is anything acrobatic related really requires a very high level of physical strength which we don't feel comfortable admitting as a society because of the gender it's assigned to as a role (female). Even today, out of her prime, I'm almost 100% positive she could beat a majority of the posters on BG in an arm wrestle.

[Cyn]

I am pretty sure Felix Cane could kick my ass in about 15 seconds.

[Jodwahh]

Actually it takes more physical fitness and is much more dangerous than the sports they're cheering. Can YOU find a bunch of basketball/americanhandegg players that are willing to be vaulted 20+ feet in the air to do backflips without any protective gear to be caught by some skinny white bitch?

NBA JAM.

Your argument is now invalid!


edit: holy late to the party batman. Afk coffee.

[Xno Kappa]

Cheerleading is more of a sport then Nascars

[Cyn]

Finishing first is subjective.

But I always finish last.

[Kailee]

This topic totally reminds me of the other one that was about Pole Dancing wanting to become an Olympic sport.

[Skyylya]

As much as I would like to throw out the next dud of a joke. I think a more serious approach is necessary. No, it is not a sport, nor will it ever be. Any sport that is scored subjectively is utter bullshit. And yes, all sport have some level of subjectivity, be it with an umpires call, or not call, but in the end of the game, one team scored more than the other through an objective scoring mechanism. Football players dont get more points for their celebration after a touchdown, in fact they get fined.

So until you can find a way to scored cheer leading with an effective objective system, it will not be a sport. I also don't consider golf or baseball a sport, mostly because they require little to no physical exertion. If you can play the game with a dip in while holding a beer and have to sprint a couple times per game, or at all, then it is not a sport, it is a game.

couldn't be more wrong...what does dip have to do with physical exertion. And competitive baseball =/ the mens city beer league

golf sure you can play that til you're 80 and still shoot part that's more of a game...but baseball takes plenty of physical exertion.

[Acturus]

Late to the game, er, sport, er, athletic competition, er, whatever

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfZs_5fM1Y4#t=4m05s

the MSNBC article seems thin on detail but the issue doesn't appear to be one of athleticism but organization. And the whole thing started with the cancellation of a volleyball program, saying an expanded cheerleading squad would be an acceptable substitute for the girls who couldn't play volleyball.

Agreed. Not to return to the Penn and Teller episode of Bullshit on Cheerleading, but a significant argument that they make is that corporations succeed in the fact that cheerleading as a business is fragmented and disorganized.

Ironically, labeling cheerleading as a sport under Title 9 would be a huge step forward in streamlining the program, organizing it and standardizing it.

Rather than argue the validity of the word sport, ill chime in with this.

I was under the impression that school boards do not want cheerleading classified as a sport because doing so would require safety and medical training, along wth other expenses that they are unwilling to take on to ensure the cheerleaders safety. Sport or not, it does require a degree of physical training and skill, and does lead to injuries that the untrained coaches cannot treat nearly as well as if they had first aid training and regulations in place to avoid some injuries in the first place.

Tldr: I thought it wasn't classified as a sport for monetary reasons, nothing else.

Money and liability for those institutions hosting sporting events count for a lot, but a fair amount of Title 9 is lobbying and politics.


My wife, a former cheer captain, explained it to me once: There is a difference between being on a cheer team, and being in a pep squad. Pep Squads stand on sidelines and shake pom-poms to support others, cheer teams compete.

Regretably, most establishments outside of professional sports and most large colleges have cheer leaders run double duty as both pep squads, and competitors in their own right.

I'd be more upset about the narrow-minded, uneducated opinions on this board if it wasn't for the fact that this board is routinely narrow-minded and uneducated. However, a big part of the issue surrounding the public perception of cheerleading is directly a result of the fragmented nature of the sport itself.

And to the mental abortion who said that cheerleading needs an objective scoring system instead of a subjective one, explain gymnastics, figure skating, and diving to me. Last time I checked, you can get yourself world recognition and your picture on a Wheaties box for being scored high enough by judges in those sports.

[Yuri-G]

what I don't get is why a judge is determining what is and is not a Title IX sport. isn't there some sort of like... college sports commission who should be doing this?

or did they already talk to those guys and that's how this turned into a court case?

yeah you can tell I'm not big into college sports. or high school sports. or any kind of sports that aren't male gymnastics, and that's for an entirely different reason.

[Biddinger]

Where's the offense/defense in cheer leading?

[Dantrag]

Cheerleading is more of a sport than: fishing, bowling, billiards, and motor-sports(not sports in the traditional sense).

[Talus]

Finally, something I can speak authoritatively about. LOL

I cheered in high school. I cheered for two universities. I coached for an all-star program, I taught camps, I worked and judged national competitions. "National competition" in itself is a slight misnomer. For the most part, the business is fragmented, as other posters have mentioned, and companies conduct their own nationals in whatever location they see fit, and it's a big business. There's also "Worlds" that teams can get bids for. Usually squads have to qualify for nationals, so they have to attend regional and/or district competitions to move up to the next level by winning or placing high in their division.

It's not true that medical & training personnel are not required. Most school teams (middle school through high school & definitely universities) have the same access to the school's training room, athletic trainers, team physicians, etc. While I was coaching, I kept up several certifications, including an AACCA (American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors) safety certification, NCSSE (National Council for Spirit Safety & Education) master certification, USAG (USA Gymnastics) certification, USASF (US All Star Federation) certified, and CPR/First Aid. One of the nice things about all those certs was additional liability insurance was available to me at no cost.

I do think people are getting confused between sideline cheerleading and competitive cheerleading. They have separate purposes. Sideline cheerleading is traditional, using sidelines, cheers, dances, fight songs and partner stunts (often with signs, the reason we stunt at games and put cheerleaders in the air is to increase visibility and get the crowd to yell), etc. to build excitement and elicit a fan response for their team.

At every level, but especially starting around 9th grade or so, there are coed squads. In the highest division at college nationals, a lot of teams have a higher male:female ratio. Some schools have two squads, coed and all-girl, some have only all-girl, but it's rare for there to be coed only.

I haven't seen the Penn & Teller episode about it, so I can't really comment on that, but the sport/not-a-sport debate has been going on for the past 15 years, as the talent level has become increasingly high and partner stunts, pyramids and stunt transitions have become more challenging, innovative and complex, and also potentially dangerous to participants. The risk of injury isn't really a good way to judge if something is a sport or not.

I think we can all agree it is an athletic activity, and we'll have to agree to disagree on the sport or not a sport issue. I'd lean towards competitive cheerleading being a sport, for the athleticism, conditioning, and training it requires to even compete. Sideline cheerleading only is debatable, a lot of the same skills are used but the focus on sideline cheerleading has historically been to support the team that is on the playing field or court that day.

[Max™]

There's nothing wrong with stripping. She was also a model, she was just comfortable with her appearance and looking at pictures, I won't even front, she had a nice body. That's off subject though, the point is anything acrobatic related really requires a very high level of physical strength which we don't feel comfortable admitting as a society because of the gender it's assigned to as a role (female). Even today, out of her prime, I'm almost 100% positive she could beat a majority of the posters on BG in an arm wrestle.

I'm curious about a few things, why did the thread go past the "not making me a sammich should be a sport, then"... why did it THEN make it past the Sathing, and then how did we get here without getting Magus to post pics of his mom?

[Gustave]

I love cheerleaders... but I hate cheerleading.

[Mikelee0351]

While I was coaching, I kept up several certifications, including an AACCA (American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors) safety certification, NCSSE (National Council for Spirit Safety & Education) master certification, USAG (USA Gymnastics) certification, USASF (US All Star Federation) certified, and CPR/First Aid.

Except for CPR those sound like a bunch of phoney baloney made-up certifications that you might get from a Cracker Jack box, or that took a 5 minute internet "certification" course.

[Talus]

Except for CPR those sound like a bunch of phoney baloney made-up certifications that you might get from a Cracker Jack box, or that took a 5 minute internet "certification" course.

USA Gymnastics is phoney baloney? Not to minimize the CPR either, but the CPR one is the easiest one to get. It takes about 6-8 hours and a written test, which you just have to pass with an 80%. None of those certs are phoney baloney made up, btw. What are certifications anyway? It's a credential, and it's useful to have if you ever end up getting sued.

[Edit: None of the certs are phoney baloney and all are pretty much "industry standard" for high school and all-star program coaches through to college coaches. AACCA is a 7 hour course and a written exam, all though I just texted the director and he said it's available online now, which I didn't know, so kudos to you. It's probably better to take it in person, and with USASF it's written and practical testing on different aspects.

BTW, also saw you're in Wilson. Love the Ralph's BBQ there.]

[vagus]

I'm starting to get the impression that bagel has NO concept of the difference between cheerleaders at a game vs. cheerleaders at a cheerleading competition.

You'd think most people who have an understanding as it's all over the US on ESPN 5.