[BluPhire]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Doing flips and stunts on the sidelines doesn't make it competitive, either.



Gracias.

Originally Posted by jennyj87

I did HS cheerleading for three years before moving to competitive.

Go to one practice of a competitive team and there will not be a doubt if its a sport or not.

I just don't understand how people can say "oh yeah gymnastics a sport!" then not agree that cheerleading is.


Side note, in 2008 Rhode Island ruled that it was a sport and now RIIL holds states.

Originally Posted by carnation

Competition cheering is a sport, for sure, but not sideline cheering. Huge difference.

I don't blame the volleyball players for suing!

Originally Posted by DrPhil

At its most competitive level and highest level of difficulty where people have intensive training and can get hurt:*** Sport.

When it isn't competitive and only has a "clap your hands" level of difficulty: Not a sport.


***That isn't the metric for what makes something a sport.

Originally Posted by groovypq

Sideline cheerleading isn't just "clap your hands" level of difficulty, even if it isn't competitive. Many sideline squads do all of the same elements and have the same difficulty level of competitive squads. In the college ranks, it's usually the sideline squad that competes (i.e. Kentucky, LSU, Alabama, Louisville, etc.).

Also, it should be noted that the judge ruled that competitive cheer is not a sport in its current form for Title IX purposes. It is not fully developed in that format. He writes toward the end of the case:

"In reaching my conclusion, I also do not mean to belittle competitive cheer as an athletic endeavor. Competitive cheerleading is a difficult, physical task that requires strength, agility and grace. I have little doubt that at some point in the near future – once competitive cheer is better organized and defined, and surely in the event that the NCAA recognizes the activity as an emerging sport – competitive cheer will be acknowledged as a bona fide sporting activity by academic institutions, the public, and the law. As the evidence in this case demonstrates, however, that time has not yet arrived."

</soapbox>

Originally Posted by AlphaFrog

If competition cheerleading is a sport, so is competition marching band.


/band geek

Do I need to go on, or are we just gonna have a semantics debate about me not specifying competitive?