Cheerleading: Sport or Not?

[TSteven]

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.).

This is the case for current and 18 time UCA National Champions University of Kentucky.

Interestingly, the UK Cheerleaders are part of the UK Athletic Department. Cheerleaders may also be on athletic scholarship. However, my understanding is that UK does not count Cheerleading for Title IX purposes.

From The New York Sunday Times Magazine Sideline Acrobats published September 18, 2005.

Cheerleading is, in the popular imagination, the soft, sweet stuff of fall afternoons - the bright colors and big smiles, the irony-free heartland enthusiasm, the sideshow aspect of exhorting players and crowds by way of pompoms and short skirts. But the truth is that cheerleaders, at the college level at least, happen to be serious athletes. The University of Kentucky squad, whose current members are featured in the following photographs [link above], is the best in the country, having won the national championships of the Universal Cheerleaders Association 14 times since 1985. To watch them in training or competition (or at play in a lake) is to see acrobatic artistry at a literally sky-high level - the women soaring through the air, the men hoisting them up on single upturned palms.

To capture the greatness of the Kentucky cheerleaders, the magazine commissioned the Danish photographer Joachim Ladefoged, whose varied body of work includes photojournalism from Albania and Kosovo as well as images of bodybuilders. Ladefoged had the advantage of coming completely fresh to the American cheerleading milieu. "In Denmark, we don't have this kind of tradition," he says. "The guys are always throwing the girls in the air, and from the ground you don't see the guys' faces, because they look up all the time. I had to get around this problem by shooting down from a ladder. It was the only way to capture the faces and their concentration and at the same time completely fill the frame with flying bodies.


© Joachim Ladefoged/VII, for The New York Times - Members of the University of Kentucky team practice their high-flying routine before the national cheerleading championships. Although 97% of competitors are female, the physical demands of stunts mean that men are often recruited. Surprisingly, cheerleading began as an all-male pursuit, with the first females participating in the 1920s. The University of Kentucky team is seen as the best in the US, having won the championships 14 times in the past 17 years.

Just for fun and comparison, UK Cheerleaders during the Wildcats' 1958 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. (UK's 4th Championship)

[DrPhil]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerleading

[Senusret I]

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

LOL. The first thing I noticed were the men's hard bodies. Then I said "oh, there are women smilingly flying through the air...cool...."

[Munchkin03]

Even at some HS levels, cheerleading is definitely a sport.

Even dance team! My niece is on her HS dance team as a rising freshman. From 6-12 every day, they're at practice (they had the week off after July 4). Sometimes they go back from 2-6 if there's a hip-hop camp. They have fundraisers, team bonding events, or practice on Saturdays. Those girls are NO JOKE.

[jennyj87]

Originally Posted by TSteven

This is the case for current and 18 time UCA National Champions University of Kentucky.

Interestingly, the UK Cheerleaders are part of the UK Athletic Department. Cheerleaders may also be on athletic scholarship. However, my understanding is that UK does not count Cheerleading for Title IX purposes.

From The New York Sunday Times Magazine Sideline Acrobats published September 18, 2005.

Cheerleading is, in the popular imagination, the soft, sweet stuff of fall afternoons - the bright colors and big smiles, the irony-free heartland enthusiasm, the sideshow aspect of exhorting players and crowds by way of pompoms and short skirts. But the truth is that cheerleaders, at the college level at least, happen to be serious athletes. The University of Kentucky squad, whose current members are featured in the following photographs [link above], is the best in the country, having won the national championships of the Universal Cheerleaders Association 14 times since 1985. To watch them in training or competition (or at play in a lake) is to see acrobatic artistry at a literally sky-high level - the women soaring through the air, the men hoisting them up on single upturned palms.

To capture the greatness of the Kentucky cheerleaders, the magazine commissioned the Danish photographer Joachim Ladefoged, whose varied body of work includes photojournalism from Albania and Kosovo as well as images of bodybuilders. Ladefoged had the advantage of coming completely fresh to the American cheerleading milieu. "In Denmark, we don't have this kind of tradition," he says. "The guys are always throwing the girls in the air, and from the ground you don't see the guys' faces, because they look up all the time. I had to get around this problem by shooting down from a ladder. It was the only way to capture the faces and their concentration and at the same time completely fill the frame with flying bodies.


© Joachim Ladefoged/VII, for The New York Times - Members of the University of Kentucky team practice their high-flying routine before the national cheerleading championships. Although 97% of competitors are female, the physical demands of stunts mean that men are often recruited. Surprisingly, cheerleading began as an all-male pursuit, with the first females participating in the 1920s. The University of Kentucky team is seen as the best in the US, having won the championships 14 times in the past 17 years.

Just for fun and comparison, UK Cheerleaders during the Wildcats' 1958 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. (UK's 4th Championship)

Every girl/guy from my HS/competition teams dreamed of going to UK and being on that team.

[KSUViolet06]

I'd say it is if you are stunting, tumbling and competing.

One of my guy friends (and past formal date in college) cheered when we were in undergrad. He had conditioning every AM from 5:30-7 and practice every night from about 7-9pm..

The team competed in the big UCA competition at Disney every spring. As a result, they stayed at school over winter break and practiced every single day to prepare for it.

I've watched videos of the practices/routines and they are no joke.

Also, our family friend's daughter has cheered competitively since age 5 and is now competing at the highest level (there are difficulty levels 1-5).

During the summer, she has camp for a week, followed by 2x/week of tumbing, and pracice 3x/week. These aren't back-handsprings she's working on either. I think their team goal for this summer includes having the entire team know how to do full twisting layouts (or "fulls"). YouTube it. It's pretty serious. Her team also earned an invite to the World championship of competitive cheer, which is apparently (according to her and her friends) the holy grail of cheer.

I'd consider the above examples to be sports.

In contrast, my mom has coached rec league cheer via our local parks and rec for years. There is no stunting or tumbling involved, just sideline cheers. They also don't compete. I'd consider that an activity more than a sport.

[BluPhire]

If figure skating is an Olympic sport, why not cheerleading?

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by BluPhire

If figure skating is an Olympic sport, why not cheerleading?

Probably because there's competition involved, which isn't always the case with cheerleading.

/talkingaboutcheerleadingsincecollegefootballistheo nlyrealsport

[BluPhire]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Probably because there's competition involved, which isn't always the case with cheerleading.

/talkingaboutcheerleadingsincecollegefootballistheo nlyrealsport

Whatever. I think that was established in the previous page that we were talking competitive cheer, not chilling on the side line saying go team go.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by BluPhire

If figure skating is an Olympic sport, why not cheerleading?

Because all cheerleading is not created equally and even wikipedia acknowledges that. I wouldn't tell a cheerleader who literally only leads cheers that he or she isn't a "real cheerleader" because there aren't any tumbles, flips, or jumps in the cheer routine.

When I watch figure skaters (competitive or not) I consistently see the same level of rigor and intensity including jumps and spins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_skating
http://www.usfsa.org/

[Nanners52674]

Originally Posted by BluPhire

If figure skating is an Olympic sport, why not cheerleading?

It's not that cheerleading can't be a sport, it's that it can't be used for Title IX reporting. And there are a lot of events in the Olympics that aren't recognized as college sports.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by BluPhire

Whatever. I think that was established in the previous page that we were talking competitive cheer, not chilling on the side line saying go team go.

I don't think that's been established.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by BluPhire

Whatever. I think that was established in the previous page that we were talking competitive cheer, not chilling on the side line saying go team go.

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

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I don't think that's been established.

Gracias.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by Nanners52674

And there are a lot of events in the Olympics that aren't recognized as college sports.

I'm lazy, can you give me some examples of Olympic events that aren't formally recognized as college sports?