...easily and I will tell you how. If you want to compare it to another sport, you can with gymnastics. Gymnastics consist of gymnast tumbling, cheerleaders tumble as well along with doing other things. Dancing is also considered a sport, cheerleading routines have a dance portion in them. Both gymnastics and dancing are involved in cheerleading but they are considered sports and cheering...
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...Cheering at football games may seem very easy, but it takes a lot to memorize over a dozen cheers with hand motion and footwork. Being a sideline cheerleader isn’t the only kind of cheering that there is. There’s also competition cheering. Competition cheering includes dance, tumbling (gymnastics), jumps, stunting, and of course the cheer part. Competition cheering takes place in the winter when basketball would. If you play basketball, you obviously enough have to be in shape. In cheering it’s the same kind of idea. Cheerleaders for a competition team aren’t running up and down a court for four quarters, but they do have a fast, strenuous, and exhausting routine that they have to perform in two minutes or under. In the routine you have to have three jumps, a tumbling sequence, five stunts or tosses, a dance, and a cheer. People may think that cheerleaders can’t score points, so therefore, it’s not a sport, but that’s not true. In cheerleading competitions, you are scored on your routine and how well you do. It’s like gymnastics, gymnasts are judged on their different events. At a competition when you do something good, you get points and if you do something bad, you lose points. Even though your not shooting a ball into a net, you can still score. I think the reason people think all this because their uneducated. Even some cheering parents don’t quite understand how it all works. I believe that until you’ve been behind the scenes and seen the hard work...
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...together with people and as a team just like any other sport. Teamwork is the dream work. Cheerleaders are commonly seen on the sidelines at football and basketball games supporting their teams. Fans just see them as other people supporting their team. However, the cheerleaders have to go through rigorous training and practice all the time to perfect the routines displayed at games. Along with cheering on the sidelines at games, most cheerleading squads participate in heated competitions to show their athleticism. Although it is not officially defined as a sport by the NCAA, it obviously should be for many different reasons. Dictionary.com defines a sport as "an athletic activity that requires physical prowess or skill and often a competitive nature. Cheerleading is defined as” the action and skill of a cheerleader.” So what is a cheerleader? A cheerleader is’ a person who leads spectators in traditional or formal cheering at a pep rally and athletic events. Cheerleading definitely fulfills this criteria maybe even better than other activities commonly called sports. I interviewed a young lady named Schae who used to cheer for Kenmore High School. She is now a senior and attends a different school. When she cheered for Kenmore she thought that the team was a wonderful team and cheerleading was something that she always looked forward too. . She loves...
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...When most people hear the word “cheerleading,” they think of teenage girls walking around school in their uniforms, and doing cheers while walking down the halls, right? Well, normally, that’s only in movies. Thankfully, the group I myself take part in is a competitive, extreme, sport. Don’t think of it as just a ‘hobby’ truly, people dedicate their time and lives to this sport. Honestly, it all matters on which group of cheer you join. Cheerleading originally started in 1898 when a student decided to cheer on their team at a football game. A student with the name Johnny Campbell, gathered a group together to start yelling and cheering for their team. People often say cheerleading is ‘girly’. Believe it or not, after cheerleading became an official sport, this was a sport only men were allowed to participate in. It wasn’t until 1923 that women were allowed to take part in this sport. (Site Page) Why exactly is cheerleading not considered a sport? The Women's Sports Foundation makes it clear that “any physical activity in which relative performance can be judged or qualified can be developed into a competitive sport.” (site page) Cheerleading meets all the athletic specifications too. It must be a “...physical activity which involves propelling a mass through space or overcoming the resistance of mass. ‘Contesting’ or competing against/with an...
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...football games may seem very easy, but it takes a lot to memorize over a dozen cheers with hand motion and footwork. Being a sideline cheerleader isn’t the only kind of cheering that there is. There’s also competition cheering. Competition cheering includes dance, tumbling (gymnastics), jumps, stunting, and of course the cheer part. Competition cheering takes place in the winter when basketball would. If you play basketball, you obviously enough have to be in shape. In cheering it’s the same kind of idea. Cheerleaders for a competition team aren’t running up and down a court for four quarters, but they do have a fast, strenuous, and exhausting routine that they have to perform in two minutes or under. In the routine you have to have three jumps, a tumbling sequence, five stunts or tosses, a dance, and a cheer. Can you imagine doing all that in two minutes? People may think that cheerleaders can’t score points, so therefore, it’s not a sport, but that’s not true. In cheerleading competitions, you are scored on your routine and how well you do. It’s like gymnastics, gymnasts are judged on their different events. At a competition when you do something good, you get points and if you do something bad, you lose points. Even though your not shooting a ball into a net, you can still score. I think the reason people think all this because their uneducated. Even some cheering parents don’t quite understand how it all works. I believe that until you’ve been behind the scenes and seen...
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...depending on how well we are doing that year; we could go to more competitions. The competitions are usually about two to two and a half hours away. Oblong cheerleaders have qualified for the IHSA state competition during the last four years and for the ICCA championship two years in a row. To qualify for the IHSA state meet the squad must make it in the top five at their respective sectional, this year ours was in Highland, Illinois. For the ICCA championship, a squad must make seventy-five percent of their overall score. This year OHS cheerleaders went to six competitions. Oblong went to three ICCA competitions and qualified at all three. OHS also placed fourth at the IHSA competition and was lucky enough to get to go to state. We also qualified to move onto the ICCA championship. Oblong is in the small varsity division due to our enrollment of under 660 students in our high school. There are also other divisions such as medium, large, and co-ed. The small varsity division consists of twelve or less girls or eleven girls and one guy. The medium division can have thirteen to sixteen girls or less. The large varsity can have seventeen or more on the floor, but also like the other divisions, they can have less. The co-ed division may have two or more males on the squad. A routine can be up to three minutes or less, but each squad tries to do their best to reach three minutes. Our cheer coach, Mary Patchett, hires a choreographer to make up a routine for our competitions...
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...I will discuss the several way that cheerleading is 100 percent sport-worthy and how it’s become an industry in itself. In this paper I will venture the idea that cheerleading is well known to be taken over by the female population, but in reality there is just as many male cheerleaders who participate. Not only that but I will argue that cheerleading is a sport. Going against protesters saying that cheerleading is nothing more than a hobby or activity. Thus, proving that cheerleading as a sport can finally receive the respect it deserves. Many outsiders do not realize that there are two very different origins of cheerleading. One type is well-known as sideline cheerleading, which you can mainly see at a sporting game. “According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, a primary purpose of sideline spirit groups (dance, pom, drill or cheer) is to serve as support...
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...hundreds of hours of grueling practice come down to how well they perform their two-and-a-half minute routine. The slightest mistake by any member of the team and their dreams of awarded "Champions" vanish. Most people confuse the girls and boys who yell chants such as "Go, Team Go!", or "Rah, Rah, Rah" to the crowd at sporting events, with the true athletes of competitive cheerleading. Cheering at sporting events is an activity in most school curricula, which is not a sport. However, because many people have not been introduced to competitive cheerleading, a true sport, they are led to believe that this type of chanting encompasses all forms of cheerleading. Although, the NCAA has not formally recognized cheerleading as a sport, competitive cheerleading is and should be considered a sport. Many people confuse sideline cheerleading with competitive cheerleading. Sideline cheerleading is an activity in which an individual cheers for a team. Sideline cheerleading consists of simple cheers where the crowd can cheer along with. It is fun and non- competitive. Competitive cheerleading is a competitive sport that is performed with an organized routine in which is judged. The world of competitive cheerleading is fierce and requires mental and physical strength. Competitive cheerleading includes a number of physical requirements such as skills and fitness each cheerleader should meet. Like gymnasts, cheerleaders must know how to...
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...Many people do not understand what cheerleading consists of. A lot of people think that one kind of cheerleading can be considered a sport but other ones are not able to be a sport a high school cheerleader, an all-star cheerleader, or a college cheerleader are all cheerleaders. Cheerleaders are very hard workers who a lot of times are told that what they do is not a sport by any means. The American Medical Association thinks that cheerleading should be considered a sport (Bonesteel, 2014). A sport is an athletic activity requiring skill or physical expertise and often in a competitive nature (Dictionary.com, nd). Now cheerleading is a highly competitive sport that consists of a high level of athleticism (Lennison, 2012). This can really hurt anyone’s confidence in what they are doing. Cheerleading should be considered a sport because of how much work needs to be put into it and how easy it is to get injured.Cheerleaders put in many hours of work for only a two and a half minute performance. They also are in something that is thankless, whether it is cheering for a team or competing there is not a lot of respect shown to them. Cheerleaders have to work hard for where they are at, they had to earn the spot on the team they were not just handed it. Even after...
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...Cheer Your Heart Out Completion was in 2 weeks and it was crunch time. Our coach made us have practice almost every night. It was hard trying to juggle school and cheerleading, but I found a way to do it. Cheerleading is something I am very passionate about, and something I do all the time. If I am not cheering, I am in the gym working on my skills or making sure I stay fit for cheerleading. A lot of people say cheerleading is not a sport, but you know what I tell them, meet me on the mat and I will show you what’s up. Cheerleading is a very tough sport. We lift people the same weight as us, or sometimes the person can weigh more than you do. We don’t have shoulder pads and things to protect us like football players. So if you fall, someone falls on you, or if anything goes wrong you can get seriously injured. Can you see how serious it is yet? It was lunch time at school, and some of my teammates and I, would always meet in the court yard to practice the routine. All eyes would be on us and we would practice like we were on the competition floor. We sometimes even went one by one so we can see if anyone was making mistakes. Kiara was known for always messing up routines, and it was time for one by one. I went first, because I was confident that I knew my stuff. After I got done performing all the girls would be like “that was the bomb”, or “amazing!” Kiara of course would always try to find a way to get out of doing it by herself. “Kiara, it’s your turn”, I said. “Guys do...
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...arms, and a huge “TJ” embroidered in the center. We were supposed to the cute all American cheerleaders, but instead, our uniforms made us look like glittery silver aliens from the tackiest planet in the solar system. It was terrible! My team and I were ridiculed the full two weeks we had to wear those garbage bags. The center of attention was what was on our backs, instead of our routines. The uniform, in my opinion, is just as important as the talent and skill any cheerleader (or team) possesses. In high school, I was an all American cheerleader. I must admit, I initially made the decision to try out for the cheer team solely for the uniform. The uniforms at the time were vintage inspired and they were beautiful. It was a red and blue tightly fit knit sweater with matching skirt. Very simple, yet very pretty, and I was determined to wear one! In truth, I had no cheer experience what so ever, but I was already an athlete and thought, “how hard can this honestly be?” How incredibly naïve I was! If I was to make the team and earn my uniform I had to learn how to jump, split, tumble, dance and cheer all within a weeks’ time. I poured my heart into it, let the adrenaline take over, and prayed that I learned...
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...and even be able to pick up another human being at least 20 feet off the ground. Cheerleaders are these athletes who have to do all of things, but do not get recognized as an actual sport. In a huge arena filled with thousands of screaming fans, hundreds of anxious athletes, and thousands of some overly involved parents; and a huge national title at stake describes the weekly scenario for a competitive cheerleader. Many people like to say that cheerleading could never be a sport because all they do is cheer on other male-dominated sports right? Yet, this is not...
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...made me stand out even more. Unlike the other girls I had no rhythm, flexibility, or even tumbling experience which is all crucial for this sport. Then there is me whose skills consist of hand-eye coordination, speed, and agility. This was the beginning of a whole new world for me and one I knew I had to try my hardest to catch on and trust me I was going to put forth all my effort. Of course I had to start with the basics; clapping and motions. Which sounded extremely easy so I wasn’t too nervous. Quickly though, I learned they are very particular about how you clap, if your motions were tight, if you were loud enough, or if you sang the words instead of shouted...
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...sporting events which then spread to the United States of America. In the United States, the first cheerleaders were from a group of six men from Princeton University, which was called the Princeton Pep Club. The man that organized the Princeton Pep Club was Thomas Peebler. Thomas Peebler was a graduate of Princeton University who started a cheer/chant of “Sis Boom Rah”. Cheerleading has come a long since the Princeton Pep Club, but yet it is still not receiving the respect it should be receiving in today’s world. The history of cheerleading over the past century has evolved from six men in the Princeton Pep Club chanting at a football game to one of today’s most popular and difficult sports for both girls and boys. Cheerleading started as a man’s sport and overtime evolved into a sport that is based mainly on females. When people now a days think of cheerleading, they think of girls flaunting around in their short skirt and tight uniform top, but cheerleading began as a male sport. During the year of 1903, at a University of Minnesota football game, there was a group of six males that created a yell squad, which led to a male cheer fraternity called Gamma Sigma (iSport, History of Cheerleading). The Cheerleading State, which consisted of a group of males who led crowd chants during basketball and football games, was started in 1905 by a group from Texas A&M. The sport of cheerleading remained mostly men until the mid 1920’s, which is when girl’s started to discover...
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...at age three at family gatherings, and have continued ever since then. It was not only something I enjoyed but an art I wanted to perfect. I even performed at national competitions. For three years of my life, I attend a dance studio, six days a week, constantly learning new techniques and preparing for competitions. My routine consisted of: slamming the alarm clock at 6:00 am, school all day, home for lunch, practice until all my pirouettes and leaps caused my feet to ache, hours of homework, and went to bed exhausted to repeat it all the following day. Throughout this routine I...
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