Is cheerleading considered a sport? In this article there is “no solid official definition of sport.” There are many people that bully cheerleaders with rude comments to get under their skin. There are many that truly believe cheerleading is dumb and has no athleticism. Those who are brave enough to argue whether or not cheerleading is a sport will most likely lose the argument. Why? Because to be considered a sport there must be score sheets, there must be a competition or match, a winner, time limit, etc.  The Women’s Sports Foundation narrowed down what is needed to be considered a sport, which I listed before, and cheerleading meets all those requirements. Cheerleading is publicized on ESPN. Not only is competitive cheer publicized but high school cheerleading competitions are also on ESPN.

As a cheerleader myself, I can back this argument up easily. When people think of cheerleading they think of cheerleaders at high school pep rally’s, not competitive or college cheer. Unfortunately, high school cheer is the main reason competitive cheer is not taken seriously, the difficult level is much different for both. Either way, both should be respected equally. Competitive cheer has bigger competitions like nationals, local, and the biggest competition of them all Worlds. Worlds is held in Florida and only the best teams are given the chance to compete. High school cheerleading is taken more serious in the south. Most high school cheerleaders have competitions like districts, regionals and state competitions, which is still a big deal and should not be looked down upon. Hard work and passion is put into each practice.

Cheerleaders train about eight months for four to six hours to prepare for Worlds. All that time spent practicing is the reason cheerleaders take those mean comments offensive, there is a lot of hard work put into the two minute and thirty second routine. As a cheerleader it is very insulting when comments like “cheer isn’t a sport” “it is stupid” are made. the devotion and grind is just as intense as any other sport. As stated in the article, when this debate comes up it is better to just let the argument go because no matter what each person is entitled to their opinion.

“Respect is earned, and there are plenty of teams that get it by doing what they are supposed to do and by being good role models” said Kentucky cheerleader and executive director of AACCA, Jim Lord. Jim Lord sends a message to all the dedicated cheerleaders to not let comments get to them. Jim has a good point in this article, cheerleaders know the intensity of the sport so there is no need to prove others wrong. No matter how many times this topic will be argued with, all that matters is the heart and compassion one has for the sport. For those whose reaction is to argue back keep this quote in mind “remember, winning an argument will not necessarily win you other’s respect.” The time cheerleaders put into what they love is what matters, not those who are uneducated about the definition of a “sport.”