Yes, Cheerleading is not a sport

Cheerleading should not be labeled as an sport. The dictionary definition of a sport is "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature." My definition of a sport is a physical activity which is played between two teams that has an offense and an defense. There is always a heated debate whether cheerleading is a sport or not. Cheerleading is a competition activity with teams, thats it.

Tommy Ferra is a 34 yr old dad who has a daughter who does cheerleading and this is his stance on the heated debate.

“Cheerleading is a sport because it is very hard to do and it requires people who are athletic in able to do it.”

Yes, cheerleading is hard and it does require athletic ability but SO WHAT !

Just because something is hard it does not make it a sport. There are a lot of things in the world that takes a certain skill and physical endurance but should not be categorized as a sport. There is no offense and no defense when it comes to having to deal with the competition.

A 20 yr old woman, Candice Kastell, use to be a cheerleader in high school. Her stance on the topic is all about the competitive nature of the “sport”.

“I really do think cheerleading is a sport because of the competition it has with other teams. There are tournaments and leagues for cheerleading. It takes team work in order to win a trophy and accomplish a certain goal.”

Beer pong, playing video games, and even seeing who can get the most girls are about completion but should not be a factor.

Tournaments and leagues are also established but just because they are in place doesn't make it a sport. Those settings also apply to competition based activities which is what cheerleading is, an activity. Winning a trophy is the main goal of any activity and winning is always the end goal, as it is in beer pong and other varies of fun. But nobody will dare make beer pong a sport right?

27 yr old woman, Nicole Ramirez, is a long time sports coach and she is behind the fact that cheerleading should be labeled a sport. Training is her top reason why it should be.

“The training aspect of what is takes to be in the shape to cheerlead is also another reason why it can be considered. A normal person just cant jump into the competition, it takes multiple months to train for a tournament.”

Yes, training takes months to get ready for cheerleading but why cant that apply to just training for a activity ?

Body building has competition all over the world that takes years and years of training but many people would not think of it as a sport. There are always some amount of training to be done in order to compete dealing with teams, but doesn't carry much weight, (no pun attended).

The Bottom Line

Cheerleading is not a sport, it just an competitive activity that people participate in.

Nascar, golf, and track are also considered sports by many people but its in the same category for cheerleading. A sport is when teams are on defense and offense that have competition within the game to see who comes out with the win

Cheerleading does require training and skill. There are competitive tournaments that have multiple teams to see who is better but not because it is a sport. Cheerleading is a activity/hobby that people do for fun, but such as nascar, golf, and track, they are not sports.