By Priya Reed
Have you ever heard of cheerleading or heard someone debating if cheerleading is an actual sport? Well I have, and I’m ready to put an end to the debate. Cheerleading is considered a sport for many reasons.
But first what is considered to be a legal sport? Well of course you have to have competition to go against other teams also organized rules, a team, and physical exertion. Cheerleading has all of these including throwing, catching, and flipping people in their stunts, Dancing, etc. There are even Nationals, that’s where cheer teams from all over go to compete to see who’s better.
“Why would it not be considered a sport?” You might ask; So I’ve asked a non-cheerleader how they feel about the sport.
Ryan G (10) says, “There’s no such thing as professional cheerleading, no one will say I’m a professional cheerleader when there like 30”
Proven fact that there are professional cheerleaders for all ages. “ like the for the NFL ”https://ultimatecheerleaders.com/
Just off of 1 interview it seems like cheerleading doesn’t spark the mind of a professional sport but they make around the same income. Usually averaging per each game for cheerleading but different for football or basketball because that’s what their job is.
There are organizations that fund cheerleading like IOC (International Olympic Committee) and their funding goes to putting cheerleading in the Olympics and right now their goal is to put cheerleaders in the Olympics (2024-2028). Proving cheer is an actual sport.
Furthermore, cheerleading is actually very dangerous putting more than 30,000 girls or boys in the hospital each year which have doctors researching that cheering is the most dangerous sport for females due to different injuries that can cause cheerleaders to go disabled.
One reason which leads to people not taking cheerleading seriously, is that there are not enough safety regulations which leads to these girls getting hurt. So others may not think or consider cheerleading as a sport but it takes as much physical to mental skill as any other athlete would.
Cheer is considered a sport because of its attributes, like its physical aspect and pay. I feel it should spark more attention from others and be put into the Olympics.
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