The cheerleaders at your school have petitioned to have cheerleading listed as one of the school’s sports teams. Is cheerleading a “sport?”
Whether or not cheerleading is a sport is a matter of context, and in this case, it would not be a sport. I must apologize to many of the attractive, energetic women whom I just lost the respect of, but this is not an opinion based on a false premise of misogyny or sport bias. Even if cheerleading does involve a group of people who dedicate time to practice, physical activity, and strong coordination, it is more of a performance than a sport since it does not involve competition.
When looking at cheerleading as a whole, however, it does involve a team. There is a great amount of choreography, which requires strength, cardio, agility, and sense of timing. Cheerleaders do take part in representing the school, along with the team that is actually playing the sport (Almost every school of every grade, minus elementary, has a cheerleading squad). The one, crucial specification that cheerleading lacks to become a sport, though, is an opponent team. According to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, a sport is defined as “a contest or game in which people do certain physical activities according to a specific set of rules and compete against each other.” Besides not having a rival group to compete against, cheerleaders are not bound by any rules, but only by their abilities.
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I am not sure if it is even possible to “cheat” in cheerleading. An article on a website for the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators says that cheerleading “does not meet the second criteria (of)… ‘Contesting’ or competing against/with an opponent.” There are some games that do not have a lot of physical activity, or even have more than one opponent, but can still be classified as a sport because of its ability to be a contest. An example is bowling, or ping-pong. Another definition of “sport” from M-Webster’s Dictionary is “a physical activity…..that is done out of enjoyment,” such as hunting, running or fishing. Cheerleading does not fit this definition either, because it has to be a representation of a team that is playing a sport (football, basketball, etc.). No one (at least, none that I know of) practices cheerleading outside of school for a hobby, because they have nothing to cheer for.
Therefore, cheerleading cannot qualify as a “sport” because it is not exactly a game, but only a performance. There are “competitive performances,” like chess, video games, spelling bees and poker, and then there are “physical performances” such as circus acts and stunt shows. In order for an activity to be a sport, it would have to be a combination of both. Cheerleading would qualify as a physical performance because, like a circus act, it does involve entertaining an audience with agile abilities and coordinated movements. So again: to all women out there, who have a meaningful passion for this activity, there is no bias against cheerleading, but there are criteria for being labeled a sport.
