That question has been posed for as long as I can remember. "Is cheerleading a sport?" Add ons to that would be "Well if cheerleading is a sport, then so is chess." Needless to say the insults could go on and on.
But this case has an almost Catch-22 essence around it. Quinnipiac University in Conneticut believes it's still in compliance with Title IX by dropping its women's volleyball team because competitive cheerleading is a sport and thus there is still the required equality between the genders in sports at the school.
Of course members of the volleyball team aren't happy about it and have filed a lawsuit. Now, I'm sure the lawsuit was filed to keep the team going, but in the world that is sensationalistic media, there is very little grey area. If you file a lawsuit against someone, it's generally assumed that you are against whatever the defendant is doing. In this case that would come down to female volleyball players questioning if cheerleaders are worthy of being considered as athletes.
On the surface, I think this case can be settled quickly with a couple of things. Let's do it Jeff Foxworthy style. You might be playing a sport if....
You might be playing a sport if...
1. You've worn something twice without washing it because you believe it's good luck.
2. Good Sportmanship is the last thing on your mind after suffering a loss in front of people you don't know.
3. You can no longer associate conditioning with shampoo.
4. You already know what's wrong with you before a trainer can diagnose it.
5. You know the difference between being hurt and injured.
6. You've ever gone to a drive-thru and asked for a water with no ice, but the ice in a plastic bag
7. You get dressed as fast a possible after practice before the coach figures out he forgot to talk about something.
8. Whether you believe in God or not, you know The Lord's Prayer.
9. Something is getting tape. Ankles, knees, fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows... Something is getting taped up.
10. Years later you hear a whistle blow and have a minor flashback of the worst day of practice.
11. You could win a championship tournament and get into a wreck that same night and it still wouldn't wipe the smile off your face.
If any or all of these have happened to you... You played a sport. Court adjourned.
Is Cheerleading A Sport?
*image by myfoxphilly.com
2 comments:
I say bring it on! Cheerleading is absolutely a sport! I cheered, did gymnastics, field hockey, lacrosse, soft ball and track. I would have to say that Cheerleading was the most difficult, most intricate and most physical sport I have ever taken part in. Go ladies and gents!
Cheerleading is a competition. So is Diving, Ice Skating, and Snowboarding. I believe that the defining line between a sport and a competition is that sports have a clear cut winner, objectively decided by points with well defined boundaries (i.e. in soccer scoring a goal, or in baseball hitting a homerun). Competitions are decided by judges that score based on a more subjective basis. This is not to say that cheerleaders are not athletes. You could infer then that chess is a sport. You may also infer that chess-players are not necessarily athletes.
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