Is cheerleading really a sport? With all the strength, flexibility, and pain cheerleaders have to go through and endure daily, I would say that should not even be up for question. In cheerleading, there is an extremely high injury rate. Cheerleading requires excessive physical activity. Cheerleaders dedicate there lives, hearts, and souls, so do they not deserve the right to be recognized as athletes who actually participate in a sport?
Cheerleading is an extremely dangerous sport. According to Mark who owns his own outdoor spots website the definition of a sport is, “A strenuous mental or physical activity in which players stand a good chance of receiving serious physical injury or death. Everything else is just a game.” yet in his list not what is not a sport and what is he still placed cheerleading in the non-sport category. Almost every week, I come into school with a new injury. Just recently, I sprained my knee and leg and rolled my ankle on my other leg. I have been injured more times cheerleading than the entire varsity football team has gotten hurt. In cheerleading while, doing a run thorough everyone has to do everything perfect or someone could be kicked in the face, hit, or worse. So if that is truly the definition of a sport than cheerleading defiantly is one because it fits perfectly.
Cheerleading requires a lot of physical exertion. Cheerleaders have to be able to flip themselves over which is something most athletes only dream of doing. One cheerleading practice is equivalent to five football practices. At one, two and a half hour cheerleading practice cheerleaders are expected to run, stretch, stunt, tumble, jump, and do some type of conditioning. In a cheerleading practice there is little to no down time we just do one thing right after another unlike football where half the time they just sit around and talk.
Cheerleading involves teamwork just like any other sport, the only difference is that teamwork plays a more important role than...