Is Cheerleading a sport?

[Biohazardx]

Yes and right after cheerleading gets into the olympics you can add a marching band competition to it as well.

/facepalm

For the record competitive marching is about 10 times more technically and physically demanding than cheerleading. The logistics is about 100 times more taxing as it's for 100+ people instead of like 10 or 15. Lastly talent is clearly on a higher level as well considering we are talking about playing a musical instrument.

All that and competitive marching is NOT a sport. Those that do it may treat it like a sport, but that doesn't mean it should be recognized as one on an international level. Same with chearleading.

Just cause you do it, doesn't make it special.

[creepygnome]

Yes it is. Especially at the professional level, ie NBA games. It takes a lot of practice and dedication to be good at it.

[Shinoashi]

Wikipedia is about as useless as using foot cream on your acne problem.

---------- Post added 2011-05-09 at 03:13 AM ----------

is sex is sport? should it be allowed at olympics ?

"I'd like to go with *not funny* for 500 please Bob."

[RoboA]

you guys should watch hellcats. its a good show with lots of hot girls in their underwear.

[Fojos]

Yes it is. Especially at the professional level, ie NBA games. It takes a lot of practice and dedication to be good at it.

Doesn't that apply to just about anything? A lot of practice and dedication to become really good at it.

[Lilcheeks]

Bleh. I saw cheerleading and got excited for a second.

This thread is useless without pics

[Kenai]

Doesn't that apply to just about anything? A lot of practice and dedication to become really good at it.

I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Cheerleaders need a lot more than practice and dedication. They also need talent, physical excellence, coordination, and skill, plus the ability to do all of that with a team. All of these traits are things that sports get judged for at the Olympics, and some don't even have all of those traits.

All that and competitive marching is NOT a sport. Those that do it may treat it like a sport, but that doesn't mean it should be recognized as one on an international level. Same with chearleading.

Just cause you do it, doesn't make it special.

You are free to have an opinion on the matter but please don't make up meaningless statistics comparing the difficulty of the two and present them matter-of-factly as if they are some sort of evidence. For the record, I think there's no real reason stopping marching bands from being a sport either.

[Rukh]

I say no. And that is in no way intended to diminish the hard work that goes in to it. I just wouldn't classify it under "sport" just like I don't classify dance competitions, stand up comedy, creating a painting, writing a book etc etc as sports even though they're very worthy activities. Just because you can compete at something its not a sport. I think people are wrong to view it as only worthwhile if it counts as a sport too.

[Shinoashi]

Bleh. I saw cheerleading and got excited for a second.

This thread is useless without pics

I'm sorry but I must... Apple bottom jeans, boots with the fir, the whole club was looking at her! SHE HIT THE FLOOR! NEXT THING YOU KNOW! Shorty got low, low, low, low, low, low.

[capslocked]

Are doing pushups a sport? No? Neither is cheerleading.
Sure it takes lots of hard work(strong body, practice), but a sport? Nah.

[Bluthsbananas]

Not a sport. You don't score any points/goals. It's just halftime entertainment for real sports.

[champ3000]

There are cheerleading competitions. It is pretty much a form of gymnastics. So if gymnastics are a sport, then by definition, cheerleading would be a sport.

---------- Post added 2011-05-09 at 03:32 AM ----------

Not a sport. You don't score any points/goals. It's just halftime entertainment for real sports.

Actually, there are points scored at cheerleading competitions.

[marzipan]

in most peoples mind a sport is a physical game of some kind. so no i don't think cheer leading is a sport. Even the name "cheer leading" is from getting a crowd psyched for another sport such as football or basketball. But it is very physically demanding and requires a lot of training and practice. I do think it could be in the Olympics. I mean, the Olympics has an event where they ski and shoot a gun. The real question is, when will under water basket weaving be a sport?

[Kenai]

Are doing pushups a sport? No? Neither is cheerleading.
Sure it takes lots of hard work(strong body, practice), but a sport? Nah.

Why are you comparing cheerleading to push ups? Surely you understand that one is significantly different from the other?

I say no. And that is in no way intended to diminish the hard work that goes in to it. I just wouldn't classify it under "sport" just like I don't classify dance competitions, stand up comedy, creating a painting, writing a book etc etc as sports even though they're very worthy activities. Just because you can compete at something its not a sport. I think people are wrong to view it as only worthwhile if it counts as a sport too.

Can you explain to me why you compare any of those activities to cheerleading (except maybe dancing, but cheerleading isn't dancing either) What makes cheerileading less of a sport than the current roster of Olympic sports? I'm trying to understand but I'm just not seeing anything in this thread. At all.

A lot of people are keeping me from seeing several additional beautiful women in revealing clothing at the Olympics, for no good reason at all. In addition, making cheerleading an official sport would help protect these these women from several currently dangerous practices that are not as carefully monitored as they should be because cheerleading is not a sport "for some indeterminate reason".

Ugh.

[romant]

is the WNBA like watching a sport........no. Same goes for cheer leading

[Bassnectar]

Nope. standing there yelling already made up stupid slogans, not a sport.

[Atrea]

Could it be considered a sport? Maybe. Depends on who you ask. Objectively speaking, it meets several criteria, but not all.
Does it belong in the Olympics? I don't think so.

There are Olympic sports that I wouldn't consider to be a sport, such as shooting. I don't think they belong there either.
What is an Olympic sport, however, is gymnastics - explain to me the difference between cheerleading and gymnastics.
Essentially, very little, aside from dress and purpose. Granted, cheerleading is performed in a team setting (ostensibly); that's about the only difference.

I doubt we'll ever see it as an Olympic sport.

[Nefastus]

Dont think its REALLY a sport but in the end depends on your point of view... Not sure what is necessary to set some activity as a sport.

[Tiptoes]

"A sport is an organized, competitive, entertaining, and skillful activity requiring commitment, strategy, and fair play, in which a winner can be defined by objective means. Generally speaking, a sport is a game based in physical athleticism. Activities such as board games and card games are sometimes classified as "mind sports," but strictly speaking "sport" by itself refers to some physical activity. Non-competitive activities may also qualify, for example though jogging or playing catch are usually classified as forms of recreation, they may also be informally called "sports" due to their similarity to competitive games.
Sports are governed by a set of rules or customs. Physical events such as scoring goals or crossing a line first often define the result of a sport. However, the degree of skill and performance in some sports such as diving, dressage and figure skating is judged according to well-defined criteria. This is in contrast with other judged activities such as beauty pageants and body building, where skill does not have to be shown and the criteria are not as well defined."

Its a sport, its not like football or basketball, i think some people are thinking about cheerleaders at pro sports games, that cheer leading is not a sport that is entertainment and not really "cheer leading" its more like dance team with pom poms. But in competition its a sport, you know when guys pick up 110 pound girls with one hand then throw them and they do a flip and they catch them, thats a sport.

A sport is an organized, competitive, entertaining, and skillful activity requiring commitment, strategy, and fair play, CHECK
in which a winner can be defined by objective means CHECK
game based in physical athleticism. CHECK
judged according to well-defined criteria. CHECK

[Looq]

I think what keeps it from being an Olympic Sport is that it's so subjective to judge. A large portion of what you judge is creativity and sex appeal and while I agree there should be(and is) a place for competitive cheerleading, it's hard to award a team a gold medal from something that has so much to do with your personal taste. But at some point the skill level raises enough for it to become Gymnastics, which is an Olympic sport, so I think there's a fine line.