Is Cheerleading A Sport?

Whenever someone mentions the word cheerleading or cheerleader, people often picture girls jumping around, doing brainless cheer, and looking attractive. Most often people have this stereotype embedded into their heads and are not familiar with the true facts. But what is a sport, what do cheerleaders really do, and what are some of the risk involved?

Many people shake their heads at the idea of cheerleading being called a sport. But what exactly is a sport? The Internet defined sport as: "An endeavor which requires physical skill, whose participants compete with one another under a defined system so rules, governed by an authoritative body, with a clear method for defining a finishing order for those participants, also requiring many athletic aspects." So why are cheerleaders treated so differently? Forget the American prime example of a blonde cheerleader in a tight sweater obsessed for the muscled quarterback. It no longer means sideline cheers that exist only to support the other team. They are teams in their own right these days.

Cheerleading deals with more then just cheers, its actually a combination of different sports. It has the strength and guts of football, the gracefulness and balance of gymnastics, and the performing aspects of figure skating. The truth is cheerleading requires a great deal of physical skill, strength, and fitness. Not only does a cheerleader need to be flexible but they must require a vast deal of balance to perform numerous stunts. College and high school cheerleaders compete for National Championships. Some are even recruited for college scholarships, and, in some cases they put more practice hours then a football team.

Cheerleaders also risk terrible injury and many dangers come with being one. A former cheerleader, Tracey Jensen landed on her head while doing a double back flip at a 1996 practice and is now limited to only using her arms and legs. Cheerleading leads to more serious injuries