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Two Cheerleading Questions?

1) If people say that cheerleading isn't a sport and cheerleaders only "service" the football players, then what are they saying about the 8, 9 and 10 year old little girl cheerleaders?

2) If cheerleading isn't a sport, then how come a non-athlete can be told what the Statue of Liberty play is and can do it almost immediately, but the same non-athlete will take days or weeks to do a liberty in cheerleading?

Update:

My cheerleading daughters are a junior and a senior in high school. They both are A/B students who are taking 2-4 college classes.

Their team has won the state champion competition and third place in the past two years. (Competition is what's needed to make it a sport.)

I used the "doing the liberty"/"statue of liberty play" analogy since they both contain the word liberty. I could have used any football play and cheerleading stunt, but chose those two.

I have brown hair, not blonde.

11 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    Wow, some people are really making some tremendous personality judgments around here.

    People who think cheering isn't a sport because it originated as a support system for other athletic teams are probably also people who think figure skating isn't a sport either since it started out as a pleasant way to spend a winter afternoon.

    You can't force people to acknowledge the difficulty of an activity. I say live and let live and don't bother wasting time with people who are just waiting to cut you down for doing something you or your children love?

  • HMhm
    Lv 4
    1 decade ago

    Since you want to hear so much about how it isn't a sport, I will talk about it point for point:

    1) The 8, 9, and 10 year old cheerleaders could almost be considered a sport, but not really. They actually compete in competitions and aren't only for sports. For example, their whole existence is to train them to be good at cheerleading and to win competitions, while older cheerleaders are there to cheer on football/basketball/other sports, not nearly as much for competition.

    2) Everyone knows what the Statue of Liberty play in football is since nearly everyone plays football in gym at one point in their life and someone does the Statue of Liberty at least once in every game. I don't know what a liberty is in cheerleading as I am well, not a cheerleader.

    3) The ungiven point: Cheerleading's whole existence is to benefit and provide a spirit for the team they are rooting for. Cheerleaders can rowl crowds up and that can be very useful. For example, some fields call their fans the "12th man" since they make it so loud the other team will not hear an audible if the qb calls one and they are forced to call a timeout. Cheerleaders are also there to be hot. This makes people watch them so they will cheer.

    p.s. Idiotwind, she's calling you out...lol

    Also note that idiotwind's name begins with what word?

  • 1 decade ago

    The cheerleading as a sport debate is never-ending. It's like trying to get someone to change their religion. Cheer leading is not a sport, competitive or otherwise. Just because something is difficult to learn doesn't make it a sport. It's hard to learn calculus. I don't know what the age question has to do with anything. If nothing else it's a good reason for young girls to exercise. Whether or not cheer leading is called a sport has nothing to do with it's validity as an activity. It still is a fun and vital part of the sports experience. Why is everyone so caught up in what label it carries? It gets funded by most schools the same way as sports do, so enjoy and don't worry about what they call it.

  • 1 decade ago

    WOW guys come on. Seriously you are all mistaken. Before I was a cheerleader I didn't consider it a sport. Believe me the last thing I thought I would do was cheerleading. But now I do and I love it. It is totally a sport. For all of you who think otherwise you should try it. Most of the girls on my team could probably lift more than the average guy of a corresponding age. Just something to think about. and by the way most of us are not skanks, a few are but it also know quite a few soccer and basketball players who are too. Not to mention volleyball players in their spandex.

    Source(s): started cheering as a freshman, before that I was a gymnast
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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    1. Cheerleading is NOT a sport. A sport requires competition. Cheerleading involves dancing around and saying things in unison, like "Go Team!". It takes zero skill to be a cheerleader; and although it does take practice, you can not become proficient at something you lack skill at merely by practicing it.

    2. What "they" are saying about the little 8, 9 and 10 yr old cheerlearers, is "Damn, I feel sorry for those little kids who got sold into whatever delusions their parent(s) have. Too bad, they'll just end up as little air-headed consumers like their mom, without an original thought in their tiny little minds. They will be taught to fight and claw for acceptance into the little circle and when it doesn't go their way, here comes the self-cutting and other non-traditional forms of self abuse."

    3. Your second question makes absolutely no sense, since you are assuming something that is not necessarily true to support another statement.

    What does "doing a liberty in cheerleading" mean, and how can it be compared with anything related to football.

    MOM, please let your child grow up to be herself, not your idea of what you could have been, if you would have had it other wise.

    Just a guess, do you have blonde hair also?

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    1) they are little whores in the making

    2) just because something is hard doesn't make it a sport. Twirling a flaming baton while playing Dance Dance Revolution is hard, but it's a not sport

    Competition doesn't make something a sport either. Scrabble is not a sport. Neither is Rock, Paper, Scissors. There are competitions for those.

  • 1 decade ago

    1) they are about to become big whores

    2) just becuase u cant learn a cheer in a sec doesnt mean that cheer cant be learned. cheerleading requires no athletic ability to make a squad and all u do is prance around in mini skirts which degrades all women and grls everywhere

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Get over it! Cheerleading is for dingy girls to gather togther and scream loud and bob thier head. Cheerleading is not a sport. Cheerleading is nothing more than a way to raise the spirits of the real athletes!

  • 1 decade ago

    I personally think that cheerleading is a sport and requires more strength and balance than I'll ever know!

  • 1 decade ago

    1) dress them in sweatpants.....yep, tramps in training, seriously, wake up mom

    2) cheerleading is gymnastics with a skank twist

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