Is Cheerleading a Sport?

Is Cheerleading A Sport?

Hayden Wyrick

I feel like almost every american has gone to some type of football or basketball game in their lifetime, everyone is cheering on their team hoping that they win. But do you realize the cheerleaders are the ones leading the crowd, trying to get their energy up getting their team more excited to win. A lot of people think that cheerleaders are on the sidelines doing “nothing”  and that cheerleading isn't a sport. I’m a cheerleader myself, so I strongly disagree with this statement for many reasons.

Varsity, a very well known cheer company says it is a sport. They state the few definitions of a sport which is on their website "Being a Cheerleader - Is Cheerleading a Sport?" Being a Cheerleader - Is Cheerleading a Sport? N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2015.  The first definition is “contesting” or competing against/with an opponent is required” which cheerleaders do when they are at competitions. Another definition was “It must be governed by rules that explicitly define the time, space, and purpose of the contest and the conditions under which a winner is declared” Cheerleaders have a certain time limit when performing, they have to have the correct mat size and also score sheets. The last definition was “Acknowledgement that the primary purpose of the competition is a comparison of the relative skills of the participants.”  Every year they have a national competition called Worlds held at Disney World that is on ESPN every year. Cheerleading meets all the definitions of a sport but what do the courts say about this?

I made a survey to see what other people thought about this, Wyrick, Hayden. “Is cheerleading a sport?" survey. Google forms 29 January 2015  .The question I asked them was is cheerleading a sport? Four people said no and 24 people said yes. Another question that I asked was why or why not do you think this? Emma W  said ”it isnt a sport because I don't know much about cheerleading but I feel like there is no competitiveness to cheerleading like the NFL they just dance I don't consider that a sport. If it is not in the Olympics besides baseball or football it is not a sport to me.” Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but just because something isn’t in the olympics doesn’t mean its not a sport baseball and football aren’t part of the olympics but they are still considered a sport. Emily H said “I did cheer for a long time and I think that it has everything that is needed to be considered a sport. I would love to see if a football player could do half of the things that a cheerleader can do.” I agree with this person because people honestly don’t realize how hard cheer is! We practice for hours lifting others flipping our bodies, building muscle everyday. Nesta F said “yes because they work very hard at what they do and it takes a lot of practice.” I can definitely agree with this because cheerleaders practice almost everyday of the week for hours.  

I hope that after all of this i can convince you that cheerleading is a sport! Cheerleaders work just as hard as any athlete and were all after the same thing, winning! Cheerleading is a sport to me even though it may not be to you, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just remember the next time says something about cheer not being a sport give them a few of my reasons.

Thirteen Reason Why

This month I was reading a book by Jay Asher called Thirteen Reasons Why. This book is about  a normal teenage girl named Hannah Baker who recently moved to a new town over the summer. She was struggling with fitting in and people at her school weren't making it any better. Sadly she committed suicide but before she did she recorded 13 tapes explaining 13 reason why she committed suicide. The thirteen reasons why were because of people who went to her school and they did things to her that made her feel worthless. This months monthly topic is the minor character and I think that the minor characters would be all the people who were rude to her even though this book is about them it is mainly about what they did to Hannah.

I noticed that the author wrote this book coming from Hannah’s point of view most of the time, which was tapes that her victims listened to, telling why she committed suicide. The author also wrote from other people’s point of view who were listening to the tapes and what they were thinking while this happened. The author also describes the situation the people are in. I think that author wrote this was because they wanted people to know why Hannah committed suicide coming from her own words. This book really is a great book explaining our society, and how much words can hurt people.

A couple things surprised in this book but two things that stood out to me were the reasons she commited suicide because they were so little but they really affected her. Which surprised me because the little things can really hurt people. Another thing that surprised me was some of the things Hannah said, they creeped me out sometimes. One thing I liked about the book was just the constant wondering and questioning in my mind while I was reading of what would happen next to this poor girl. Another thing I liked was just the book overall and the back story. One thing I disliked was that it was about suicide, and I hate talking or thinking about this topic and it always makes me wonder why someone would bring themselves to do that.

The book taught me that you should be nice to people because you don’t know what else is going on in there life. It could be the smallest thing and it can still affect a person. This book really opened my eyes about how little things really can set people off and even if you don’t like this person, as hard as it is, you still should be nice to them because they never did anything to you. I think the theme is basically what I wrote above and that you should care for everyone and don’t make fun of people because you never know how they will take it.

While I was reading this book I was mostly sad because obviously it’s about suicide and I was mad at times  because of what people said to her. There were parts that I was happy about because there were a few good parts when people were nice to her or there for her. This hasn’t been made into a movie but if it were I would definitely want to go see it. This was a really great book and I enjoyed reading it. It wasn’t the happiest book I’ve ever read but it made me realize you should always treat people nicely because you don’t know what else is going on in there life.