Cheer screams for recognition
By KAYSI COELHO
Is cheerleading an activity that leads spectators in cheer or is it a
sport?
I say it’s both.
In July 2004, the University of Maryland became the first Division I-A
school to recognize competitive cheerleading as a varsity sport, counting
it toward its Title IX requirements.
At the college level, cheerleading has become as much about competing
against other cheerleading squads in national competition as it is about
the team you’re representing.
In my case, it’s the Fresno State Bulldogs.
People don’t take cheerleading seriously, yet there is not much
difference between it and any other sport at Fresno State.
According to Webster’s dictionary, a sport is defined as being a
number of competitive athletic events played according to established
rules and often requiring certain physical activities.
I can honestly say that we as cheerleaders have cheered and performed
at more sporting events than the games any athlete has played during his
or her season. I know this because not only are we cheering at the volleyball
and football games, we are also cheering at the men’s and women’s
basketball games.
That’s not to say we “do” more than the athletic teams
by any means. Being a three-lettered athlete throughout high school I
know what it takes to be an athlete—waking up for morning workouts,
practicing everyday, and traveling to away games.
The point I want to make here is that each sport has its season. Football
and volleyball are in the fall, basketball, softball, and tennis are in
the spring. Training for any collegiate sport, however, doesn’t
stop once the season ends, it goes year round.
Think of cheerleading the same way. We practice during the summer to get
ready for the season just like the volleyball team does.
However, our games do not end when theirs do. They end once the basketball
teams play their last game in the WAC tournament in the spring. In the
mean time, we practice daily getting ready for national cheer competitions.
Although we go through two seasons of sports, practice does not stop for
cheerleading. Just like it does not stop for any other collegiate athlete.
Cheerleaders get three weeks off to finish up the semester before tryouts
start all over again.
So what is the difference you ask?
Spending four years in high school playing volleyball, basketball and
softball would be enough to label me an athlete. Not being taken seriously
as a collegiate athlete simply because, to everyone else, cheerleading
is not a sport is ridiculous.
It seems to me that it takes an athlete to become a collegiate cheerleader.
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