Cheerleading

Con 1: Cheerleading is overwhelmingly a performance that sometimes involves athleticism.

There is little denying that some cheerleaders are athletes. Cheerleaders who compete must undertake a variety of established sports, including gymnastics and weightlifting, and combine them with dance into a fast-paced routine that tests endurance, strength, and mental focus. [3][4][5][21]

However, the vast majority of cheerleaders are exclusively cheerleaders, in the literal sense, meaning they only ever participate in low-impact traditional chant-leading from the sidelines of other sports. This is the more stereotypical sort of cheerleading that traditionally involves pom-poms and megaphones. [21][22][23]

“I know that cheerleaders work hard, and I’m not trying to deny that. But it’s disingenuous to pretend a cheer squad is indistinguishable from a soccer or basketball team. Cheerleading’s primary function is to, well, cheer-lead. It involves athletic ability, but also short skirts and fresh makeup. There’s nothing wrong with participating in an activity that isn’t a sport; maybe cheerleaders should accept that instead of pushing for a designation that just doesn’t fit,” concludes high school student Camille Testa. [24]

Cheerleading more easily fits the definition of a performance: “a public presentation or exhibition.” Although competitive cheer competitions exist, cheerleaders most often perform for audiences attending other sporting events; they are ancillary to the reason why the audience is even there, making their performance impossible to define as a sport. [25]

Con 2: Cheerleading does not meet the competition requirement to be a sport.

While both sports and games have sometimes complex rules, part of what distinguishes a sport from a game is competition. [26]

Competition is defined as “a contest between rivals,” and while cheerleading competitions do exist, requiring opposing cheer teams to perform high-intensity 2.5-minute routines, the vast majority of cheerleaders, regardless of age, are not competitive. For example, only about 10% of high-school cheerleaders compete, and no professional cheerleaders are competitive. [22] [27][28]

The U.S. Department of Education counted 3,567 degree-granting higher education institutions in the United States during the 2020–21 school year. But, according to USA Cheer, only 356 colleges and universities have competitive cheer programs and only 65 have competitive STUNT programs, meaning only 12% of higher education schools have a competitive cheer or STUNT program. [29][30]

Moreover, even for college cheerleaders who do compete, most of their time is not spent in competition. Unlike National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball players who compete in up to 41 games per season or NCAA volleyball players who compete in up to 56 games and scrimmages per season, many competitive cheerleaders have only one annual event against opposing teams. [12][31][32]

How can cheer therefore be considered a sport if almost 90% of cheerleaders do not participate in competitions and the 10% who do barely compete?

Former University of Florida cheerleader and ESPN senior writer Alyssa Roenigk agrees: “Sports teams exist to compete, not to perform and entertain or support another group that competes. In the cheer-as-sport conversation, this is the most important element to understand. One can be an athlete and not participate in a sport. And one can participate in a sport and not be very athletic. By definition, billiards and bowling are sports. Backcountry skiing, climbing, ballet and cheerleading are not. I’m fine with that.” [33]

She argues, “If cheerleading squads began practicing and competing enough to satisfy those [NCAA and Title IX] requirements, they would be forced to drastically scale back the number of games at which they cheer. Or stop cheering at games entirely. The minute that happens, rest in peace, cheerleading.” [33]

Con 3: Cheerleading is not recognized as a sport by the NCAA or Title IX.

The NCAA, the governing body of college sports, does not recognize cheerleading as a sport and has not indicated any inkling to do so. [34]

For starters, the NCAA splits sports into men’s and women’s categories. As the University of Michigan’s head cheer coach Pam St. John explains, “You couldn’t throw [cheer] into a men’s sport because you have women competing, and you couldn’t throw it into a women’s sport likewise because we integrate men into what we do….I think that it’s more important at this point in time to pursue [other] opportunities for women athletes at the NCAA level than it is for us to take on what would really be a pretty monumental task of trying to develop a co-ed NCAA category and then, in addition, try to get our sport into that.” [34]

Cheer also has no college competition or regular face-offs against other teams. The National Cheerleaders Association Championship, the biggest and most prestigious American all-star cheerleading competition, is not structured like an NCAA tournament and therefore would not qualify for NCAA inclusion. [34]

Further, Title IX, which governs sex discrimination in federally funded schools, does not recognize cheer as a sport. In a 2009 “Dear Colleague” letter, the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights laid out requirements for activities to be considered sports under Title IX. In a 2012 court case, Biediger v. Quinnipiac University, the judges ruled that, under those requirements, cheer cannot be considered a college sport. [14]

Additionally, professional cheerleading is exclusively sideline cheering, with no competition or athletic components, such as tumbling, flying, or pyramids. In fact, most pro cheerleaders come from dance, not cheer, backgrounds. To be defined as a sport, cheerleading should be recognized as such by the largest governing bodies, have a standardized regulated competition, and have a professional career path. Cheer, to date, meets none of these requirements. [22]