The Side Line

They want, fight, sweat, fall, fracture, and practice as hard as any other athlete, yet they’re not athletes?

Most start preparing in the middle school years, just like a young baseball, football, basketball player, but theirs is not a sport. It’s time for competitive cheerleading to be separated from the pom-pom, pigtail stigma and enter the debate to become an NCAA sanctioned sport. Cheerleading has evolved from a sideline annoyance to a physical and exhausting sport. Growing up with two older sisters, I was around some cheerleading. My first perception was doomed from the start thanks to me, the apathetic little brother who didn’t want to be at a cheer practice. Growing up, perceptions changed as I chased girls and ended up at an unsettling amount of cheerleading competitions. What my other middle school heathens and I witnessed was not chants and leg kicks, but a serious competitive atmosphere. These girls were fast paced, acrobatic, synchronized machines. There were jumps, back flips, front flips, side flips. No longer is a cheerleader simply lifted by two spotters. Intricate pyramids are constructed with labyrinths of arms and legs to launch girls into overturning patterns.

All this activity is started and concluded within minutes. That fact alone is often the reason it is not considered a sport. Professional sports games last hours and therefore those sports are more demanding in physical and mental capacities than cheerleading. Wrong. Competitive cheerleaders have to work their body into physical perfection like any other NCAA athlete. Cheer squads lift weights, run and do agility training. On top of that, cheerleaders have to learn entirely new routines for every competition or event. It’s not solely perfecting a toe-touch, back hand spring, or flying method. They have not only to keep those moves sharp at all times, but also to include complex dances and configurations in a timely effort with their team. The NCAA is finally showing signs of cheerleading becoming an emerging sport, and could work toward competitive cheerleading to be sanctioned. The publicity is there. I know you’ve seen at least one of those “Bring It On” movies, they’re like the “SAW” of cheerleading films. They travel all over the nation, sleep in hotels, go to tournaments and carpool to practice; sound familiar? Just as their sports make intense physical demands on the youth baseball or soccer player, the same goes for the cheerleader. ESPN had an article in 2009 that mentioned a UCLA cheerleader, Eileen Bangaoil, and her pain as a competitive cheerleader. Her knee received a new cadaver’s ligament, and a rebuilt ACL went into place. Tumbling throughout her childhood, she broke her leg and endured a regimen of ice, Advil and determination. Tell Bangaoil or any other competitive cheerleader that they aren’t athletes. From the cortisone shot, to a title trophy, they are valid athletes.

Posted by Taylor Lamb on Sep 15 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.