Recently there has been a boiling debate on whether or not cheerleading is a sport. After having a self-debate I made the decision that I personally do not believe that cheerleading should be considered a sport. Cheerleading goes back into the 1800’s and still lives today. Cheerleading first started out as an all-male activity at college football games in the 1800’s. In the 1920’s cheerleading started to excel more in the women’s direction. It quickly became a full-on female sport leaving the males to step away from their activity. It wasn’t until the 1980’s to 1990’s when cheerleading started involving more stunts and tumbling which meant, cheerleading became a highly dangerous activity. Now, I’d consider it to be a sport in the bigger areas where cheerleaders attend competitions against other squads making a win. On the other hand, when there is cheerleading in a small town such as mine, it shouldn’t be named a sport because they are only showcased at sporting events. Many people that don’t think cheerleading is a sport think …show more content…
The Women’s Sports Foundation does not agree when schools count activities as a legitimate sport when they are only trying to increase their amount of female participation numbers to make sure they look good for Title X, without actually allowing the cheerleader to compete. Neena Chaudlry, a senior counsel for the National Women’s Law Center in Washington stated, “We understand that in these difficult economic times, schools are looking for ways to tighten their budgets, but this case sends a clear message that schools cannot cut costs on the backs of women”(Isabelle Hardy). It’s common at schools with very small amounts of girls rename their activities to be named as a sport, and forget what the nature of the activity is. This allows the school to cut out sports teams and shield their school from being able to add new sports teams.