To Cheer or Not to Cheer When most people think of sports, they imagine football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. Although competitive cheerleaders play against other teams and earn points, many cheer teams incorporate questionable dance moves, which takes away from the physical feeling of competitiveness. There is no referee, or contact with the other teams in competitive cheer. Sports teams exist to compete, not perform, as said in an article on ESPN. Sideline cheer lacks even more qualities that competitive cheer. Additionally, in cheer women are subjected to false expectations of society that they feel obligated to uphold, like wearing inappropriate clothes and heavy amounts of makeup, which is very stereotypical and degrading. Therefore, I say that cheer is not a true sport. Many injuries happen during sports, including cheer. As said in an article on MomsTeam a website dedicated to sports, cheerleading holds the highest rate of catastrophic …show more content…
Cheerleading lacks a referee because it lacks the qualities that a sport has to require a referee. Sideline cheer is even less of a sport than competitive cheer. The purpose of sideline cheer is to pump the crowd up and entertain them. There are no other teams to battle, no other points to score. The main focus during the sporting event where cheer is happening is the players on the field or court, not the people on the side, shouting catchy phrases. With the exception of cheerleading, commonly, the most players will put on their face is two lines of black face paint under their eyes. During both sideline and competitive cheer, girls put heavy makeup on their faces, style their hair, and wear dresses, sometimes showing their midriff. This can be degrading, and pushes the competitiveness that everyone has out of the picture. Many cheer teams will incorporate inappropriate dance moves to go hand in hand with the substantial amount of