Is Cheer A Sport, Competition vs. Sideline
The difference between sideline and competitive cheer and what makes it a sport or not.
What is a sport, a sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others. Most people that don’t cheer say it’s not a sport and say it’s easy to do that anyone can do it.
This is considered a pyramid because two or more of the flyers are connected. The two outside flyers help the bases underneath the middle flyer by keeping her lifted up putting less weight on them.
If you were to ask a cheerleader if cheer was a sport they would say it is, because it takes a lot more than people think it does. There is two types of cheer, competition and sideline cheer. The purpose of them are different one is going against other teams to get first place and the other is to cheer on your school’s football or basketball team. Competition Involves everything stunts, pyramid, baskets, jumps, tumbling, and depending if you are doing it for high school or not you have to include a cheer. You tie the whole routine together with motions, dance, facials, staying tight, and sharp. You have to do all that in 3 minutes. For sideline you have to learn a bunch of cheers and dances sometimes the team will stunt and tumble. You still have to stay tight and be loud so the crowd can hear you.
In a routine everything goes to a certain count so you stay in sync. When you jump you want everyone to be in the air at the same time. Everyone should have pointed toes and straight legs. If you don’t have those things your execution points will go down.
Stunts can consists of 3 to 5 people a flyer, a side base, a main base, a back spot, and sometimes a front spot. For example, a Pyramid is when at least two stunts are connected by the the flyers touching. Baskets are similar to stunts but instead of keeping the flyer in the bases hands they form a square shape to put the flyer on. Then, they throw the flyer in the air for her to hit a skill. Jumps include toe touches, pikes, hurkeys, and hurdlers. Lastly there is tumbling where you do round offs, back handsprings, back tucks, and more. To do this stuff it takes a lot of skill and strength for it not to be called a sport.
This picture shows you the point of view of what a flyer sees when they are in the air. The flyer has to trust their bases to catch them if they fall. The flyer has to do their job by staying tight and be willing to try new things.
As a cheerleader I say that competition cheer is a sport, but sideline cheer is not. Competition fills the criteria of a sport its an activity that involves physical exertion and competes against other teams. Sideline doesn’t fill the criteria you are not competing against another team you are cheering for your school’s team. It doesn’t take as much energy as competition does, so it doesn’t really kept you in shape. It can also depend on what your school does on the sideline. Some schools tumble and stunt on sideline while others do not.
I asked three people a cheerleader from Lafayette that is on sideline and competition, a football player from Lafayette, and A grandparent that doesn’t know much about cheer. I asked if they thought cheer was a sport, what the difference is between sideline and competition, if they thought sideline counted as a sport, and if they thought competition cheer was a sport. The cheerleader Ryley Guiseppi a sophomore at Lafayette said “the difference between sideline and competition cheer is that sideline is the more stereotypical way most people view cheer, we stand on the side and cheer on the team. Competition cheer is a combination of jumps, tumbling, stunts, and dance all in one one routine.” Ryley believes that it depends on what the team does that can make sideline cheer a sport or not. “I can see why most people don’t believe sideline cheer is not a sport, but it really depends on what we’re doing because we sometimes do and tumble just not as extreme.” In the end she thinks competition cheer is a sport with no doubt. Senior football player at Lafayette Alex Wooley said “cheer is a sport sideline is not a sport, but comp is a sport”. Alex says there is a difference between them ,” The difference between sideline and competition cheer is when you participate in sideline cheer you’re not competing against anyone to win anything.”. Judith Gromm my grandparent that doesn’t know much
89% said yes Competition cheer is a sport while the other 11% said no it is not.
about cheer says “in my opinion it is a sport”. “sideline you’re cheering for a football team, comp is way more structured and harder.”.
64% said no sideline cheer is not a sport the other36% said yes it is a sport.
On my Instagram I made two polls one asking if sideline cheer was a sport and the other poll was asking if competition cheer was a sport. 248 people voted for the sideline poll 89 votes were yes and 159 were for no it is not a sport. Some people commented saying it depended on the team. 303 people voted for the competition poll 271 people voted yes for it is a sport and only 32 people said it was not a sport. This helps my opinion on how it depends on the team for sideline, but most people believe that comp is a sport.
