Is cheerleading a legitimate sport or not? I think it deserves genuine support

I would argue it's a sport, but it's a matter of opinion really, isn't it. Does a sport require physical fitness, or not? Does it need to be competitive, or not? Some things we consider sport are not particually physically demanding. Lots of people do sport for the fun of it without any sense of competition. Let's be honest, the argument of labelling certain things as "not a sport" is usually rooted in misogyny more than anything else.

Cheer is a physically demanding activity that can be undertaken competitively, so to my mind that makes it a sport.

The fact it requires great strength and fitness doesn’t make it a sport! Ballet is an art. Art is not lesser than sport. Quite the opposite in my view.

Agreed. I was an amateur gymnast way back in my youth, and I really enjoy and appreciate the phenomenal skills of competitive cheer partnerships that I watch on Instagram. Those young women have cores of iron!

Tumbling was a fairly new branch of gymnastics when I was in the gym, and now seeing complex twisting tumbles being landed on one hand of the support partner is mind-blowing!

Again, I think people have outdated perceptions of cheer, imagining it just being teams of girls jumping up and down with pom poms

They do but only to objectively measure a result. You either jumped highest or you didn't. You either put the shot the furthest or you didn't.
Anyone observing can easily determine the winner.
Cheer sport isn't like that.
I'm not saying it's not worth doing and it certainly is an impressive athletic performance that takes years and dedication to do well.
It's just not a sport. Who cares though? Lots of things that aren't sports are worth doing.

It is a contest, not a sport. It's judged. It's for the pleasure of the parents to see their kids dolled up and smiling, performing for them.
They don't play for anyone but the club owner. There's no civic hero stature and no professional league beyond a skill set contest.
The casual observer can only estimate who they believe is the winner of the contest; therefore, it's not a "game" where athletes compete head to head.
All judged athletic activities are contests, not sports. And it is an impressive athletic demonstration, don't get me wrong. It's just not a sport.
Parents will dump thousands and thousands of dollars into cheer sport annually. In the end, it's a fun activity for the kids and maybe worth doing. It's certainly an activity that 30 and 40-something moms will get a kick out of by living vicariously through their daughter.
Just know that there's no adult rec cheer league to speak of and not really scholastic opportunities in the way of sports.
The true winners of cheer "sport" are the club owners and they're making a fortune.
If that's your idea of a good investment for your child and your personal finances, go for it.
It's not a sport though.

If the end result is for the purpose of entertaining the assembled multitude who have paid £££ for tickets to watch a performance of a named production in a theatre, then it has to be a performing art, doesn't it?

Other than funding, does it matter?

Lots of training must take place in gymnastics gyms which are likely to recieve lottery funding.

There are so many activities available to children but lots of them start at 3.30 / 4.00 which is fine if you can get kids there and not be hindered by work and afterschool care.

TBH If Govement or sports bodies were going to put money into grass roots sports I'd rather it was swimming pools which can be used by young and old alike - your not likely to find many pensioners doing Cheer.

Which is gym?

Cheerleading surprisingly waa originally a male thing, and there still are male cheer teams. Would you classify that differently?

Thinking about it, I'd argue ballet is an art/performance for both sexes. Gym a sport for both, but more of a performance for women.

Break dancing at the Olympics was a bit of a mistake, maybe. They could have chosen parkour instead.

As an ex cheerie this is totally cool. I hope you and your daughter are having a ball.

Often people judge the sport very very unfairly. It's incredibly hard and an amazing part of your child's life, no doubt, that she'll look back on with so many wonderful memories. I personally say (also as an ex ballet dancer) that it's a very gymnastic sport but not as physically potentially damaging as being on pointe for years.

Or smiles - as @HeddaGarbled suggested!

Funding and sponsorship 😄

My conclusion is there is a very fine blurry line between what is sport and art.

What difference does it really make if it's sport or art?

@Needspaceforlego and diving and synchronised swimming, there are probably more! Also show jumping it’s time the plus or minus for “faults” and the judges asses the faults.

The scoring for Cheer is very technical.

Is this comment about cheer? (Apologies if it's not). Because our team had men in it, and female bases who were physically stocky and muscular (because to be a base you have to be very strong, and ideally have big hands). Everyone was valued and appreciated for the invaluable roles they had. I was tiny when I was on the team so that's why I was a flyer, because I was easier to throw/catch.

I think we all looked good and yes the outfits were attractive and we all wore them and felt good (from stocky bases to little flyers to muscular blokes-the blokes had form fitting outfits too but obviously different from ours). It's what I loved about the sport tbh, all body shapes are needed (despite stereotypes).

There are two different things both called cheerleading. One is basically team gymnastics: no pom-poms, clearly a sport, lots of scary lifts and flips. The other is what the Dallas women do: cheering on a sports team with impressive dancing and poms.

This. They should rebrand the gymnastic version as team tumbling or team gymnastics etc to make the descriptor more aligned with activity. Or refer to it as Gymnastic Cheer and Dance Cheer or something. I'd class the competitive gymnastic type as a sport.

DNephew does competitive cheer. He’s represented team England and is a double world champion, so yes I’d say it’s a sport. Until he started doing it, I had no idea of the ins and outs of it, and how much in entailed. He trains really, really hard and is very fit.

Well my DD competes with her 2 cheer teams at a national level. Does that help? 🤔

Gymnastics and figure skating are about the only sports I can think of that are based on a judges score.

Where's the line between gymnasts and circus acrobats, many started out as gymnasts, likewise where is the line between competion skaters and performance Disney on Ice etc.

But if you argue gymastics and figure skating are sports then so is Cheer.
But if Cheer is a sport, does that also make street dance, ballet, highland and irish dance a sports too?
Break dance made it to the Olymipics.

Then think of all the various martial arts only judo is classed as an olympic sport.

Like Gymnastics.

Its an Art, it doesn't score points like football, rugby, tennis etc nor can it be measured in any form like racing either against others or the clock.
Nor measured in distance or height like jumping sports (Long jump, pole vault or ski jump etc)

Peoples votes are like judges votes.

Football and rugby the game is won on points / goals scored the ref and lines men are just there to ensure the rules are followed. The game isn't intended to be won or lost on a linesmans judgment the way even gymnastics is.

Fair enough: you can categorically disagree that boxing is a sport if you like, as opposed to simply saying that it's a sport that you hate (as would I).

Just like you could disagree that blue is a colour, or that Northampton is a town, or that Vauxhall make cars or whatever; it's a free country!

Does that mean the Eurovision is a sport? 🤣

To the death!