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

[TheQuirkyMaker]

Here:

Or have compulsory outfits that require the removal of pubic hair…

Dance is also a sport.

many artistic sports are still classed as sport.

I love watching cheerleading. It’s really taken off near me and the kids do a lot of gymnastic and dance type training. It’s very clever.

It’s very much like acro gym and tumbling gym that doesn’t get as much coverage but in large groups and with more of a dance aspect but the tricks are phenomenal and complex.

Same reason gymnasts don’t compete in tracksuits I imagine

Do people attend the cheer but as a stand alone act? Not linked to any other events?

Nope.

Not a sport.

Being fit is not the determinant for classification as a sport or the people that change tyres in formula one would qualify.

@Mumptynumptyyes they do. Lots of people go and watch Cheerleading (opposed to pom pom cheer which occurs before a football match). They are different things.

It’s dance though. Bloody demanding and highly skilled. Doesn’t make it less than sport, just a different thing?

Some posts on this thread seem to assume that judging something to be a sport means that it automatically deserves status and respect over something that isn’t a sport. Which is weird to me. I’d say ballet is definitely an art form not a sport but it is clearly is a serious profession requiring great physical skill and strength (whereas quite a lot of sports IME are trivial and boring to all except the participants).

Also despite what official definitions may say I don’t think chess meets anyone’s common sense definition of a sport - but can’t see why that would make it less impressive to win an international chess tournament.

Granted, all sports favours the young and agile. But I don't know of any other sports in which you have to be young, female, in skimpy clothes and alongside another sports team to participate.

So, no, not a sport. Just another form of fuckery in which the patriarchy dictates to young women what their bodies should look like and how they should present to the world.

There are plenty of cheerleaders in tracksuits. Male cheerleaders. Funny, that.

Artistic swimming is like gymnastics performed in water, upside down while holding your breath, is an Olympic sport and requires you to smile.
VS
Darts (regarded as sport).

I think dominant sex of the participants determines a lot of societies view to what’s called a sport….

Synchronised swimming has been an Olympic sport since 1984. Pretty sure they smile during it?

Yes. Give me arts eg ballet, opera, galleries over sport any day!

Exactly.

This.

They do. There are stand alone cheer competitions. Most people doing cheer in the UK do it competitively and not to cheer other sports teams.

If there are lifts and catching skin contact is much better as it is a lot less slippy than clothing, which could also get snagged.

The throwers (which tend to be men as they are stronger) can wear tracksuits, those being thrown need to wear less.

You don’t have to be alongside another sports team. It’s a competitive thing where they compete. The Dallas cowboy cheerleaders are different to those in a ‘cheer team’.

Same with my friend, but she’s a pole dancer.

The cheer acrobatic stuff is astonishing. Those young women have cores of steel. And the guys who are the support are ridiculously strong. Definitely a sport in the same way that acro is.

Again though, I'm not talking about the pom pom waving stuff.

Kids from all over the world compete internationally. It takes hours of training. My friend's DD does it. Usa France Mexico to name a few places

I was a varsity cheerleader in school. It is a form of gymnastics. It is definitely a sport, and quite a dangerous one.

Aargh this thread is infuriating. To repeat: cheerleading the competitive team gymnastics event has NO CHEERING AND NO POM POMS. It is not the same thing that the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders do. At all. It does not happen alongside any other sport. It involves both men and women. You do not, in fact, have to wear anything in particular (though many do wear leotard type stuff). It’s got a lot of doing back flips and tossing your team mates in the air. It’s absolutely obviously a sport (unless gym and synchro and stuff aren’t). Have a watch of Cheer on Netflix if you aren’t familiar - it’s an interesting event and an excellent show.

Does it all fall down to there is no one accepted definition of sport.

For me:
Physical activity that involves skill
Is competitive
Agreed rules and regulations

It needs both. So going for a run is exercise, entering a race would move it to a sport.

Chess requires skill but not physical activity - not a sport.
Darts requires skill and some physical activity - so I would err on the sport side
Ballet - physical activity and skill not competitive and doesn’t have a set of rules and regulations - not a sport.
Cheer display (at a match or otherwise) physical activity and skill but not competitive and no set of rules/ regulations - not a sport
Cheer competition teams - ticks for all three, so a sport.

(Strictly isn’t a sport in my mind as they don’t stick to the rules and regulations regarding the dances and pretty much have an anything goes appraoch)

Pole dancing is incredible. It takes an unbelievable amount of core strength and flexibility

My dd did Teamgym for a few years. She got bored and really wanted to do cheer as a couple of her friends from gym had moved to it. I was very reluctant as frankly, I was being a bit snobby. I was so surprised when I started to go to competitions at how much more demanding it was than the routines she had done in gymnastics.