Cheerleading

[Cami]

the activity of leading the crowd in shouting encouragement and supporting a team at a sports event. The activity usually involves dancing, chanting (= repeating a word or phrase) , and special gymnastic movements:

[Julene]

the fact of strongly supporting a particular idea or person:

[Mary Mallozziberg]

A sport involving the performance of organized cheering, chanting, and dancing in support of a sports team at games.

[Agnes]

Theres many different types of cheerleading, here I will explain those types. Note: I am a cheerleader.

Sideline Cheerleading- a team of cheerleaders (often all female but can be coed) who cheer on a sports team. The sports team they often cheer for is basketball or football. This is where people refer to cheerleading as not a sport, but that doesnt mean its easy. Sideline cheerleading is not what you think, this is what you might be thinking it is Oh yeah boys lets go team whoooooooo NO. Sideline cheerleading involves jumps, stunts, and tumbling! Yes, gymnastics!

Competitive Cheerleading- a sport is a team that competes against others, therefore this makes [COMPETITIVE cheerleading] a SPORT. The competitions are very extreme and dangerous. Before you say that cheerleading is easy, try to go see a cheer [gyms] competition. Now Im not talking about your local reciational gym. Anyways, schools at the middle, high college level most often have competitive teams. They are very serious!

[Allstar] cheerleading- the best of the best. Go watch Califorina Allstars Smoed or [Sting Ray] Allstars orange, or Cheer Xtreme [Senior Elite]. Alllstar cheerleading ends their season with cheerleadig WORLDS. The worlds are the BEST [allstar] teams in the WORLD who go to disney world florida to compete. And this WORLDWIDE competition is on ESPN

[Kit]

[cheerleading] IS a sport .
no matter what people actually think , some of the things we do out there you wouldnt even be able to do.
yeah you think that lifting a girl above your head seems easy , well it isnt .. dont go around thinking that were lifting a 100 pound anorexic girl when we [arnt] , there are MANY tops who weight [waay] more then that and we still lift them, and yes .. we DO compete and the intention for that IS to win, we dont just go out there and think oh lets show off our bodys to make our score higher we go out there with our routine with we made to try and get the most points to beat other cheer teams , when we cheer on the side lines is [just for fun]. did you guys know that cheerleading is the SECOND most dangerous SPORT in high school? i kinda doubt that you knew that . and yes football maybe the first most dangerous but in cheerleading you could actually die if something bad happens , ive even heard dtorys from my own coach that someone on his cousins team had his finger RIPPED off when he was doing his basketoss, like seriously guys, cheerleading IS a sport .. theres [no doubt about it] .

[Sonia]

IS A SPORT. im tired of people saying its [not a sport], because technically it is. and by the way if your in [colorguard] all your doing is waving a stupid flag. so if you think cheerladings not a sport your wrong. cheerleaders do HARD WORK. such as gymnastics. can you do a back [handspring]? back tuck? nah...didnt think so. can you be thrown/throw someone up in the air and catch them with PERFECT techniqe? nah...didnt think so. can you remember multiple cheers chants and dance routines along with motions and [ripples]? and do them all loud, clear, and perfect along side of many others? nah...didnt think so. cheerleaders ARE athletes. were in great physical shape and are flexiable. everybody else is just jealous because guys LIKE cheerleaders. so they need to have a reality check, just because YOU cant do it doesnt mean its not a sport. and [im SO tired] of the dumb blonde cheerleader sterotype. YES i am blonde and YES i am an accomplished cheerleader but NO im not stupid. im taking ALL HONORS CLASSES okay? so get over the movies and books and look at whats real. cheerleading IS a sport!! and we look cute while doing it ;) we support the other teams AND go to competitons. just because we wear skirts doesnt makes us sluts. tennis players wear skirts [for goodness sake]. and cheerleading requires determination and will power! so stop hating and realize how stupid you look.

[Marquetta]

A cult.
Think about it:
They all where the EXACT same outfit
They all scream creepy [chants] at the same time (which you think would be very distracting to the football players )
They all follow one leader
They all look the exact same
...cult.

Sure, it may be [tiring] and [exhausting], but that doesnt make that a sport. If jumping and screaming is a sport then they need to add moshing to the olympics.

[Raeanne Dimick]

Although many may argue this, it IS a sport. There are actual competitions for it and, in my opinion, some of the things they do are very difficult. It is a combination of dancing, [tumbling], [stunting], and, of course, cheering. Many cheerleaders dont actually enjoy having to cheer at football and basketball games, and are only on the squad for the competitions. At competitions, hundreds of squads perform 3 minute routines that include the 4 [staples] of cheer (listed above) and work for months on perfecting what they do, just like any other sports team. Cheerleading is definitely a misunderstood sport.