Cheerleaders

[CmdrShep2154]

 

What do you think of cheerleaders? Should cheerleading be considered a sport? If you had kids would you let them join a cheer squad? Cheerleaders are stereotyped as snobby and dumb. Have you ever met an intelligent cheerleader? Did the cheerleaders you knew get fat after High School?

 

 

[pgrmdave]

I was in marching band in high school and knew some of the cheerleaders. They were wonderfully friendly - they'd decorate the band room the night before we left for championships, and we would coordinate with them at football games. It's not a sport, but it is - like marching band - a highly competitive activity that requires a lot of physical and mental exertion.  The stereotype is just that - a stereotype, and yes, I've met intelligent cheerleaders, football players, and even drummers!  Also, chill with the fat shaming, there's no place for that here.

[CraigD]

Should cheerleading be considered a sport?

I think whether cheerleading should be considered a sport or not depends on how it’s approached.

 

At my high school, cheerleaders were required to play a sport, and cheer other team in their spare time. They didn’t wear the same clothing, practiced cheers much, nor do acrobatic throws, human pyramids, or other acrobatic feats associated with cheering.

 

Some high school and college cheering squads train for and attend national and international cheering competitions. I think these are clearly specialized gymnastic competitions, and thus a sport. There’s no Olympic sport for this, though, so it’s not a widely recognized sport.

 

This Wikipedia article section points out some interesting and contradictory legal finding on whether cheerleading is a sport. Quoting:

On January 27, 2009, in a lawsuit involving an accidental injury sustained during a cheerleading practice, the Wisconsin Supreme Courtruled that cheerleading is a full-contact sport in that state, not allowing any participants to be sued for accidental injury.[70][71] In contrast, on July 21, 2010, in a lawsuit involving whether college cheerleading qualified as a sport for purposes of Title IX, a federal court, citing a current lack of program development and organization, ruled that it is not a sport at all.

If you had kids would you let them join a cheer squad?

Yes.

 

Have you ever met an intelligent cheerleader?

Yes. A cheerleader I knew in high school was a Presidential Scholar, one of the highest academic honors a US high school student can achieve.

 

Did the cheerleaders you knew get fat after High School?

Some did, some didn’t.

 

Some of the cheerleaders at my high school were fat during their time at high school. “Fat-shaming”, and various other acts of hazing and bullying, were commonplace at my HS, but was rarely very successful.

[fahrquad]

What do you think of cheerleaders? Should cheerleading be considered a sport? If you had kids would you let them join a cheer squad? Cheerleaders are stereotyped as snobby and dumb. Have you ever met an intelligent cheerleader? Did the cheerleaders you knew get fat after High School?

 

In the order asked: Very little.  Hell no.  Absolutely not.  Not a question.  No. Yes.