Many people think that the only main sports are football, baseball, softball, basketball, and soccer. Why do they think this? Just because they can score points or can be on ESPN? Well, I think that a very important sport always gets left out or just not considered as a sport. This sport just happens to be cheerleading. Cheerleaders work just as hard as any other sport does. It may appear to you that all cheerleaders do is stand on the sideline and kick and scream with very loud annoying voices but that's not even close to what a cheerleader has to do.
Firstly, cheerleaders must be in tip top shape in order to kick and jump and perform there stunts to there best ability. By being in shape they must work out, lift weights, and of course CONDITION. Cheerleaders has to practice everyday just like any other sport so when it is time to cheer the team on they will know just what to do because of practicing all week. Even though cheerleaders may not score points on the field, when they go to competetion they get out on the mat and BRING IT ON!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I can relate to this becuase I have a brother-in-law who did cheer in college. He is definitely a competitive athlete who enjoyed what he did very much, but most every time I have mentioned him doing cheer to friends or whoever, they laugh at it as though it's not really a sport. I'm sure this has something to do with him being a guy as well, but I'm pretty sure that even I didn't take the cheerleaders seriously at my high school. Maybe you could address some of the reasons why cheerleaders are seen the way they are. A big part of this is the media. Movies and TV often portray cheerleaders as the group of ditzy blondes who got on the team becuase they're pretty. I actually think this still happens sometimes in schools. However, I have had friends that were cheerleaders before and they were definitely great girls and totally in shape. There was just too much drama (created really by the girls themselves) built around cheer in high school for me to really take those girls seriously. I agree with you that cheer is hard work, but I think society continues to expect that 'typical cheerleader' image instead of an athltete. I think a big part of changing this image is for cheerleaders themselves to make sure they're acting maturely and to not change their own image and personality just to become "the cheerleader".
ReplyDeleteThis is an intresting point for me. Having the experienced as a cheerleader myself for two of my school years, I can see your point of view. I agree with Kristi, I surely wasn't taking cheerleading seriously when I was at early age. It was just a fun thing and show off your talent.
ReplyDeleteBut I do know that it wasn't all about fun. The long hours of practice, sore muscles and the pressure of winning the competition wasn't easy. It was hard work to keep up with the expectation.
I completely agree that cheerleading should be consider as a sport.