Glitter, tight uniforms, plastered smiles, and outrageously big bows can all be associated with cheerleading. Immense flexibility, coordination, stamina, and strength is required for cheerleading. Gone are the days of simple cheers with a hand clap beat, modern day cheerleading displays gravity defying stunts and head spinning tumbling passes. As cheerleaders manage to throw each other in the air and go beyond most of the world’s capabilities, the hardest thing for the sport is to convince others that it is one.
Cheerleaders make their stunts and tumbling look so effortless, it almost looks easy. What people do not realize is the incredible amount of practice it takes to get to such a perfect execution. In order to catch 100-pound girls and land steadily after being up in the air, the body has to be accustomed to taking “explosive force.” The popular new Netflix series called “Cheer” documents Navarro College’s team, one of the best cheerleading teams in the country. In the series, the audience can see the cheerleaders pushing their bodies to their maximum capabilities. The risk of concussions, broken and sprained bones, bruises, and perhaps even life-threatening injuries threaten cheer practice daily. With each passing year, cheerleading teams have to keep doing the impossible to stand out from the other teams, and as the tricks advance, so do the dangers. The series shows just how much it takes to be a cheerleader, and reintegrates the simple fact that cheerleading is indeed a sport.
Unlike other sports, cheerleaders are trained to act like Dutch Bros employees on steroids. If you watch any cheerleading performance, no cheerleader looks unhappy. cheerleading is not only a physically demanding sport, but is a mental one as well.
Some might argue that cheerleading is not a sport because they perceive it as a spirit group that jumps around clapping their hands while chanting cheesy cheers. This would be true if it were the 1950s where skirts went below the knee and a “stunt” was a 5-person pyramid. Interestingly enough, constituents of cheerleading are used in various sports. Stamina, flexibility, and a tremendous amount of coordination, for example. Cheerleading involves tumbling techniques found in gymnastics and acrobatics. The ability to receive and withstand force can be associated in football, as well as cheerleading. Stamina is often found in track and basketball, and is necessary when it comes to cheerleading. Wrestling, dance, and taekwondo/karate have a foundation of flexibility, as does cheerleading. Coordination is a part of all sports as it is vital in order for a sport to be played or exhibited. Cheerleading is actually more similar to sports than it is different. However, the integrated stereotype of high school sidelines and pom poms are unfortunately still in the minds of many.
Cheerleading is a sport that is too often undermined and underappreciated. It is a sport that is not widely accepted, and this could be because it is misunderstood. As cheerleading continues to evolve and gain the attention it deserves, hopefully the craft becomes a world-renowned sport, sparkles and all.