Eat. Sleep. Cheer. Repeat. By Chloe V.

Cheerleading is more than just standing on a sideline shaking pom-poms and hollering"GO TEAM, GO!" It is physically demanding , involves competitions as well as teamwork. An important question has arisen in the world of sports and it is time to speak about the true facts. Is cheerleading a sport? Yes it is!

Firstly cheerleading takes a lot of physical fitness, talent,determination,training and guts. Cheerleading has evolved a lot during the years and is starting to get compared to gymnastics. Speaking about training I mean hard and intensive working out, failure,patience and even sometimes bad injuries. Cheerleaders have to get thrown into the air, make routines on mats including many stunts, difficult movements as well as pyramids. To do that they have to practice and practice.Isn't that what a sport is all about? Then talking about guts,it's not everyone who desires to get thrown into the air but those who do want can risk bad injuries if things go wrong.Wasn't a sport supposed to challenge you ?

Secondly,the goal of a sport is not only to be better than you used to be but also to face oponents in serious competitions while developing sportsmanship and teamspirit.When you compete against other teams, training can be really stressful and requires a whole lot of time. Of course, practice makes perfect! During competitions you get judged on your techniques, stunts,elegance and many other criterias just like many other sports. In order for those events to be successful, teamwork has to be present in each and every team member. " You mess with a cheerleader, you mess with her whole squad!" This saying says it all. Cheerleaders are sisters who develop team spirit and sportsmanship as they have to trust each other.

To conclude, cheerleading is a sport because it is physically demanding,requires teamwork and involves competitions. If you still think it is not a sport well trust me... You don't know what you're
in for !