How Cheerleading Is A Sport

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Pages: 6

Cheerleading. When I say cheerleading, many people think of a stereotypical cheerleader who shakes her pom poms for the boys teams of their school, but in reality a real cheerleader is so much more than that. I’ve been a cheerleader for 12 years. I started cheerleading when I was just 6 years old, so I can tell you from personal experience that cheerleading is more than a sport. Anyone can say cheer is a sport or not, but I am going to tell you the facts on why it truly is. Cheerleading began as a male-dominated activity in the United States in the late 19th century. At a University of Minnesota football game in 1898, Johnny Campbell led a cheer that became the first official recorded instance of organized cheerleading. Cheer squads were formed as a result, however at first they were exclusively made up of men. But by the 1920s, women were getting involved, and by the 1940s, particularly during World …show more content…
This source really went into depth on the physical demands that cheerleading has on the body. Cheerleading is known as one of the most physically demanding sports for young athletes because it involves everything from tumbling to jumping and high flying tricks. I feel like a lot of you don't know all the aspects that go into cheering besides the actual cheering. One of the riskier physical things cheerleaders participate in is tumbling. When tumbling, you can sprain, fracture, break bones and even get a concussion. In this article it stated that, “With nearly 30,000 cheerleaders making trips to the ER each year, protecting these performers from injury is a top priority”. I feel like that quote really points out the risk cheerleading has physically and that cheerleading isn’t just cheering for a team. As someone who has been cheering for more than half of my life, from personal experience I have had countless bone sprains, fractures, and concussions which led me to never being able to do all star cheerleading ever