I used to get all riled up and fight with people about cheerleading being a sport. Went so much as to say "well if it is so easy then why can't you do it?"
Maybe it is just me growing up but I don't really care if my football loving friend doesn't think cheer is a sport. They love football, I love cheerleading. If you try to tell me I am not an athlete then I will ask you politely to perform any set of skills that I can do and show the athletic training it takes to do those skills. But if you tell me it is not a sport I will respectfully accept your opinion as there are many grey areas in defining exactly what a sport is as @
BlueCat has mentioned already. Yes I think cheerleading is a sport in my eyes but other people still think our sole purpose is to wave signs and pom poms and that is okay. Those opinions do not really matter to me anyways as they are uneducated.