- Nov 10, 2015
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If you are from California I feel you on the Sport thing ... it’s like thanks but no thanks for throwing us the “sports TITLE” bone... but really we were just slapped with a bunch of silly restrictions, given almost no benefits or real athletic priority/status ... Oh, and to top it off, Everyone keeps trying to make “Fetch” happen with HS Stunt the Sport.
So now it’s:
FROSH, JV, Varsity Sideline and basketball/PeP
Then JV/Varsity traditional competition and Gameday and now stunt the sport...
Now parents can be ticked at us year round... lol j/k
(But not really) :/
Yes, you guys out West are currently feeling a very high degree of “be careful what you ask for.” I’ve read through several threads here about what they’ve done to you with the granting of “sport” status. The regulations and such are just the tip of the iceberg.
I’ve lobbied against people who get their panties in a wad of the word “sport” for about 16 of my 21 years in the game. There is another, unintended, consequence of “sport” status to which we have yet to see. If a court case ever reaches SCOTUS and they determine that a state has put in regulations for cheerleading to count for title IX purposes, coed cheerleading will be on the chopping block at any school that struggles to meet title IX requirements. As a guy, I don’t think that’s cool.
Is having an obscure title really worth it?
I work in an emergency department full of physicians. In other places, nurses call physicians doctor as a sign of respect. We are all on a first name basis with our docs. I can assure you, we respect the one who demonstrate a high level of competence, no matter what we call them.
From my perspective, cheerleading would be much better off in the respect column if we just demonstrated a high level of competence spending our time and energy coaching our kids like the other athletes in the school. Throwing our noses up in the air, beating our chests, and demanding to be called a sport more or less arbitrarily could continue to have to far worse consequences.