What if what were doing isn't cheerleading, what if it is something else? (serious)

[King]

Semantics.. words... so powerful.

What if what we are doing ISN'T cheerleading. It is a DEFINITELY sport, but it isn't cheerleading. To borrow a misquoted quote from one of those articles, we don't cheer and we don't lead. It looks and resembles cheerleading, but isn't. It has similar pieces (just like how we have floor tumbling from gymnastics, but we arent gymnastics) but those pieces done in the way we have all competed in them is NOT cheerleading, but something else.

Let me explain. If we say cheerleading is strictly a crowd interacting sideline activity, then stepping onto a competition mat isnt cheerleading. Cheerleaders, who do crowd leading activities, also get involved and do the thing we all consider a sport.

Is this making sense to anyone. Forget everything you know about any advertisement or anything ever... just think is what we do 'cheerleading'?

 

[hAhLe_yEaH]

Semantics.. words... so powerful.

What if what we are doing ISN'T cheerleading. It is a DEFINITELY sport, but it isn't cheerleading. To borrow a misquoted quote from one of those articles, we don't cheer and we don't lead. It looks and resembles cheerleading, but isn't. It has similar pieces (just like how we have floor tumbling from gymnastics, but we arent gymnastics) but those pieces done in the way we have all competed in them is NOT cheerleading, but something else.

Let me explain. If we say cheerleading is strictly a crowd interacting sideline activity, then stepping onto a competition mat isnt cheerleading. Cheerleaders, who do crowd leading activities, also get involved and do the thing we all consider a sport.

Is this making sense to anyone. Forget everything you know about any advertisement or anything ever... just think is what we do 'cheerleading'?

Then what is it called? What are we that do "cheerleading" realy doing?

 

[King]

I don't have an answer, but do you see where I am going with this?

Whenever I have told someone I am a male cheerleader they always ask me to: "Oh you are? do a cheer for me"

Has that ever happened to you?

What if were using the wrong word to describe this thing.

 

[Level5Mom]

ICU calls it "Sport Cheer". Kingston are you thinking it would be best if we removed the word "cheer" completely?

 

[King]

Even Sport Cheer uses the word cheer. I am really not sure where I am going with this BUT

I know a cross country runner and a Sprinter do very different things... but both have similar qualities.

 

[imrichhowboutu]

I'm going to agree with what you said here and what you said in the other thread which is what i assume sparked this.

There have been many names, but i agree with you that cheerleading isn't the name for the sport.

I like how some of the NCSTA schools are calling it stunt & gymnastics. I dont necessarily like that name, but its better than cheerleading.
also, not a huge fan of "stuntnastics".

But you know what. we aren't going to find a name that everyone can agree on it because it is so different. People don't like change.
I don't even know who would start that change. Varsity? being as they are the largest company in our industry. Would they host All-Star Stuntnastic competitions. The issue is that there are so many people that are doing it now, that it would be hard to say, lets change the name.

Maybe someone can bring this up at NACCC next year?

 

[King]

AT this moment, sure.

If what we did was called Jimmy's amazing acrobatic style and dance... if we didn't fall under an umbrella...

Senior webb can call Cheerleading a friggin checkers match for all I care.

Is the problem we need a new word.

 

[soFIERCE08]

hmm, my coach call us cheer athletes.

 

[King]

We all call ourselves cheer athletes or cheer something or other.

If this DIDNT have the name cheer would we be 'free' from being lumped together with the sidelines?

NOT that the sidelines are bad, mind you. But they are two different things. Is that the confusion?

 

[imrichhowboutu]

I think everyone will agree that at the allstar and competitive level, that we aren't cheerleaders
We are sports athletes
But where do we go from there
Who would be the person/entity that would start that revolution
Someone needs to lead it
What we do incorporates Stunts/Acro, Gymnastics/Tumbling, Dance and showmanship.

Maybe tccheer can help us out here with out the athletes in the NCSTA identify themselves. I know girls from UMD and they say they are cheerleaders if someone asks.

I always have practice and people say for what... so i say for allstar cheerleading and we just compete, no actual cheering.
So whenever asked, i always tell people, we compete, we dont cheer.

 

[cheerKT]

All this seriousness on the boards these days is hurting my brain.

 

[JordanBellin]

All this seriousness on the boards these days is hurting my brain.

I feel your pain girl!

 

[King]

All this seriousness on the boards these days is hurting my brain.

I promise one day we will get back to who is the fiercest of them all

 

[King]

I think everyone will agree that at the allstar and competitive level, that we aren't cheerleaders
We are sports athletes
But where do we go from there
Who would be the person/entity that would start that revolution
Someone needs to lead it
What we do incorporates Stunts/Acro, Gymnastics/Tumbling, Dance and showmanship.

Maybe tccheer can help us out here with out the athletes in the NCSTA identify themselves. I know girls from UMD and they say they are cheerleaders if someone asks.

I always have practice and people say for what... so i say for allstar cheerleading and we just compete, no actual cheering.
So whenever asked, i always tell people, we compete, we dont cheer.

There isn't a good word. Cheer or cheerleading is what weve always thought. Whatever the heck we do evolved from Cheerleading (sidelines). Strike out the word cheer (because that is the most iconic part of it all) and come up with a new word.... maybe that is what we should do.

 

[flyergymgirl125]

S & T

I'm going to agree with what you said here and what you said in the other thread which is what i assume sparked this.

There have been many names, but i agree with you that cheerleading isn't the name for the sport.

I like how some of the NCSTA schools are calling it stunt & gymnastics. I dont necessarily like that name, but its better than cheerleading.
also, not a huge fan of "stuntnastics".

But you know what. we aren't going to find a name that everyone can agree on it because it is so different. People don't like change.
I don't even know who would start that change. Varsity? being as they are the largest company in our industry. Would they host All-Star Stuntnastic competitions. The issue is that there are so many people that are doing it now, that it would be hard to say, lets change the name.

Maybe someone can bring this up at NACCC next year?

I totally understand what you all are getting at and totally agree. I would think that "cheerleading" or what we do, would fit nicely within the gymnastics realm. There are:

Artistic Gymnastics (vault, bars, beam and floor)
Rythmic Gymnastics
Acrobatics Gymnastics
T & T (Trampoline and Power Tumbling)
and why not...
S & T (Stunt and Tumbling)???

I like the term S & T a lot better than stuntnastics or cheernastics. I would guess that if it was recoined with a different name, then it may fall under USAG rules like all the other gymnastics related sports I listed above.

Very interesting topic!!!