All-Star Why Do We Want It So Bad?

[TheVipersMom]

My house revolves around cheerleading. It effects most family meals, weekends and our finances. It consumes more time and energy than a full time job. My CP trains 5 days a week for this sport and she is 10. She sits in a car 15 plus hours a week for this sport. She goes to bed at midnight after a long commute home from the gym and gets up at 6 am for school.
When I tell anyone that is not involved in cheer (and some that are) this is what my life is they think I am TOTALLY OFF MY ROCKER.
If I told them she was a gymnast training to try out for Team USA and compete in the Olympics they would be thrilled and totally accepting.

I love this as I feel most people view what my daughter does in this way. Yes my daughter is 6 and she does probably spend almost as much time in the gym as your girl might. People think I'm crazy and that no kid should put that much time into cheer! Now granted my gym is a lot closer if it wasn't I'd be making the lengthy drive as well, and since were moving next year if I make the drive to one of the gyms I'm considering we might have you beat! Lol its so worth it though!
I will gladly give up my nights, weekends, and money to support my cp in something she loves and excels at! However, I agree with you if I told someone that she was training for the Olympics it would be totally different! All my friends think "cheer" that is so stupid they don't see it as a sport but they also don't know and don't recognize what All-star cheer is. Where I live travel all-star baseball is what's huge and people drop tons of money on that but I guess that's ok because there going to all be major league baseball players when they get older. (me being sarcastic :))

I'm personally ok with people calling it whatever they want but I wish it received more positive publicity and respect as people don't begin to understand what makes this sport/activity.

I just wish everyone was more open minded and better educated. I also would like to say I try to be more open minded to things in return.

 

[cupieqt]

I don't like calling us "cheerleaders", simply because it's more than that. We are not your traditional spirit leading team. We are athletes! I like to call us "CHEER ATHLETES" :)

I like to call them "ALL STARS" instead of cheerleaders. I'm with you on that though. To me, a cheerleader is someone that encourages someone else to do well and although we may do that, competitive all-star cheer isn't doing that in the way it's original meaning implies.

Personally, I'm anxious for some better regulations and industry standards but I don't get offended or care if people don't think it's a sport. We aren't classified as one anywhere but in our own little world/minds but anyone that declares cheerleading isn't a sport as an attempt to demean it's existance is either completely ignorant or is just trying to piss off a cheerleader.

 

[Drkilluzionz]

Until cheer has a truly common set of rules and a universal scoring system, debating about whether it should or should not be a sport is a moot point.

For everyone that dismisses the idea of cheer being a sport, ask yourself what you fear. The idea of a strong governing body in cheer that might actually enforce universal scoresheets, athlete registration and credentialing? The thought that we might have more regulations that might impede "creativity"? I know it's come up in passing in other threads, but I'm curious as to why people are so concerned about the "sport" designation.

Athlete registration and credentialing is something that should and is supposed to be happening currently in the industry. How efficiently and rapidly it's being done is something I can't answer.

My first issue with Sport is what will happen to cheerleading's coed programs especially at the collegiate level. There are currently no coed sports that I know of and from what I understand Title 9 would make coed cheerleading, if given sports status, obsolete.

Universal rules is a beautiful thing but ultimately, and this is just my opinion, universal scoring is not something that I would consider beneficial to the entire industry. I look at it this way, if we had universal score sheets there are so many gyms that have to operate under unique circumstances and have to cater to different clientele that they need to have options. Maybe they don't have the squad skill that company a looks for, or the presentation that company b looks for but maybe company c has something that caters to them and some of you reading this will say thats a cop out but for that gym owner it's a reality that they have to consider if they want to stay in business.

Or if cheer was considered a sport and as a sport our number of "leagues" (competition companies) had to be cut down how many event producers and staff would be out of work. Other sports dont have 100+ companies running games and sanctioned events.

I say these things not to downplay the athleticism of our industry but more to argue for how unique it is. It has components of an activity but is so much more, and has components of a sport but has evolved past that as well. When people compare cheer to a particular sport or sports in general in an attempt to regulate or argue a valid point I cant help but always think about how cheer is such a separate and unique entity of its own.

 

[Jarod_allan]

Definition of sport- an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature... i'm pretty sure that's everything cheerleading is!

 

[foreverrrcheer]

There is always talk about how we need to do this or that so we can be recognized as a sport to the world, but why? Why do we want to be recognized as a sport so bad? We would have to break down so many stereotypes that society has of us and have them see what we do, to know there is more than the cheerleaders at high school basketball/ football games. To show them we aren't the Lakers or Dallas Cowboy "cheerleaders". I don't feel the need anymore to defend myself against people who are too simpleminded to even listen or watch a video to prove my point. And if they do watch a video they swear up and down they can do the same thing right now. I'm happy knowing that this is a sport and we work just as hard, if not harder, than other sports out there. I'm a cheerleader and I am proud! If people aren't willing to be open minded about this then I don't care what they think in the first place.

Discuss.

Amen.