Don't think cheerleading is a sport? Think again!

A popular new show on Netflix, called “Cheer,” has brought renewed local attention to a sport that can sometimes be thought of as anything but.

[jojokitty]

For anyone wondering, this is called cheer. And some schools do cheer which is amazing but people think that cheerleading is easy and all you have to do is stand there, do chants, look sexy, and be an entitled brat and mean girl. That is not true. Yes there is sideline cheer where you cheer for the occasional football team for your school and that is hard to do. They also have stunt which is also representing your school but not cheering for a football team. Instead, competing against other school’s stunt teams. But the one that I think is the hardest is competitive cheer. This is when you don’t cheer for a football team or represent for your school. You have a club gym you go to that has multiple teams in it. They have levels from 1-7. These gyms across the globe are crazy good. You go across the country to compete in multiple competitions. The bigger ones are NCA, Summit, and Worlds. Worlds is for the older teams but it is where TGLC and Senior Elite go to get titles. We put our blood sweat and tears into this. It is like the army. It is only 2:30 seconds but that is full with deathdifying stunts and crazy ass tumbling. Last year there was a girl who got paralyzed from the neck down because of tumbling in cheer. Let me break up the routine for you. Opening, Standing Tumbling, Max Stunts, Jumps, Tumbling, Elites, Running tumbling, Pyramid, dance. Let me tell you the spots in stunts. There is a back spot who holds the entire stunt together with only their arms. They don’t get noticed a lot but without them it would be hard. Bases, there are 2 bases and they hold one whole person up at least 10 feet up in the air. They do at least 50 squats with extra weight during the routine. And finally the flyers. They are the flexible girls at the top. You won’t miss them. They need to squeeze their entire body as tight as possible and get broken into crazy splits and spikes and heel stretches and scales. Every single person does a job and if they don’t do it perfectly they do it again. If you want to do this type of cheerleading i recommend proper practice and training. You don’t want to hurt yourself. Also if you want to join a team look for a local cheer gym near you. If you want to learn more about cheer, watch the show Cheer on Netflix, or look up TGLC on YouTube to see what we are made of. Cheer is the fastest growing sport in the world and is in the Olympics. Cheer is making its way to become a real sport!! Thanks for reading and I hope this helped!!:)

[eileenfolk]

To all the people thinking cheer is not a sport: an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment... thats the definition. Cheer is an activity. It evolves physical exertion and skill. Its a team. We compete against other teams AND entertains a crowd.
For those of you saying it doesn't require hard work: Personally, I have practice EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK! 2 hours on weekdays, 4 on weekends! We run a MILE, 50 pushups, 25 burpees, 100  jumping jacks, 10 minutes of wall sits, 5 of planks, 20 sit ups, and A LOT of stretches, for WARMUPS on NORMAL practice days! I stand on top of another girls hands, sometime for more than 10 minutes! I tumble, constatly being pushed to learn harder skills! 
To all the people saying cheerleaders don't get hurt: 14 concussions. Too many to count bloody noses. 4 sprained ankles. 1 broken arm...and thats just me. Just read the facts

[chasitycarter]

I promise cheerleading is a sport please it really is a sport and it’s one of the hardest sports that you could ever doI’m not lying

[stellahaywood]

My bestie and I are on the cheer team. Tara is a flyer. She is 4 foot 9, and fit. I am a base. I am 5 foot 10 and fit. Whats in common? WERE BOTH FIT. Just if your tiny like Tara dosent mean you can be a flyer, flyers are FIT AND STRONG. Just if your tall like me dosent mean you can be a base. BASES AND FIT AND STRONG!

[altaccountttttt]

All I have to say is 4 words.
Cheer
Is
A
Sport.
And you wanna know why? Because I’m a cheerleader. I’m not just a cheerleader, I’m the flyer. And to all the girls out there saying “oh wow she’s so lucky!“ well actually, flying is also hard work. Just like cheer itself.
You see, I’ve been doing cheer since I was 7. And I have to say, cheer is totally a sport. And for people who disagree,
I.
Don’t.
Care.
Girls work hard. My coaches make my team do push-ups. Sit-ups….burpees…everything. And that’s hard work. We also lift people. And throw them in the air. Listen peeps,
Cheer
Is
A
Sport
Period.

[khlouea]

the people saying cheer is not a sport have clearly never done it

[AMBERMOONNN]

All star cheer is a sport because the definition of a sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment. Which is what all star cheer is

[AChaplin]

That sport uses the worst genre of music. The music makes it boring. Every routine and background music look generic. No variation and art at all.

[AChaplin]

Chess is also not a sport. It should not be featured in sports pages.

[chasitycarter]

Yes Cheerleading is a sport I do cheerleading and it is such a sport I hate when people say it’s not UHH

[rahulxdagar]

Cheerleading is just a way of women objectification. Guys play and girls cheer them in shiny clothes. Its gross.

[invisname]

cheerleading is by dictionary definition a sport and it’s not easy, but it doesn’t feel like a sport

[ryleigh]

No, the answer is NO.
Doesn’t matter if cheerleading gets competitive at some point, A Real sport involves a ball or a puck!

[aidanavila]

Nope watched a cheerleading competition today still backing up my opinion

[aidanavila]

Was this suppose to change my mind it ain’t a sport

[kevinkuriakose]

Sport definition:
sport
/spôrt/
noun
1.
an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
"team sports such as baseball and soccer"
Last time I checked cheer squads aren’t competing against each other.

[thessianheart]

Cheerleading ain't a sport. Gymnastics, that's a sport. Get these girls to train for the Olympics where they'll face against Russians, Germans and other top notch gymnasts. Then they'll find out just how fit and flexible they are.

[ribby]

I just don't get how in anyway is this a sport