Cheerleading a sport?

[Olivia]

Are dancing or cheerleading sports?

Why or why not?

 

[Nebulous]

I'd say cheerleading cheerleading is a sport and dance is an art form.

However both have competitions and whatnot so maybe both? Hmm

 

[Tuesday]

Anything can be a sport including thumb wrestling etc...but I'm not watching it unless it's naked female cheerleading...

 

[Mendalla]

Cheerleaders, both male and female, are often in better shape than the athletes they are cheering on and it can be quite athletic when they start picking each other up and things like that.

Dance is a physical activity requiring a great deal of skill, grace, and sometimes even strength, so I think it could qualify. Competitive dancers are often in very good shape, too. If we cannot see dance as a sport, how do we justify figure skating, which is basically dancing on ice (heck, one event is even called ice dance)?

The main problem with them as "sports", as far as I can tell, is simply that you can't easily quantify a "winner" or "loser" without getting into scoring hijinks a la figure skating. But maybe we are too focussed on winning anyhow. If it is a physical activity that gets you in better physical condition, run with it and don't worry about whether it is a "real sport".

 

[DrLeftover]

They are athletes. It is not a sport.

 

[Webster]

They are athletes. It is not a sport.

 

[Dee]

Cheerleading for school events is not a sport. Cheerleading and competing against other squads (whether local or national) absolutely IS a sport. It requires immense strength, flexibility, endurance, balance, creativity, and teamwork and competing against other squads is basically the definition of a sport. I never did cheerleading, but I was in gymnastics for a while.