RebKell's Junkie Boards

[cujo]

Although this isn't about hoops, it is about Title IX interpretation and application. Is "cheer" a sport?

http://ctsportslaw.com/2010/06/21/trial-begins-in-quinnipiac-volleyball-title-ix-case/

[Youth Coach]

I'm sorry but me personally, I don't consider cheerleading a sport.

You are not a sport when you stand around cheering for other people who are playing a sport.

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"The very rich and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of those facts that needs altering."

[cujo]

If cheer is a sport, then so should team managing, referring, chalk lining, ticket taking, ushering...all of those are there because of the game and cannot stand alone.

I am not in favor of eliminating any sport for the sake of adding "cheer".

[GEF34]

If the school allows the cheerleading team to compete in national competitions then I think it should be considered a sport, but if they just perform at rallys and sports events then it shouldn't be considered a sport.

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DeLisha Milton-Jones is my favorite player

Win or Lose LA Sparks Fan for life!!!

[FS02]

Unfortunately, I think it is a sport if they're doing competitions. I don't see how you could craft a definition of sport that wouldn't include it.

Ideally, they should fund both. Cheerleading because it's part of football, and volleyball because it's an exciting game. I'd much rather watch volleyball than a cheer competition. If more people were supporting volleyball it wouldn't be an issue, because then there would be money there.

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@dtmears2

[Youth Coach]

Competitive eating has competitions...it is not a sport.

Neither is cheerleading.

_________________
"The very rich and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views. Which can be uncomfortable if you happen to be one of those facts that needs altering."

[giraffespots]

[cujo]

Gymnastics are available for much the same thing. Perhaps gymnastics could grow to include "Team" events much like modern day cheer. Then, schools would not have to eliminate one sport (Women's Vball at Quinnipiac) to create room for Cheer.

[pilight]

From today's chat on ESPN.com

[beknighted]

Having watched maybe 10 minutes of competitive cheerleading on one of the ESPN channels (I was transfixed, briefly, by the spectacle), I have two observations:

1. Competitive cheerleading is nothing like the sideline stuff. It is much closer to floor exercise as performed by 15 or 20 people. It looked as much like a sport as gymnastics or diving or anything else where you get scored for your performance.

2. Competitive cheerleading is co-ed, and the teams looked to be about 50-50 to me, although there could have been more women than men. If it replaced a women's sport, it would tilt the balance towards men.

[Youth Coach]

[calbearman76]

The issues surrounding cheerleading and Title IX are intriguing and clearly cut many ways. Competitive cheerleading is as much a sport as gymnastics and many other sports; cheerleading at a football game or basketball game is not, at least as far as I'm concerned.

From a Title IX compliance standpoint, obviously including cheerleading helps balance compliance and would probably be used as a way of dropping another women's sport. On the other hand cheerleaders have a very high rate of injuries for what is clearly an athletic activity. Additionally the funding of cheerleading activities often falls more on the parents than the institution, particularly in high schools. Classifying cheerleading as a sport would most likely aid funding and could also reduce injuries.

But the real battle seems to be that cheerleading is generally seen as a subserviant activity whereas sports are competitive activities. Women's sports are supported by feminists (though generally not so much at the turnstiles); cheerleading is not. Title IX supporters are horrified at the idea that their law could be used to support cheerleading at the expense of volleyball, field hockey or some other sport. The answer should be to make competitive cheerleading a sport, but to protect against any requirements (stated or implicit) that competitive cheerleaders be required to perform at other sporting events. It might also help if the name were changed to coordinated gymnastics to clarify the activity.

[shrrew]

Maybe some of these links will give you all more perspective to view cheerleading as a sport. So far, most people here seem to think cheerleading is 'entertainment', this is an uninformed viewpoint that supports their bias against cheerleading.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_cheerleading_a_sport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerleading

http://www.life123.com/sports/team-sports/cheerleading/is-cheerleading-a-sport.shtml


It is a very demanding sport. I cheered for 4 years. That was alot of hours of practice and sweat.

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(shrrew)

[cujo]

I absolutely agree that cheer requires lots of sweat and hard work. So does marching band and band adds a lot to most high school and college sporting events just as cheer does.

I believe cheer falls under the umbrella of gymnastics and as such, already has a place at the college table. Quinnipiac has elected to abandon Women's Volleyball to set an additional place setting for cheer.

[Youth Coach]

[cujo]

I am female and I would rather play than cheer. I wish that were still an option at Qpiac.

[PUmatty]

To me, there are two questions that need to be asked. The first: How are cheerleaders treated in comparison to other athletes? Are there scholarships? Do they receive the same academic and other services that athletes do at a given school? What about fitness and nutrition training? Basically, does the school treat them like athletes, or does it treat them like a student organization?

Second: Do the cheerleaders think of themselves as athletes? The real goal behind Title IX is equality of opportunity; do women have the same opportunity as men. If the cheerleaders think of cheerleading as providing them that athletic opportunity, then it does. They would know a lot better than me.

If the school treats them like student-athletes and they think of themselves as student-athletes, then where is the justification to say they aren't student-athletes?

[24duzitall]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31571880/ns/sports-other_sports/

if it isn't a sport-then it's one of the most dangerous "non sports" out there.

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RIP my sweet boy Indi...my grumpy old man Charlie...precious Oliver and my sweet girl Faith

[RedEqualsLuck]

I liked the flip test: http://title-ix.blogspot.com/

Dr. Mary Jo Kane. director of the Tucker Center who put it nicely:
"How would people react if the school cut a men's sport like baseball or lacrosse and used those funds for a male cheerleading squad?"

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"When I first got up here, one student said basketball was 'a man’s game.' So I played him one-on-one, even though I was five or six months pregnant at the time. Let’s just say it hasn’t been a problem since."

Kelly Anderson, high school coach, boys

http://womensbasketballonline.com/history/wbbtimeline.html
*Honoring Women's Basketball from 1892 to the Present*

[Youth Coach]

[beknighted]

Rereading the articles, it does seem that the real issue here is not the adoption of competitive cheer, but that the school has been manipulating the numbers by adding players to women's sports beyond the norms and double- or triple-counting female athletes. That's a much different problem.

[braveniler58]

It depends. Simple cheerleading doesn't require much to do; it's like dancing. That isn't a sport, no. However, there are some cheering routines that are just simply phenomenal and is borderline gymnastics. I can't say that's not a sport; they train hard to perfect those techniques, etc.

My opinion: Those that cheer during games, halftime of football games, etc -- are cheerleaders.

Those that do routines (like in the Bring It On movies, etc.) isn't cheerleading -- that's something completely different. I would have no problem watching that because it's very pleasing to watch. This kind of "cheerleading" should be renamed to something else, such as... I have no idea. Something else, not Cheerleading.

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GO University of Connecticut Huskies, Arizona State University Sun Devils, University of Arizona Wildcats, Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Mercury (2007 WNBA CHAMPIONS), and the New England Patriots!

[PeachBasket]

An additional level of complexity: cheerleaders at a basketball (or other) game doing the same things they do in the cheer competitions.

I was at the opening round of the NCAAs a few years back. One of the teams playing was Florida State. They had their cheerleading squad with them, and during breaks in the action they were doing tumbling runs. They were very impressive. Just as much involved as runs in any floor exercise at the collegiate level, and done on a wooden floor, not a mat. Later on, leaving the arena at the end of the evening's action, I found myself next to one of the FSU cheerleaders, and complimented her on their runs. She was clearly startled that somebody had actually paid attention to what they were doing, and thanked me enthusiastically, adding "We work VERY hard on those!" That was obvious to me from the first minute I saw them.

[caesarscott]

judge rules against Q-pac that Cheer isnt a sport

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2010/07/judge_rules_competitive_cheerl.html

[cujo]

Against Qpac cheer but FOR Qpac women's vball!

Just as it should be!