The sophomore cheerleader is thrown into the air and the crowd roars. As her fellow cheerleaders catch her, people in the bleachers wonder aloud, is cheerleading considered a sport? People look down from the stands as another girl is tossed toward the sky and successfully lands in the arms of her team. This is followed by leaps into the air, backflips, splits and other physically-demanding moves – all in an effort to entertain the crowd. It’s obvious that cheerleaders are hardly benchwarmers.

Some disagree, arguing that cheerleaders don’t have to be in shape to do what may be seen as an abstract performance. They can just stand and look pretty. After all, the root word in cheerleading is cheer. They wave pom-poms in the air, which doesn’t sound too physically demanding. Perhaps it is more of an art than a sport. 

Brea Darnell the writer of Definition Statistics Proves Cheer Is Not A Sport agrees: ”Cheerleading is not commonly considered a sport because of the inability to compete against an opponent.” 

“It is not just throwing a girl up in the air,” said Ani B., a cheerleader with two years of experience through Pop Warner. “You have to use your legs and muscles. If you drop a girl, they might be injured. They could break their leg or their arm.” 

Many agree with Ani B. It is challenging to train as a cheerleader, just like it is for any competitive sport. 

“(During) competition…coaches cheer on the girls, and so do the mothers, as (the cheerleaders)  are getting scored for their performance,” said Brianna A, a former cheerleader who had cheered for two years with CYSC All-Stars.

“Cheerleading is no longer just a simple way to climb the social ladder; it is now a serious sport for many young girls,” states Brittany Wofford’s Cheerleading For Dummies. “Cheerleaders are well-known for their flexibility, which is seen when performing high kicks, jumps, splits and stunt sequences.”

Cheerleaders were once planted solely on the sidelines, but not anymore. According to “The Pros and Cons of Cheerleading, “Bases and back spots lift and support the bottom of a stunt or pyramid sequence, which involves strength, focus, and balance.” This requires that participants are extremely athletic, something many people are completely unaware of.

“You have to be flexible and strong because you have to do stunts or tumbling. When you go to competition, you want things to look nice,” said Ani B.

It’s Friday night at a football game. The cheerleaders sprint onto the field, waving their pom-poms. Their job is to motivate the crowd to cheer for their team, and they do it well, by providing an energetic performance with complex choreography. No matter what happens during the game, they always put on a show.