Glittery pom-poms, shiny spandex, and a uniform that describes the team you are hooting for—that’s cheerleading. Coupling this outfit with top-notch dance moves and a chorus that sings the anthem, cheerleading hails the team for which you dressed up with so much finesse. That’s pretty much it for what we call cheerleading, right? Well, beneath all the gold and glitter that cheerleading represents lies an important question. It is an intrigue that still hasn’t reached its conclusion. Is cheerleading a sport?

Introduced in the 18th century, cheerleading got its recognition way before any of the major leagues like the NFL or NHL came into existence. However, in spite of being the eldest among the sporting leagues, cheerleading is long been disputed to be tagged as a sport. So, what makes it different than any other sport?

A debate that still hasn’t chosen a side: Is cheerleading a sport?

Like every other sport, cheerleading also needs a coach, a group of players, and designated uniforms to play their parts on the field. Nevertheless, it requires pre-match training, a field to deliver their performance and a scoreboard that gives judgment in their execution. 

Analogous to other sporting fields, cheerleading also functions in some elite competitions. The list includes Cheerleading World Championships (CWA), National Cheerleading Championships (NCC), the Pan-American Cheerleading championships (PCC), and the ICU World Championships. While these competitions make rather a solid case for establishing an analogy between cheerleading and any other sport, it is considered not enough to put an end to the debate.

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As per the Women’s Sports Foundation, “any physical activity in which relative performance can be judged or qualified can be developed into a competitive sport” if it satisfies two main pre-requisites:

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1. It must be a physical activity

• • Opponents must be present
  • Governed by a specific set of rule

      2. “The Primary purpose is competition versus other teams or individuals within a competition structure comparable to other ‘athletic’ activities”

While cheerleading checks all the pointers of the first pre-requisite, it does not fulfill the second one, as it was not initially founded with the purpose of competing against other teams. Therefore, it is safer to conclude that while technically cheerleading is not a sport, it is more than that, don’t you think?

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