Sport - an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature. Cheerleading implicates all of the above, so why is there even an argument that cheer is a sport. Cheer is an athletic activity that requires the skills of strength, flexibility, and various other skills. Also, cheer can be competitive. Cheer involves tumbling, jumping, and stunting, but can also improve your confidence and leadership. Cheer is one of the most dangerous a sport according to numerous websites. Out of the estimated 1.5 million people who cheer, there is an estimated of 16,000 people who get injured in cheer every year.

There are many types of cheerleading. There is the most common cheer and also the cheer most people think of when they hear the word cheer, which is “school” cheer. Additionally, there is competitive cheer. In competitive cheer you have a two to three minute routine of non-stop jumping, stunting, and tumbling. In school cheer you might do the same things but it is not all at the same time and you also have chants that you say.

Many people do not know what competitive cheer is. Many people probably never heard of it. Well first off, it has the word competitive in it. This means that the teams compete against each other. We actually go places and compete and win metals, trophies, and sometimes even jackets or money. We go many places for these competitions like Florida, Wisconsin, Chicago, and other states. Some of the big competitions include Jamfest, USASF, Varsity, and NLCC.

Cheerleading is a sport just like any other. It takes dedication and hard work. Most cheerleaders have two practices a week and at those practices they work vigorously on their skills. Cheer is not a sport that anyone that walks in can come and then does everything perfectly, not even for school cheer. Cheer can be fun and rewarding but there are many other things that go into cheerleading other then “go team!!!”