Is Cheerleading a real sport?

Is cheerleading a real sport? Ok, before you answer, hear me out.

I was surprised to find headlines on the internet this week that there is currently a law suit in Hartford, Connecticut that is investigating whether colleges can include cheerleading as a sport and cheerleaders as sports participants. This all started last year when Connecticut's Quinnipiac University cut the women's volleyball team, and as a result, the coach and five team members sued the school. Title IX was an education amendment enacted in 1972, the goal of which was and is to assure that all students have the opportunity to play a sport, a very important part of health, learning teamwork, and building individual confidence.

The amendment states that "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance..."
-United States Code Section 20

Quinnipiac University utilizes cheerleading as part of their Title IX compliance because they have a coach, regular practices, and in addition to their role to support other sports, they have an annual championship competition that defines the season. At this point though, the competition is not recognized by the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, so an official ruling in this court case could prove to elevate the official status of Cheerleading or worse judicially declare it not a sport. Either way, the outcome of this case will certainly change cheerleading.

So do I think cheerleading is a sport in the physical perspective?

I would imagine that Nascar is now accepted as a sport because of the intensity of driving at high speeds, the risk of injury, and fatigue that is inevitable with the duration of the race. Furthermore, the winners often do a backflip off the window of their car. Colleagite cheerleaders perform backflips with their feet on the ground.

Michael Jordon's average air time is 0.98 seconds and Lebron James has a vertical leap of just less than 4 feet. A cheerleader tossed in the air by their teammates competes with Jordon's air time and some cheerleaders can jump and do the splits in mid air with a vertical space from the ground of about 4 feet competing with Lebron James.

Can anyone tell me any other team sport that uses their hands like feet? Exactly. While gymnists are similar to cheerleaders, cheerleading truly turns gymnastics into a team sport. The stunts that are performed as a team truly require all present for the safe and masterful accomplishment of flinging into the air and returning to earth with no harm and ready to run and backflip again.

The weight of objects thrown in sports: baseball is 5 ounces, football is 15 ounces, discus is 2.2-4.4 pounds, shot put is 8-16 pounds, a cheerleader is >50 pounds. Number of potential positions on a cheerleading squad, 7, but like football there can be more than on of many of those positions.

US All Star Federation is the governing body of cheerleading who partners with ESPN to show cheerleading competitions International competition: US has held the gold in every event except International all-girl level 6 which Chile won in 2009, but US took back in 2010. Other medal winners include China, Mexico, U.K., Japan, Canada, Columbia,

There are over 4 million cheerleaders in the world. Although 97% of them are female, at the collegiate level, 50% of them are male according to about.com

So now that we have hopefully established that cheerleaders are quite extraordinary athletes, what injuries are common with them.

Cheerleaders have a high risk for both traumatic and overuse injuries to multiple areas of the body.
Traumatic injuries are high risk at the ankle, arm, and head. Overuse injuries are prevent in the back, shoulder, and wrist. The traumatic injuries obviously come from the high level jumps and tosses. Sprained ankles and sometimes fractures can occur with landings, particularly if the cheerleader lands on their catching partners foot, forcing it to roll inward. Head trauma and concussions are another risk, do you recall the signs of a concussion from the football article written by Rudie Thomsen, PTA a month ago? The signs of a concussion are....

Ultimately safety and proper form are most important to prevent cheerleading injuries, but general strength training can also reduce the risk for the overuse injuries. Coaches and athletic trainers are integral to keeping our cheerleaders supporting our teams and competing at their very high levels for their own championships.

Although the debate in the judicial system is ongoing, most all major universities, such as the University of Tennessee, recognize cheerleading as a sport with a defined championship and offer not only athletic training services, but also weight training services.



Zach Sutton, DPT, MS, OCS