Cheerleading is a Sport

[1]: A Sport is a Sport is a Sport

Who is to say that cheerleading isn't a sport?  I have been cheerleading for a good number of years now, and I know without a doubt that cheerleading IS a sport. It really irks me when people say that it's not a sport, because nine times out of ten those people don't know the mechanics behind cheerleading or what cheerleading is all about.  In high school I would always get sick of those stupid jock football players saying that what we were doing wasn't considered to be a sport and that we were just taking up gym space being there. They have no idea what we did in our practices; therefore they had no right to complain that what we were doing wasn't considered to be a sport.  They don't know about the week-long camps of hell we had to endure that lasted from 9am to 5pm.  They don't know about the after school practices, the stunting camps, the routines or the cheers and dance s that we spent hours trying to perfect and learn.  What most people don't realize is that other sports practice until they get it right, but cheerleaders practice until they can't get it wrong.  Our sport is all about perfection.  There is no room for difference, no room for individuality, in making things up as they come along; we don't have that luxury, and THAT is what people fail to see.  To me, a sport is a sport no matter what way you twist it.  I feel like people don’t want to acknowledge cheerleading as a sport because it may be little whatever sports they may play.  Of course in cheerleading you don’t have to endure the same things as you do in football or basketball or even baseball, but you do have to endure things on a whole different physical and psychological level that people who don’t participate in cheerleading don’t even know how to begin to deal with.  We have to abide by counts, beats in the music, and physical contortions of the body that most people can’t even dream of doing.  Not only are we on a different physical level, but we are also on a completely different psychological level, and we have to work twice as hard as people would even begin to imagine.  My goal is to help the narrow minded people of the world open their horizons and see that cheerleading is just as much a sport as anything else, and that it may be even more of a sport than typical sports like football and basketball.

1. Bill Pennington. “As Cheerleaders Soar Higher, So Does the Danger” nytimes.com. Robert Caplin. 2007. The New York Times Sports. 31 March 2007. <http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/cheerleaders/index.html>

This article was about the dangers associated with the sport of cheerleading.  Stated in the articles, was that, the tricks and stunts that cheerleaders do in today’s times have cheerleaders at the most danger of any other female athletes.  The article states that there were close to 23, 000 cheerleading related injuries in 2002, a number that researchers hadn’t anticipated to be so high.  This article ties in with my blog posting, because I states that us cheerleaders have to work twice as hard as people would even begin to imagine, and here’s the proof in numbers stated clearly in this article.  It’s not all pompoms and looking cute like everybody assumes, there is true dangers behind the scenes.

 

I feel that this article ties in with the entirety of my project, by proving that cheerleading is most definitely a sport with statistics and numbers.  How could something NOT be considered a sport with all these fatal injuries involved within it?  It’s amazing how people can say “cheerleading isn’t a sport!” when hundreds of girls are experiencing life altering injuries and injuries left and right every year without fail.  If people would actually take the time to look up the statistics on cheerleading and get down to the bottom of what the sport is really about, I guarantee you they would change their minds in a hurry.

2. Cheerleading Competition. Youtube Video. 28 October 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vpzifkoZHI>

                              

This video displays numerous cheerleading routines from a variety of different high schools.  This video is perfect for my journal postings because it displays a variety of routines show casing different stunts, cheers, tumbling routines and jump sequences.  The girls in these videos have to endure every sort of physical challenge that is associated with cheerleading, and do so in a way that shows how hard we, as cheerleaders, have to work to conquer these physical challenges.  Just like my article, these girls had to endure mental and physical boundaries to master and perfect their individual routines in a way that made them into a better overall team.

This video makes me wonder about how hard each individual team has to work to avhieve the desired results in their individual routines.  How often do they have to practice?  How experienced are their coaches? Who came up with their routines?  This video more than ties in with the idea behind my blog, The Truth Behind Cheerleading, by displaying the obvious things that people see when they look at cheerleaders, but showing things in a different way.  I love this video because I can see the hard work these girls put into this routine and the proud smiles on their faces when they land their stunts and master their routines.

3. DEATH DEFYING CHEERLEADING!. Youtube Video. 12 August 2008. < http://www.youtube.com/watch=xJYg_klavHQ&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLC375BB1571355338>

The guy in this video is basically talking about how cheerleading has been found to be the most dangerous sport out of all the sports in recent statistics.  There have been a lot of studies to reinforce this guy’s statement, and he is thanking the cheerleaders for risking their lives to cheer on the team.  This ties in with my journal posting, by reinforcing the cheerleading is, in fact, a sport. Cheerleading wouldn’t be considered the number one dangerous SPORT if it wasn’t a sport. It’s not only hard, but dangerous to partake in the sport of cheerleading, and this is reinforced by the studies this guy is referring to in his video.

This video ties in with my blog by reinforcing that cheerleading is a sport.  How could studies show that cheerleading is the most dangerous sport without it actually being a sport?  People fail to see the truth behind cheerleading, even though it’s clearly right in front of their faces.  The truth is, it’s dangerous and very risky to be a cheerleader, and it takes a special amount of dedication to be one, in some cases you may be risking your life.  These same fatal injuries don’t occur nearly as often with football or basketball, but people choose to ignore that and make their own assumptions.  Typical.

[2]: Cheerleading or Cheerfollowing?

I'm the first person to say that cheerleading is the best sport ever, but the question of why some people do it remains a mystery to me.  There are obvious reasons; like, some people may do it because their mom was a cheerleader when she was younger and their parents are living vicariously through them, or maybe they're doing it because their older sister used to be a cheerleader and they're following behind in their footsteps.....but what about those people that just COMPLETELY SUCK?  You know who I'm talking about.  Those girls, when, you tryout they have absolutely no idea what they're doing or what they've signed themselves up for.  Every year at cheer leading try outs at my high school, there was at least one girl that tried out that was either a.) Completely hopeless, b.) Terribly uncoordinated, c.) A lost cause or d.) All of the above.  And then I began to wonder, why are all these girls that don't have a snowball's chance in hell of even making it onto the team wasting their afternoons after school for an entire week?  If they know they suck, why do they keep coming back and embarrassing themselves over and over again?  And then I looked around, and I realized, they're not being cheerleaders, they're being cheer followers.  A cheer follower, in layman's terms, is a girl that joins or attempts to join the cheerleading team because she wants to do what all of her friends are doing.  Beeep beeeep, back it up girl.  Cheer followers are a disgrace to the sport of cheerleading.  Get outta here with that!  The problem with cheer followers is that they aren't dedicated to the sport of cheerleading; they are only dedicated to doing what their friends are doing and being "popular."  These are those girls that never show up to practice, but always show up to the games so they can be seen in their cheerleading uniforms in front of the whole school; those girls that aren't dedicated to the squad, and actually tend to suck the life out of the team.  They aren't determined, they aren't good, and they aren't worthy of being on the squad.  They're nothing more than soul-sucking leeches, and I wish they wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a sport.  It's amazing, the life of a cheer follower.  I would commend them for their hard work at trying so hard to not try so hard if I wasn't disgusted by them.  It must be terribly sad to have to join a sport that you have absolutely NO interest in and NO talent for just so you won't feel hopelessly left out by your friends.  Imagine being that one girl out of your whole group of friends that sits in the bleachers by herself every Friday night when the rest of her posse are out on the track cheering on the football team.  It’s gotta be depressing, I’ll say that much.  You miss out on all the inside jokes from cheerleading practice, you miss out on the after-game sleepovers, the rides home together to get ready before a game, the cheerleading fundraisers, all the memories and all the good times.  I must say, the life of a cheer follower is difficult, but understandable, and although I would never be one, I commend those girls for working so hard to be something that they’re not.

4. Mother Duck & 12 Little Baby Ducklings. Cute! Full version. Youtube Video. 9 August 2007.  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uSTEQy8DKg>

This is a video of twelve baby ducklings following their mother duck.  This video ties in with my article in the way that the cheerleaders follow what all of their friends are doing.  The most popular girl would be the mother duck, and all of her friends would be the twelve little ducklings following her around.  They follow here around because they are afraid of getting left behind and forgotten, much like the cheerleaders follow their friends and join the cheerleading squad for the very same reason.  These ducks are afraid of leaving the pack in fear that they will have to join a new group, much like girls do in high school when they join the cheerleading squad in fear that they will have to find a new group of friends to hang out with.

This video ties in with the entirety of my blog by questioning why people do the things that they do.  Why do girls do what all of their friends are doing by joining the cheerleading squad?  Why are the ducks so afraid of leaving their mothers and branching out on their own?  We’re all so afraid of having to fend for ourselves before we’re ready to do so, but that’s life.  At some point in time we have to leave the nest and find ourselves, right? We can’t always do what everybody else is doing, even if that is what seems easiest and safest.  It’s scary, but It’s a part of life.

5. High School Sucks - The Musical - Full Intro Theme Song. Youtube Video. 1 June 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWy_uauR-6k>

This video is a song about how much high school sucks, hence the title.  It talks about how everybody just acts like somebody that they’re not to fit in with everybody else, which, as we all know, is what high school is all about.  This video relates to my blog posting because I wrote about how girls join the cheerleading squad just because everybody else is doing it, just like this song talks about how people act like something that they’re not so that they can fit in.  Some girls that join the cheerleading squad have no interest in cheerleading other than it’s what the “popular” people are doing, much like this song states that people do things and act a certain way because it’s the “popular” thing to do.

This video ties in with my entire blog by showcasing that some people do things because everybody else is doing it, much like when some girls join the cheerleading squad because their friends are doing it.  There are many truths behind cheerleading; it is challenging, enduring, and physically and emotionally tolling on the body, but another truth about cheerleading is, that not everybody is as dedicated as you would think.  A lot of the girls honestly don’t care and are just in it so that everybody can see that they are a “popular cheerleader,” and I think that’s part of what gives cheerleaders a bad reputation at times.

6. “EGHS Cheerleading Captains 2010-2011” Mouth Holly, NC. Personal photograph taken by Kathy Williams. 2 February 2011. <http://s1191.photobucket.com/albums/z476/alexisjohnson12/?action=view&current=179398_10150099567383401_510123400_6255914_8035573_n.jpg>

This is a photograph that was taken at one of our high school’s home football games.  The picture is of me and my two fellow captains.  The two girls that I was co-captain with were best friends, and although you can not see it in this picture one is a cheerleader and one is a cheerfollower.  Kelly, the brunette, is best friends with Sara, the blonde, and ever since they were little Kelly has been doing whatever Sara does just to keep up with her.  This ties in with my blog posting because I talked about how friends do what their other friends are doing just so they won’t be left behind, much life Kelly does so Sara won’t leave her behind.

I feel like this goes with my blog’s entirety by showing why some people actually become cheerleaders.  Not everybody does it because they want to, a lot of people join the sport because they feel like they have to or they will get left behind while the rest of their friends move non to be popular.  I can understand that fear, seeing as many of us experience it, but I can’t help but to wonder what the world would be like if we quit worrying so much about what everybody else thinks of us and we did what truly makes us happy.

[3]: Hit Me with Your Best Shot

There are a lot of things in the world that I can tolerate, but ignorance is NOT one of them.  I have a little tale of ignorance to share with you guys today.  Once upon a time, in a land of misery, jealousy, lies in deceit called High School there was a cheerleading squad.  This cheerleading squad wasn't of the utmost caliber, but they were dedicated and they worked hard at achieving their goal of improving their squad with each passing year. On one stressful afternoon during a special cheerleading practice, the girls were in the gym practicing a very hard routine.  This wasn't just any old routine either, it was a routine specified for not only the pep rally the school was having the following day, but for a cheerleading competition that they would be competing in later on that year.  This is the first year that this cheerleading squad would compete in any sort of competition EVER, so they weren't used to doing a routine of this difficulty.  Keep in mind, the pep rally was the following day and this routine was HARD so they needed all of the practice they could get, seeing as it wasn't completely perfect yet.  The cheerleading squad was minding their own business, practicing hard and working to the best of their ability, when all of a sudden the meat headed football coach came inside the gym that they were practicing in and told them to leave.  It was raining outside that day, and the football players wanted to use the gym to practice, as they had their big rivalry game the next day, hence the pep rally.  The cheerleaders were shocked and outraged, how could the football coach be asking them to give up their gym space which, by the way, they had to work so hard to acquire in the first place, so that they can practice their plays?  Cheerleading practice is over at 5pm, and it was 4, couldn't they wait just one more hour?  No, they couldn't, and the meat-headed football coach was going to the head of the supreme court, or the principal, to get the cheerleaders out of that gym asap.  The cheerleaders were, to put it lightly, pissed as hell, but they continued to practice because their coach told them to, seeing as the probability of them getting kicked out of the gym any second was pretty high.  Something had changed though, as the cheerleaders practiced, the football team shouted things at them such as "quit taking up our space" and "what a joke, this isn't a sport."  The cheerleaders got mad, and they thought, why should we cheer you on at your stupid ole pep rally when you haven't won a game all season? It's unfair, and it's not right.  The school expects the cheerleaders to cheer the team on, come to the games rain or shine, and do everything perfectly, but they aren't willing to give them a practice space, and the cheerleaders are highly unappreciated.  Ignorance.  The school feels as if the cheerleaders don’t need practice space or any time to practice because what they do is so easy, that there is no way they could need a gym to do it.  Needless to say, the cheerleaders got kicked out of the gym and the football players took over.  Now I ask you, is that fair? Was that right?  No.  They can take away the gym, they can shorten their practice, but those cheerleaders are still going to shine.  Hit them with your best shot, because they’ll still kick ass.

7. Ruben Navarrette Jr."Unfunny racism: Black comic's anti-Mexican rant" CNN.com. Kenneth Estenson. 2011. CNN Opinion. 6 September 2011<http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-06/opinion/navarrette.black.latino.heckling_1_mexicans-katt-williams-pledge-allegiance?_s=PM:OPINION>

This article is about racial tensions at a Katt William’s comedy show at the Laugh Factory.  Williams attacked two Mexican-Americans be making racial jokes and slurs at them during the show when he ran out of jokes and began to lose the crowd.  I found this article significant towards my blog posting because this particular blog posting was about ignorance towards people as a whole.  Just like Williams made assumptions about the Mexican-Americans, the football players made assumptions about the cheerleaders and the level of difficulty of the things that they had to do to prepare for the pep rally.

I feel like this source definitely ties in with my project as a whole.  My entire project is basically about people’s ignorance towards the sport of cheerleading and trying to prove them wrong by giving them knowledge.  It seems like the most ignorant people are the ones who lack knowledge about something and tend to make up their own assumptions, much like Katt Williams did to those Mexican-Americans.  Ignorance hurts people, and not only makes them angry, but makes them feel like a smaller version of themselves, and I will do everything in my power to enlighten people so that more people’s feelings can be respected as a result.

8. Swift, Taylor. “Mean.” Speak Now. Big Machine, 2011. Music Video. Declan Whitebloom. MTV.

 2 October 2011.

<http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1663463/taylor-swift-mean-video.jhtml>

This music video is about bullies, and how they can take one person from their biggest high to their all time low with just a few hateful words.  Taylor Swift sings about how, one day, she’ll move on to do something great with her life while all the other bullies are ever going to be is mean.  This definitely ties into my blog posting, by how the football players shot those hateful words at the cheerleaders, but they still persevered and did their best despite hateful words.  The cheerleaders aren’t going to let a few hateful, ignorant words get them down just like the boy in the music video being picked on for his love of fashion went on to be a fashion designer despite the bullying of the football players.

This music video ties in with the entirety of my project due to the fact that my project is all about ignorance and discrimination against someone or something that you aren’t familiar with.  A lot of people don’t know anything about the sport of cheerleading or the difficultly level by which you have to endure within the sport.  Why do others choose to diminish things that they aren’t familiar with?  I have no idea and I fear I will never know.  People don’t respect the things that they know nothing about, they respect the things that they know everything about, and it’s like everything else is irrelevant or just plain stupid.  America.

9. Bring it on: In it to win it; The East West Shets Final performance. Youtube Video. 29 June 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6OiLZ7dTzI>

 

This is a video clip from the Movie Bring It On: In It to Win It.  It’s the clip from the final performance where the Jets and their rivals the Sharks form to make the Shets, and they have their final performance.  This video definitely ties in with my blog posting because it shows that even though the teams were rivals and hated each other, they joined together in the end to win the cheerleading competition despite what the coaches and everybody else had to say, much like my blog posting.  In the movie, the stunt performed at the end was said to be impossible, but the teams came together and managed to prove everybody wrong be performing the stunt.

 

I feel that this video ties in with the rest of my blog, because it shows that cheerleaders can come together and do something great despite adversity.  Who cares what other people think?  These girls and boys came together to work it, and they did better than anybody ever thought they could.  Who knows what can be accomplished when other people quit putting each other down and learning the truth about things before they make judgments?  Maybe one day we will live in a world where people learn first and then judge instead of assuming things and judging based off of those assumptions.

[4]: Crazy Nation

Wow.  Have you ever seen that show called Cheerleader Nation?  If you haven’t, go watch it.  It comes on the channel myLifetime, and it’s completely and totally ridiculous.  Talk about parents living vicariously through their children, this takes things to a whole ‘nother level.  This show is basically about moms that have put their children in cheerleading competitions since they were in the womb, and the whole show is the kids cheering at these competitions and their moms yelling at them if they don’t do everything perfectly.  The show features a high school cheerleading squad that is trying to achieve the number one spot at a national cheerleading competition.  As I watch this show, I get so very confused.  What in the world?  Some of these girls have sustained injuries and just want to quit, but every time they go home to talk to their moms about it, they keep pushing them and pushing them to cheer on.  Talk about blood, sweat and cheers. And it’s not like these shows stop at cheerleading, there’s plenty of shows just like this one.  It’s an epidemic around the world: Moms living vicariously through their miserable children.  Cheer Nation, Dance Moms, Toddlers in Tiaras; all shows that basically make fun of how crazy moms can get when they want their children to be good at something or act a certain way.  Maybe I’m just weird, but I could never force my child to do something that it was pretty clear that they either A) sucked at or B) hated, but that seems to be what’s going on in these shows on a regular basis.  I can’t stand it.  Me, personally, going to a cheerleading competition and seeing all those little girls standing around sucking their thumbs or running off the matt crying, I get just as confused every single time I see it.  Why waste THOUSANDS of dollars forcing your child to partake in a competition sport? It’s ridiculous, absurd, and just downright p a t h e t i c if you ask me.  I can understand wanting your child to be good at a sport and starting them at a young age to make sure of that, but when they’re four years old, REALLY?  They’re not old enough to decide at this point; you’re doing all of the deciding for them, and the ethical question is, is that right?  Is it right to outline a path for your children when they haven’t even gotten a chance to experience the world for themselves yet?  Me, personally, I say no.  This is why you always see kids that completely disappoint their parents by not taking the football scholarship because they’ve always been in love with art and their parents never acknowledged it.  The pressing question here is, to choose or to let the children choose for themselves. Future parents, what will you decide?

10. 'Dance Mom's' Lifetime Show: Kids' Provocative Moves: Pushing. Youtube Video. 19 July 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz-a0bVC25E>

This video is about the show Dance Moms and how they push their children to new limits despite their young age.  The girls from the show expressed that they sometimes want to quit, but their moms continue to push them despite their wishes.  One of the moms even stated that they tend to put dance before school, and another one of the moms is getting a divorce because her husband said that dance was taking over their lives.  This definitely ties in my article in the way that I was expressing my concern for mothers making their children endure the grueling task of competition sports at such a young age, and this video reinforces the toll it can take on a family and the children as well.

This video helps to display a different truth behind cheerleading.  Not everybody thinks about cheerleading as a grueling task forced upon children by their mothers.  It’s not just a sport to a lot of girls to most people it is a way of life.  Without the mothers pushing them, I have to wonder if the girls would have quit by now and what other sports they might be partaking in. One of the mothers on the video stated that if her little girl ever asked to play softball she would probably slit her wrist.  It sounds extreme, but that’s how a lot of moms feel if their daughters were ever to want to do anything other than cheerleading.

11. “When Cheerleader Moms Attack” momlogic.com. 2008. <http://www.momlogic.com/2008/08/when_cheerleader_moms_attack.php>

This article is about a mom that attacked another mom at her daughter’s cheerleading competition.  The fight started when the mom wanted her nine year old daughter placed on a different squad, but the cheerleading clinic would not allow it.  This article ties in with my blog posting by displaying hoe crazy moms can get when their daughters don’t act a certain way or get on a certain squad, like I stated in my post.  Moms will endure anything to get what they believe think that they deserve, even attacking another  mom in the process.  People act crazy to achieve the things that they want.

This article ties in with my blog, because I feel like it displays another truth behind cheerleading, and really any sport, that a lot of people miss.  Some people are only in sports because their parents have forced them to be, and mom and dad will do anything to get their kids on the level that they think they should be one, but they never stop to ask the kids what they want.  Before moms go around attacking everybody, I think it would probably be smart to even ask the kids what they want.  All they are doing is embarrassing their kids and making themselves look completely foolish.

12. Crazy Cheer Moms. Youtube video.  8 October 2009. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1K7fIV7egQ&feature=related>

This is a video of cheer moms doing a dance at an intermission during a cheerleading competition.  I feel that this video ties in with my blog posting by showing the magnitude of the things the moms will endure to get noticed, and therefore get their kids noticed.  I have gone to many cheerleading competitions where the moms have gone out on the stage and danced like idiots just to get their kids noticed, and this is clearly displayed in this video.  I wrote about how moms will do anything to get their kids at a level that they think they deserve to be at, and these dance competitions that the moms do at cheerleading competitions is an indirect way of doing that.

This video ties in with my blog as a whole by displaying another truth behind cheerleading; the level that a mom will go to, to get her daughter at the place where she deserves to be.  Moms will do all kinds of underhanded things just to get their daughters at a number one spot.   It’s underhanded and deceitful, and something that a lot of people don’t realize is a big part of the sport of cheerleading.  If people would just let their kids do what they can do to the best of their ability instead of cheating their way to the top in all these underhanded methods, who knows that the cheerleading world would be like.  This is another thing that I believe gives cheerleaders a bad reputation.

[5]: Blood, Sweat and Cheers

Emotions.  There’s a lot of emotions behind cheerleading.  You wouldn’t think there is a lot to be emotional about, but just like any other sport you get that rush of adrenaline after you’ve hit something you’ve been working on for months, perfectly and your team eventually becomes your family.  I was on my high school cheerleading squad for four years, and I was the Varsity cheerleading captain my senior year of high school, so believe me when I say, I know better than anyone how important your squad becomes to you.  I couldn’t have made it throughout high school without my cheer family, and even now that I’ve graduated and moved on to college, I still love my girls more than anything.  We grew together as a team for four years, and we experienced laughter, tears, heart break and everything together.  We were, and will always be, a family.  At summer cheerleading camps, we would cry together when we couldn’t hit a stunt or got frustrated.  We’ve yelled at each other and been mad at each other for not being able to nail the stunts and cheers that we worked months on.  We’ve laughed with each other and had some of the best times you could ever imagine.  We’ve cheered at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, breast cancer race and experienced the adrenaline and meaning behind those women crossing that line and walking for the loved ones they have that have had breast cancer.  We have jumped up and down together after our football team won a game, and we’ve cried together when they lost.  We’ve had sleepovers, gone camping, done fundraisers, and had some of the best times you could imagine.  I can honestly say that these girls are part of my family, and I love them for being there for me through all the hard times.  Nobody is going to be there for you like your team.  Just like in any other sport, in cheerleading you have to depend on your team mates to help carry you through the good and the bad times, on and off the field, or track, in our case.  My point is, yeah, cheerleading may not be your traditional sport.  We may not tackle each other or wear basketball shorts or whatever, but we have just as much heart as any other sport, if not more.  And I’m damned proud to be able to call myself a cheerleader.

13. Cheerleader Nation 7. Youtube Video. 2008. <http://www.fanpop.com/spots/cheerleading-nation/videos/1097148/title/cheerleader-nation-7>

This is a video from the show Cheerleader Nation.  In this video, the girls are performing for their school for the last time before they compete in the national competition that they have been working towards for the entire season.  You can clearly see the emotion behind the girls as they land their jumps and nail their stunts, just like the emotion I describe within my journal posting.  This relates to my blog posting by showing the emotions behind the squad that I described above.  This video makes it clear that there is a lot of heart that goes into this sport just like any other sport out there.

I feel that this video relates to my blog as a whole, by showing a different aspect to cheerleading than I’ve been talking about in most of my journal postings.  All sports are about the dedication and love you show towards the sport, and I wanted to emphasize that cheerleading has that same emotion behind of it.  Just because we don’t tackle each other or hit a ball doesn’t mean that we aren’t a sport, and we still grow together as a family just like any other sport would.  Most people don’t think about a sport as an emotional thing, but I think that’s one of the clearest aspects of it and I wanted to express that with this video and this journal posting.

14. Ray Floriani. “What is the Most Difficult Part of Cheerleading?” about.com. 2006. <

http://cheerleading.about.com/library/uc_rayfloriani_mostdifficult.htm>

This article was basically a survey asking a bunch of girls what they felt was the hardest part about cheerleading.  For a majority of the girls, the hardest part about cheerleading wasn’t the stunts, jumps, or even the tumbling; it was leaving the sport behind when they graduated.  This definitely ties in with my blog posting, as I talked about the emotions behind cheerleading and how you form a bond with not only the sport, but your team as well. This article reinforces the fact that I wrote that there are many emotions behind cheerleading that people that don’t know anything about the sport fail to see.

I feel that this article ties in with the rest of my blog by showing that not only I, but others, think that emotions are a big part behind cheerleading.  Without emotional attachment, how can you master a sport or strive harder to become good at it?  Anybody I know that is involved in any kind of sport has a love and dedication for that sport that a lot of people can’t understand unless they are participating in that sport as well, and it shows with their constant need to strive and do better at that particular sport each and every day.

15. Renee R. “Cheerleading is a Sport.” teenink.com. 2010. <http://www.teenink.com/nonfiction/sports/article/15172/Cheerleading-is-a-Sport/?page=3>

The article is called Cheerleading is a Sport, just like the name of my tab.  It’s basically talking about how others say that cheerleading isn’t a sport, and it gives the definition of a sport and defends the ways in which cheerleading is a sport.  I feel that this article ties in with my journal posting by posing all the ways that cheerleading is a sport, just like I did above.  This article talks about how cheerleaders have just as much heart and go through just as much physical endurance as any other sport despite what people that hate on the sport may say, and this goes with my journal posting one hundred percent.

This article ties in with my blog by showing the truth behind cheerleading.  A lot of people have junk to talk, and this is just one of a few articles out there of a fed up person trying to defend our sport.  It’s tiring and depressing having to constantly defend something that you love because everybody else thinks it is fun to put you down for not doing what is considered to be the typical sport, and I’m glad to see that I am not the only person that is growing tired of it.  I’m more than glad that there are people out there that are taking a stand, just like me.