Is Cheerleading a Sport?

Recently, a judge ruled that cheerleading is not a sport. Of course the first question is why a judge would be ruling on this at all, but reading the article you see that a college was trying to cut one women’s sport and wanted to use cheerleading to compensate in an attempt to show that it was not violating Title IX (Title IX could be a topic for an entirely different blog). The women who participated in the sport that was cut sued so a judge had to rule.

Now the judge said that cheerleading might someday establish itself as a sport but that today it is too underdeveloped and disorganized to be considered a true sport.

That might be fine from a legal perspective, but it brought to mind one of my favorite arguments. How do you define a sport? I’ve blogged on this before, but not in detail. I start with my basic Olympic rules (which eliminate several "sports"):

1. If the costume matters, or makeup is applied, it’s not a sport
2. If you can’t tell who won without a judge (all the time, not once in a while) it’s not a sport
3. If the name has the word “synchronized” in it, it’s not sport

Really, rules 1&3 are just there for humor. It’s rule 2 that matters. And this rule will offend a lot of people, because we aren’t just talking about synchronized swimming here. This rule eliminates a ton of high profile sports. Yet I stand by it.

A sport is decided "on the field". A competition is judged.

I defy you to come up with a definition of sport that includes diving but excludes cheerleading. They are both clearly athletic. They both have defined moves with established degrees of difficulty. And there are elements of artistry. But here’s the problem. You can extend the argument to things that no one would seriously argue is a sport.

I was a trumpet player. Trumpet is a very physical, athletic instrument. You have to be in shape. There is serious muscle recovery time. Ask any trumpet player who ever worked for the circus (the most grueling gig on the planet) and they will tell you about putting ice on their face after a gig.

There are plenty of trumpet competitions. Degree of difficulty of pieces has been clearly established.

Physical, athletic activity. Well established degree of difficulty. Some artistry. Final score entirely defined by judges. What did I just describe? Diving? Cheerleading? Trumpet competition?

Choice D, all of the above.

You can replace trumpet with dance, or many other similar things. Unless you restrict sport to mean something "decided on the field" the slope is way too slippery.

If 100% of the time it comes down to a judges score, it’s a competition but not a sport. Doesn’t make a competition any less interesting or fun to watch. It’s just not a sport.

Here’s another definition. If a bunch of kids can’t get together and play and compete and clearly know who won, it’s not a sport.

That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.