Much to the dismay of almost 4 million athletes, a federal court judge recently ruled that cheerleading is not a sport. The ruling deemed that it was not competitive enough to qualify as such. The controversy came to light when Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut was attempting to use cheerleading to meet federal gender-equity requirements in athletics. Having done away with it’s women’s volleyball team and three other sports, due to funding problems, the university announced the start of a varsity cheer squad for the 2009-2010 season. This was apparently done in an effort to satisfy Title IX, a milestone federal law. Five female volleyball players and the coach filed a lawsuit in response.
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 specifically mandates equal opportunity for men and women in all educational activities. When it comes to athletics, the Department of Education uses the following criteria to decide if equal treatment exists.
- Whether the selection of sports and levels of competition effectively accommodate the interests and abilities of members of both sexes
- The provision of equipment and supplies
- Scheduling of games and practice time
- Travel and per diem allowance
- Opportunity to receive coaching and academic tutoring on mathematics only
- Assignment and compensation of coaches and tutors
- Provision of locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities
- Provision of medical and training facilities and services
- Provision of housing and dining facilities and services
- Publicity. Unequal aggregate expenditures for members of each sex or unequal expenditures for male and female teams if a recipient operates or sponsors separate teams will not constitute noncompliance with this section, but the Assistant Secretary [of Education for Civil Rights] may consider the failure to provide necessary funds for t
eams for one sex in assessing equality of opportunity for members of each sex.
Judge Stefan Underhill, stated that “today, however, the activity is still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic participation opportunities for students.” He did give some hope that cheerleading may indeed qualify as a sport sometime in the future, with regards to Title IX. Since this ruling was made in district court, it currently does not affect others outside this jurisdiction. There are 94 district courts in the United States. Nationwide only four schools include competitive cheerleading as a Division I varsity sport and seven use the sport to satisfy the Title IX requirements, so this it not likely to impact that many programs.
Do you believe cheerleading is a sport? We’d like to hear from you. Please feel free to leave your comments and opinions.
i believe cheerleading is a sport.. cheerleaders work out and run and lift weights as well as people.. cheerleaders practice and give energy and strength into what the are doing.. even though cheerleaders dont physicaly hit eachother or tackle eachother, they do land on eachother and have physical contact. we do get scores the only difference is the rules.
I have watched my nieces and now my 14 year old daughter wants to do cheerleading if gymastics is considered a sport than cheerleading should be considered a sport the time effort and energy that goes into not only what these girls and guys go through for the sport I would seriously like to see the federal judge do 1 stunt like are american cheerleaders do. Then I would believe that they have a right to decide weather or not cheerleading is a sport or not.
i go with you on this i ve been in cheer for 4 years now and its hard work! i fully belive its a sprot!
Apparently this judge has never watched a competition or the practices these kids go through. My daughter cheers and works very hard. They have many of the same issues as kids in other sports, but they have added responsibility in preventing injuries for other team mates. Certainly football, baseball, swimming, etc teams don’t want their teammates injured, but they aren’t throwing them in the air and catching them either. I hope this is overturned in the near future.
This makes me upset. Cheerleading is a sport, whether you like it or not! Get it through your head. We work probably twice as hard as any other sports. We lift girls and you lift footballs. We need and demand respect. Just because we look good while we’re doing our sport doesn’t mean it’s not a sport!
It is a sport. I am a cheerleader so don’t tell me that my activity isn’t a sport. I even did a whole project on cheerleading for school this year. It states that “cheerleading is a sport”. So the federal court has judged wrong!
Cheerleaders work harder than most athletes. If dance and gymnastics are sports then how can they say cheerleading is not. In one routine they dance, they tumble and they stunt. Anyone who thinks cheerleading is not a sport does not understand the risk these girls take everyday and does not understand the sport. It is a shame that this judge made this ruling and I hope it gets overturned.
According to the dictionary online… “A sport is an organized, competitive, entertaining, and skillful activity requiring commitment, strategy, and fair play, in which a winner can be defined by objective means. It is governed by a set of rules or customs. Activities such as card games and board games, are classified as “mind sports” and some are recognized as Olympic sports, requiring primarily mental skills and mental physical involvement. Non-competitive activities, for example as jogging or playing catch are usually classified as forms of recreation.” ANY QUESTIONS???? Yep cheerleading is a sport! My daughters team knows it competing for a championship every time they are on the floor. My daughter practiced 5 hours this weekend with her team….what part of blood, sweat and sportsmanship don’t you get!?
Not competitive?? Wow. That judge is out of touch.
And fishing is so competitive? And if gymnastics is a sport, then cheerleading is too. Because cheerleading is gymnastics plus dancing and yelling.
A sport by definition means that you would be required to compete. Now i’m pretty sure most people have seen or been in a cheer competition so obviously they are not imaginary. When kids at my school say cheer is just gymnastics with pom poms and skirts i reply by stating how gymnastics is part of the sports olympics every 4 years. Cheer is most definitely a SPORT and the only people that do not consider it one have obviously been watching too many teen movies