Cheerleading Is Not A Sport

admin — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:47:31 +0000

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 teams 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.

New Site Overhaul

admin — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 12:19:17 +0000

We’d like to welcome you to the new site layout for our online magazine. It’s still in the process of being developed (mostly cosmetic), so please bear with us. After many years of using a script that was no longer supported, we have updated our software. Cheerleading Magazine is looking for article submissions that relate to cheerleading, dance, and gymnastics. As always we depend on you to help us keep others informed about the latest news, events, services, and products. Please join our facebook group to help promote our publication. Tell your friends, coaches, choreographer, and other team members.