Allstar Cheerleading
Is it considered a sport?
My teams finishing pose in our routine.
Check out that cheerleader. That’s her, walking onto the stage to perform. She may seem calm, but there is a storm brewing up inside of her. All those practices, all those tears, the frustration, all those fullouts, the laughter she has shared with her teammates, the way her coach yells at her to do her best, comes down to this moment. Nothing is stopping her. She looks into the crowd and sees everybody she knows and loves cheering for her all at once. She takes a deep breath. She hears the familiar sound of her music coming on. This is it.
Cheerleading. When people hear this word, they think of girls with pom poms doing kicks and cheering for their favorite sports team. But that’s not what allstar cheer is like and it all comes down to one question. Is cheerleading a sport? Most people would laugh and say “no” right away because come on, Cheerleaders aren’t athletes and what they do isn’t considered a sport whatsoever, right? Wrong.
The only reason most people think that cheerleading is not a sport is because of how misinformed they are. They have only ever seen high school cheerleading, which is not the same as allstar cheerleading. When people think of a cheerleader, high school cheerleading is what most people are familiar with. High school cheerleaders are associated with a school and their main focus is to cheer on other sports, and have school spirit. Allstar cheerleading is associated with a gym/club. Their main focus is to compete a routine choreographed by their coach, and practice, having up to 10 hours of practice per week. All Star cheerleaders go to about 10 competitions a year, and will usually end their season at an international/ national championship.
Cheerleading is so physically and mentally demanding, as you are literally lifting people, and throwing them about 10-15 feet into the air and being expected to catch them. You are expected to execute a perfect flip during your routine when you’re already out of breath. You are expected to do jumps that require tons of flexibility and balance, and know how to dance and be sassy at the same time. At practices, you work through your routine over and over until it’s perfect enough to perform at a competition. You throw elite stunts again and again, hoping that you will perfect them to your coaches standards. You condition all practice and run multiple miles, so you can have enough endurance to perform your action packed, two minute and thirty second routine. You throw countless full outs and stunt throughs, even though you´re already tired, but you keep pushing because somewhere deep inside you´re doing this for the little girl who fell in love with this sport. You do it for the feeling of hitting a routine after you’ve put your all into it, all the medals and jackets you have won, the many memories you have made through this sport. It has taught you so many things. For example, responsibility, hard work, perseverance, and teamwork.You´re doing it for the countless hours you have spent at the gym, giving it your all, because you love what you do and it truly makes you a better person.
