Cheerleading The SPORT

Many people believe that cheerleading is not a sport; however, I am not one of those people. Some of the reasoning why cheerleading is not a sport is because it’s not in the Olympics or because there is no clear winner to the audience. Most of the people saying this are not cheerleaders; therefore, they are judging the SPORT from the outside perspective. I for one am a cheerleader and do believe that it is a sport, not just an activity or hobby.

            There are different types of cheerleading such as sideline and competition cheerleading. There are also different organizations of cheerleading like high school cheerleading, recreational cheerleading, and all-star cheerleading. The most advanced form is all-star. I think that high school, rec, and all-star cheerleading are all sports when they are in competition season. High school and rec teams both sideline cheer for sports teams during one season while practicing their competition routine for the next.

I do not believe that sideline cheering is a sport, only competition is. During sideline cheering, cheerleaders perform cheers to get the team and the crowd excited. There are the occasional stunts thrown in the air, but other than that it is mostly just cheering. On the other hand, all competition teams have a jammed packed two minute and thirty second routine replete with jumps, tumbling, stunts, and dance, all of which require major skill of an athlete.

         Others may also think that cheerleading is not a sport because there is no referee or umpire. Cheerleading has what other sports don’t, and that is a judge. There is never a set amount of them, so at any competition you could see any number of judges sitting in front of you criticizing every move you make. These people judge you on everything possible. Everything from the way you look, to the way you present yourself on the mat, and every teeny tiny thing that happens during your routine. If a stunt wobbles you get a deduction. If you have jewelry or nail polish on you get a deduction. If your hair bow falls onto the mat you get a deduction. And if a stunt falls to the ground you get an even bigger deduction. There is so much that goes into cheerleading that the public eye never sees or is aware of, so they just make the assumption that it is not a sport. If everyone knew every truth behind cheerleading then people would look at the SPORT differently.  

My New Year's Resolution

Second day of the new year and I’m beginning my resolutions. Just like the rest of America, my top resolutions are to eat healthier, workout, and lose weight. Most people tend to abandon these resolutions before the end of January. I just hope I’m not one of those people.

I have started eating healthier by going on this military diet. This diet is only three days long and it tells you what to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After the third day you take a four day break from the diet, but should still continue to eat healthy and workout. You then begin the diet again after the fourth day. I’m hoping this diet will teach me how to be a healthier eater and motivate me to keep eating healthy on my own without the help of a diet that tells me what to eat.

Now for the working out part of the resolution…I have a gym membership at Planet Fitness, but have not been there since the beginning of December. The reason I haven’t been going to the gym lately is because it’s winter now. The sun goes down earlier, it’s colder, and there’s always a holiday party to go to with ton and tons of food and holiday themed desserts. I have it set in my mind right now that I will make my way to the gym a little later today, but we’ll see how that goes since I’ll probably just want to take a nap instead.

I started this blog yesterday, the second day of the new year, and I’m happy to say that day one of my diet and workout have been a success! I followed the military diet throughout the whole day with absolutely no cheating. Also, my sister and I went to the gym an hour after dinner. It was extremely crowded, so I guess I’m right when I say most of America has the same New Year’s resolution as I do. I started out on the bike for a half hour, which burned 155 calories off of me; not a lot but it’s better than nothing. I then continued to do a variety of workouts from working my abs to working my arms and legs. I’m hoping I can keep this up by staying confident and motivated, and always thinking that this will all be worth it in the end when I’m a healthier person inside and out. It’s a new year and a new me.