What do you think of cheerleaders?

[Lilacs4Me]

I was responding to the OP's questions with my own opinion. We are all open to have our own opinions on the subject.

I was responding to your declarative-sounding sentence that cheer is "basically dance with a little bit of gymnastics thrown in.

It's not. Again, see response upthread

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Yes, cheer should be considered a sport. Most of the cheerleaders at our schools are high level gymnasts AND skilled dancers. No they are not a dance team and there is no "some gymnastics" thrown in. Its quite a bit. Their sport takes just as much skill and practice and training as football, baseball, basketball and any other sport.

Are they mean and snobby? Well, dd learned something about this in high school. Dd was in cheer when she was young but then quit to go on and do other things. Several of the girls she was close to stayed in cheer. When they got jr high age, they sort of drifted apart since they were busy with cheer and she was busy with show choir. Well, she accused them of being snobby because they only hang out with other cheerleaders. A lot of the kids accused them of being snobby for the same reason. In high school, the kids are required to take a performing art so several of the cheer girls decided to join choir their sophomore year and auditioned. The choir girls rolled their eyes and dreaded having them. Well, come to find out they all became really close. When asked why they only hang out with cheerleaders, the choir girls were told "because no one else will hang out with us, they think we are all snobs".

Are they spoiled? I am sure some are. So are some football players and some choir kids and some band kids and some chess players, etc. etc. etc.

As for Disney no, but I have during a music competition. Mostly younger teens. They were ALL brats, including my own. Its just the nature of the beast (teens) it has nothing to do with what activity the do or sport they play.

Also, like football, cheerleaders spend a LOT of time up close and personal with each other. They hold each other high up into the air and have to trust each other that they will work together to ensure nobody will get hurt. Individual stunt groups of 4 girls spend hours working together within a 2 foot span. And it takes a LOT of their time! My football player spends all year training with his team, and has no free time after all day in school and football 6 days a week. Cheer spends almost as much time practicing and performing, except they are only from June-March. Still, though that's a lot of time they spend together!

 

[luvsJack]

Clearly, this is a topic full of a lot of passionate points of view.

I was basing my own personal opinion on what *I* have observed in person myself...and what *I* myself have observed have basically been dance groups with a little bit of gymnastics thrown in. I do not consider dancing to be a sport. Extracurricular activity? Yes.

However, if your definition of cheerleading are those ultra competitive teams which spend hours each day at practice and they have enormous human pyramids involving people being tossed up into the air and doing flips on top of 2 tiers of other people, complete with practically everybody in the cheerleading group doing complicated gymnastics routines across the mats and not hitting each other in the process, then yes...that would be a sport.

But your average elementary school through high school cheerleading group which does some hip hop moves and claps their hands in unison on the football sidelines? No, not a sport.

Actually I was talking about high school cheer teams. I don't know anyone on a ultra competition team.

All of the schools around here do compete but they aren't competition teams like at a gym. So not sure what "average" school teams you mean. They all have several dance routines but they aren't just a few hip hop moves. They have a choreographer and the dances are pretty complicated. Most of the girls in cheer also take dance and/or gymnastics and compete in those too.

Perhaps in your area it's like you describe but that appears to not be the norm.

 

[Colleen27]

I'm not a fan of pretending it is a sport. As it exists locally, it just isn't. I might feel differently if we lived in a place where cheer was competitive and took gymnastics/dance skills, but standing on the sidelines shaking pom poms cheering for the actual athletes is not my idea of a sport. I don't generalize about the people who choose to participate, and I've never been to Disney during a cheer event, but I have discouraged my girls from signing up to cheer.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

I'm not a fan of pretending it is a sport. As it exists locally, it just isn't. I might feel differently if we lived in a place where cheer was competitive and took gymnastics/dance skills, but standing on the sidelines shaking pom poms cheering for the actual athletes is not my idea of a sport. I don't generalize about the people who choose to participate, and I've never been to Disney during a cheer event, but I have discouraged my girls from signing up to cheer.

There are two different types of cheering - sideline and competitive.

My girls have never used pom poms in either sideline or competitive cheering, so no shaking of anything on our team, except my own head when I hear comments like yours

 

[Colleen27]

There are two different types of cheering - sideline and competitive.

My girls don't even have pom poms, so no shaking of anything on our team, except my own head when I hear comments like this.

Like I said, I might feel differently if I lived somewhere where that was the reality. But at both the local public and my daughter's private high school, cheerleaders are basically football accessories with pom poms and short skirts. There is no competitive cheer, just a group of girls that gets the crowd going at football and occasionally basketball games. So that's all I have to go by, and no, it isn't an activity I've encouraged my daughters to pursue.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

It's an exercise in attention seeking, with bit of actual sport (gymnatics, dance, acrobatics) thrown in, so I say no.

In our county, we (other students) referred to cheerleading teams as the "***** corps," based on their personailties and actions.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

Like I said, I might feel differently if I lived somewhere where that was the reality. But at both the local public and my daughter's private high school, cheerleaders are basically football accessories with pom poms and short skirts. There is no competitive cheer, just a group of girls that gets the crowd going at football and occasionally basketball games. So that's all I have to go by, and no, it isn't an activity I've encouraged my daughters to pursue.

Just out of curiousity, why do you have to live somewhere different to understand that there is a difference between what your small private school world calls "cheerleading" and the actual sport of competitive cheer? There are enough youtube vidoes out there that show the difference.

How sad in this day and age.

 

[maxiesmom]

Yes. No. No. Yes. And I found them to be no different than any other group of people. They were not loud or obnoxious. I often think it is the "in" thing to bash any type of cheer/athletic group on the Dis. I've even stayed at the Music during Pop Warner (gasp!) and had no problem with them either.

I'm a huge fan of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Making The Team show. And watching yesterday it stuck me that the cheerleaders actually put out more effort during the game than the players. The cheerleaders cheer the whole game! They don't sub in and out, or get to take a break while some of the other cheerleaders dance. They are not a stunt driven group, but they have to be in phenomenal shape to do what they do.

Much more to cheerleading than standing around shaking pom-poms. And the ones that do stunts are truly athletes. It is kind of sad to see the demeaning responses from a few posters.

 

[kaseyC]

Also, like football, cheerleaders spend a LOT of time up close and personal with each other. They hold each other high up into the air and have to trust each other that they will work together to ensure nobody will get hurt. Individual stunt groups of 4 girls spend hours working together within a 2 foot span. And it takes a LOT of their time! My football player spends all year training with his team, and has no free time after all day in school and football 6 days a week. Cheer spends almost as much time practicing and performing, except they are only from June-March. Still, though that's a lot of time they spend together!

A stunt group becomes like a little family. The hours of they spend working together and as a result build a strong bond.

Many seem to think that HS cheer is basically sideline. Not in our area. Competition is big here, it starts at the rec cheer level and continues through HS. You are NOT making the Varsity team here if you don’t have advanced tumbling skills and a multiple jumps to tuck sequence.

Also a few of our All Star gyms offer a Post HS season. Tryouts are usually in February as the HS season is winding down. They start competing in March. So the coaches have literally a few weeks to create a level 4 and a level 5 All Star Co-ed competition team from cheerleaders from a variety of High Schools. My daughters level 4 team had athletes from 7 area schools plus 1 from WI. They practice a few nights per week plus weekends. It's impressive how hard these kids work. They do this while still finishing up their HS season which at that point is Basketball sideline.

 

[ols386]

The cheerleading teams who participate in competition are athletes, and should be considered a sport.

They are no different than any other group, some are nice individuals, some could be snotty.

Depends on their upbringing. Some may be spoiled, some not.

I've stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort several years ago while cheerleaders were practicing outside in a grassy area. It was during the day. It was loud (naturally), but not annoying at all. Never heard anything after dark. Never saw or heard them in the parks.

 

[aprilgail]

Cheerleaders are the ones cheering on the actual athletes. I would prefer my kids to be the actual athletes rather than the ones standing by to cheer them on.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I haven't read all the posts, but I think college cheerleaders are some of the best athletes on the court or field. OTOH, I think dance teams in college or pro sports add nothing to the game & don't need to be there. I never thought cheerleaders were mean or snobby. FWIW, I was an athlete through high school.

 

[luvsJack]

Cheerleaders are the ones cheering on the actual athletes. I would prefer my kids to be the actual athletes rather than the ones standing by to cheer them on.

That's quite a way to look down on a group of kids who usually work very hard for what they do.

I realize that HS cheer and competitive cheer are different but that doesn't make HS cheerleaders any less athletes. A lot of high school squads do compete and a lot that don't should because they have the ability.

I have two nieces who were cheerleaders over 20 years ago. There were no competive squads around here. There were no competitions for them to go to. Every trick, every move, every cheer they learned was from their cheer coach and choreographer and even then they were still athletes. Even the football players admitted that those girls worked harder for their sport than the players did.

We wonder why our kids look down on certain groups in high school and think that they are somehow "less". And yet as adults we still do it.

 

[sa cheermom]

nm

 

[sa cheermom]

nm

 

[Jen414]

Have I been to WDW during a cheer competition? Heck yes. We never stay on site for Worlds or Summit (gym owner finds it too crazy,) but this past April, I stopped by All Star Sports to do a bit of shopping for World's gear. I believe it was Senior Elite (CEA) who was practicing in the courtyard along with a few other teams. Since they are regarded as one of the best of the best, they had a huge crowd watching, gasping and cheering as they practiced their elite stunt sequence. My fellow cheer moms and I looked at each other and said that we felt sorry for any poor, unsuspecting tourists who ended up at any of the All Star resorts during Worlds or Summit. And made us understand why our gym does not allow us to stay on site. It is even too crazy for some cheer gyms. It is our world but can be over stimulating for anyone else. Disney has some major rules such as no practicing in hallways or after 10pm outside, but just the masses of young athletes can be overwhelming.

I too am an all-star mom and pretty much agree with everything that this poster has said. We have been to Summit twice and Worlds last year. I think that they have fixed the problem of the unsuspecting tourists that end up at All Stars, at least during Worlds. Last year, anyone who booked on their own (and you had to do it right when the reservation window opened, not when your team got a bid) ended up getting booted out of All Stars. We got a call in January from Disney that a corporate client (USASF) had bought out the whole resort and that we would need to move. We ended up at the Yacht Club for the same price we were paying at All Stars. Not a bad deal in my opinion.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

A stunt group becomes like a little family. The hours of they spend working together and as a result build a strong bond.

Many seem to think that HS cheer is basically sideline. Not in our area. Competition is big here, it starts at the rec cheer level and continues through HS. You are NOT making the Varsity team here if you don’t have advanced tumbling skills and a multiple jumps to tuck sequence.

Also a few of our All Star gyms offer a Post HS season. Tryouts are usually in February as the HS season is winding down. They start competing in March. So the coaches have literally a few weeks to create a level 4 and a level 5 All Star Co-ed competition team from cheerleaders from a variety of High Schools. My daughters level 4 team had athletes from 7 area schools plus 1 from WI. They practice a few nights per week plus weekends. It's impressive how hard these kids work. They do this while still finishing up their HS season which at that point is Basketball sideline.

To add, for other forms of "cheer," it is a year round thing. Our season goes from June-May. Last competition for the season is usually Summit in the beginning of May. Otherwise if no Summit bid, last comp is usually end of April. Then you start over. Evaluations in May to get placed on a new team for the season**, practices start right after, first competitions usually in November and then hit the competition circuit hard till April and May. Rinse, repeat with a 2 week break between seasons if you do not go to Worlds or Summit.

** No tryouts because everyone makes a team. Since there are 5-6 levels (depending if your gym fields a level 6 team) and multiple age groups within each level, there is a level for everyone, from beginner to advanced level 5 seniors. Evals happen so the coaches can put the best team together, with the appropriate bases, flyers, backspots, tumbling, etc to maximize the point sheet.

Yes, absolutely there are year round teams!

I was talking about our HS cheer team being from June (summer camp) through the regular Football and Basketball seasons, all the while training for competition season, that runs through March. They get April and May "off" but have to stay conditioned and attend required tumbling classes all year. They practice MTThF (until football season when there are Friday games) and attend mandatory tumbling class on Wednesdays. We use these girls as demo coaches for our youth league and we have to work around their practice schedule, which is virtually impossible! We are lucky to get them for 90 min on Tuesdays after their practice ends and 2 hours on Wed before they have to leave to go to 7pm tumbling class. They practice or cheer at games or attend tumbling at LEAST 12-15 hours a week. They have to "try out" again in late Oct for the competition teams - they bring a Varsity and a JV team, so everyone goes, but of course it's much harder to get on the Varsity team. You have to have at a MINIMUM a standing back tuck and be able to do a fairly advanced running tumbling sequence.

And that is just the high school team - of whom the vast majority of people think just show up for a football game to cheer for the "real" athletes and shake their pompoms. All Star cheer is even more vigorous than that!

This isn't the 1950's anymore, people!

 

[IAHFTPT]

This thread is so cute.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

Competitive cheer is the most physically demanding activity my child has ever been involved in. It is no joke. It is not shaking pom poms, it is not dance with a little gymnastics thrown in (although I would argue that a serious dancer is also an athlete) It is a sport that pushes girls to their phrscial and mental limits. They must be able to lift their own body weight over their head multiple times in multiple positions, throw another child 20 ft in the air and catch her, perform high level tumbling, jumps in sequences, and yes some dance all in 2 min 30 seconds without showing that they are all but exhausted.
The middle school PE teacher was one of those "cheer is not a sport" people... until DD blew away the physical fitness tests at school. She could out push up, sit up, pull up, and outrun the "real athletes" every time.